Palestinians Need their own Vision 2030
A week after Israel and Saudi Arabia signed an MOU for the establishment of a seven-nation, cross-border, ship-to-rail transit network, Saudi media reported that Riyadh has suspended normalization...
Hussain Abdul-Hussain
Three Years On, Secretary of State Complicates Abraham Accords Expansion
Three years after the Abraham Accords were signed by the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain, the White House’s efforts to tie normalization to the...
Flash Briefs
UAE Condemns Hezbollah as UNIFIL Mandate Renewed
Latest Developments The United Nations Security Council voted to renew the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) for one year on August 31. However, the United Arab Emirates (UAE)...
Flash Briefs
Saudi Arabia Moves to Assert Influence in West Bank as Normalization with Israel Appears Possible
Saudi Arabia is offering to resume financial aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank in exchange for security guarantees, The Wall Street Journal reported...
Flash Briefs
Will Abbas be the final Palestinian president?
Hussein Al Sheikh may be the PA’s number two now, but it’s far from certain he can withstand the inevitable challenges that will confront his succession.
Op-eds
Can Saudi normalization with Israel hurt Palestinians?
Riyadh has rightly stopped handing out free money to Palestinians unwilling to help themselves
Op-eds
Palestinians in Gaza Protest Hamas Rule, Rising Cost of Living
Thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip took to the streets on July 30 to protest economic hardship under Hamas rule. This public expression of discontentment constitutes a rare occurrence and...
Flash Briefs
IDF Intelligence Warns of Growing Threat at Israel-Lebanon Border
Israeli intelligence personnel have issued increasingly dire warnings about security on Israel’s northern border, Israeli media reported on July 28. According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Israeli Prime Minister...
Flash Briefs
Why is Hezbollah poking Israel?
It isn’t clear how Hassan Nasrallah could overpower Israel and force it to concede on any issue
Op-eds
Secretary of State and Arab League Chief Meet After U.S. Condemns League’s Readmission of Syria
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with League of Arab States Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit at the State Department on July 19. Blinken and Aboul Gheit did not discuss the specifics of their...
Flash Briefs
Iraqi sovereignty at stake in case of Israeli hostage
The Iraqi militia Kata’ib Hezbollah has been holding hostage, since March, Israeli-Russian Elizabeth Tsurkov, a graduate student at Princeton University. Tsurkov had entered Iraq, using her Russian passport,...
Op-eds
The Saudi-Iran Agreement: Should Washington Be Worried?
While a few statements and photo ops here and there might suggest that Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Muhammad Bin Salman (MBS) is in the process of replacing Saudi Arabia’s traditional partner,...
Op-eds
The one place in the Middle East where minorities are thriving
Those who accuse Israel of 'ethnic cleansing' should look elsewhere in the region – especially Lebanon
Op-eds
Iran to Reopen Embassy in Saudi Arabia as Blinken Visits
Iran is reopening its embassy and diplomatic offices in Saudi Arabia on June 6 after a seven-year freeze. The two countries made the decision in March, when Beijing hosted Saudi Arabian National Security...
Flash Briefs
Militias are a symptom, not a cure
Armed militias, wherever they operate, break existing systems, but like ruling regimes before them, typically fail to offer anything new or better.
Op-eds
Can COP28 Expand Israeli Water for Arab Peace?
Iraq needs water. Israel has mastered desalination and other water-saving methods. Cooperation in this regard could achieve great things.
Op-eds
What’s in the Saudi Iranian Beijing Deal?
Other than promising not to intervene in each other’s affairs and to restore diplomatic ties, Saudi Arabia and Iran did not agree to much in the deal that they signed in Beijing earlier this month. But...
Insights
Saudi Arabia, Iran Agree to Reestablish Diplomatic Ties
Latest Developments Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to restore diplomatic relations on Friday and reopen their respective embassies within two months in a deal brokered by China. Tehran and Riyadh severed...
Flash Briefs
Biden’s diplomacy without deadlines erodes US-Gulf alliance
Whatever its Gulf policy, the Biden administration’s approach should be coherent, but that has simply not been the case
Op-eds
Oman Joins Saudi Arabia in Opening Airspace to Israel
Latest Developments Oman announced today that it would open its civilian airspace to all countries, a de facto granting of overflight rights to Israeli carriers by the Gulf sultanate, which has no formal...