Posted in Israel, Robert O. Freedman on Mar 31st, 2009 Comments Off on The Lieberman factor
From Robert O. Freedman As Binyamin Netanyahu takes over as Israel’s new prime minister, the key to the future of his government may well be Avigdor Lieberman, the leader of the predominantly Russian-immigrant-based Yisrael Beiteinu Party, who was selected by Netanyahu as his foreign minister.
Posted in Israel, Robert O. Freedman on Mar 16th, 2009 Comments Off on Netanyahu’s coalition problems
From Robert O. Freedman The Israeli elections, coming just a few weeks after a cease-fire ended the war between Israel and Hamas, appear to have raised more questions than they settled about the Israeli position in the Arab-Israeli peace process.
Posted in Alan Dowty, Barry Rubin, Democracy, Israel, Robert O. Freedman on Feb 17th, 2009 4 Comments »
From Alan Dowty In the week since Israelis went to the polls, the operative word in the media seems to be “inconclusive,” based on the near-tie between the two largest parties and the prospect of bone-wearying bargaining before a government emerges. Both observations are true, but nevertheless the election did register a sharp and significant […]
Posted in Hamas, Iran, Israel, Palestinians, Robert O. Freedman on Jan 21st, 2009 Comments Off on Obama and Israel: problems ahead?
From Robert O. Freedman As President Barack Obama settles into the White House, there are two immediate issues facing the Israeli-U.S. relationship. The first relates to U.S. policy toward the Arab-Israeli Conflict in the aftermath of the fighting in Gaza and concerns possible official contacts between the United States and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas. […]
Posted in Arab Gulf, Egypt, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Palestinians, Robert O. Freedman, Saudi Arabia, Syria on Jan 2nd, 2009 Comments Off on Israel’s strike on Gaza: a primer
From Robert O. Freedman The Israeli-Hamas ceasefire, signed on June 9, 2008, had long been a porous one. While Hamas, for the most part, until November 2008 did not fire its own rockets at Israel, it permitted other groups, such as the Iranian-supported Islamic Jihad, to do so. These limited rocket attacks, while clear violations […]
Posted in Adam Garfinkle, Alan Dowty, Diplomacy, Israel, Josef Joffe, Mark N. Katz, Palestinians, Raymond Tanter, Robert O. Freedman, Robert Satloff, Syria, Tamara Cofman Wittes, Walter Reich on Nov 20th, 2008 Comments Off on A Middle East envoy?
From MESH Admin Over the past week, MESHNet, the closed-forum companion to MESH, conducted a poll of MESHNet members, asking them who would make the best Middle East envoy of the Obama administration (if it is decided to appoint one). The structure of the poll emulated an earlier poll administered to a panel of Israeli […]
Posted in Alan Dowty, Hillel Fradkin, Robert O. Freedman on Oct 23rd, 2008 Comments Off on The Bush legacy (3)
As the presidency of George W. Bush draws to a close, MESH members have been asked to assess his legacy. What did the Bush administration do right and do wrong in the Middle East? What is the proper yardstick: Administration rhetoric or the range of the possible? Finally, as the pollsters put it, are we […]
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