The Choice for the West: Focus or Strategic Failure The Cairo Review | November 12th 2018

As published in The Cairo Review of Global Affairs. The last decade of the twentieth century and first decade of the twenty-first might be described as an attempt at peace-driven, then war-driven American-led approaches to the region. In effect, this was nothing new, Western policy was American policy, and America’s allies in the West dutifully fulfilled the role of mostly ornamental accessories, who on occasion brought significant dowries to the table. This was most on display during the defining moment of the era, Operation Iraqi Freedom. Then-British Prime Minister Tony Bl...

The Oslo Accords Are Dead, but There Is Still a Path to Peace Foreign Policy | September 13th 2018

As published in Foreign Policy. Twenty-five years ago, U.S. President Bill Clinton presided over a famous handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat on the South Lawn of the White House as they signed the Oslo Accords. Those accords, initiated at secret Norwegian-hosted talks between Israeli academics and PLO officials, set an agenda and a five-year timetable for a full peace deal that would initially allow limited Palestinian self-governance in parts of the occupied territories and entailed mutual recognition...

The Two State Solution: An AutopsyHenry Siegman - London Review of Books | May 24th 2018

As published in the London Review of Books.  During the latest outbreak of violence in Gaza, Israeli security forces, using high-powered rifles and live ammunition, have killed forty Palestinians (and counting), and wounded more than five thousand. B’Tselem, a leading Israeli human rights group, Human Rights Watch and Reporters Without Borders have all accused Israel’s government and its minister of defence, Avigdor Lieberman, of targeting reporters and mostly unarmed civilians. Lieberman replied that there are ‘no innocent people’ in Hamas...

Trump Is Following, Not LeadingDaniel Levy - Foreign Policy | May 11th 2018

As published in Foreign Policy On each side of Asia, Trumpian diplomacy is playing out in starkly different ways. U.S. President Donald Trump himself offered up the comparison as he dramatically juxtaposed his announcement of the United States’ withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal on May 8 with sharing the news that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would soon be landing in Pyongyang to finalize details of a Trump-Kim Jong Un summit. It’s certainly possible to make the case that Trump’s wild threats have created diplomatic space. But Trump’s own me...

Trump and Netanyahu Are Triggering a Risky, Unnecessary War of Choice in the Middle EastDaniel Levy - Haaretz | May 9th 2018

As published in Haaretz We will probably never know the extent of responsibility Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bears for the U.S. withdrawal, under President Trump, from the Iran nuclear deal. U.S.- Iranian relations have certainly long been poisonous, independent of Israel. Congressional enthusiasm for the deal was always low and, within the GOP, support for it near non-existent. Still, Netanyahu and the campaign he spearheaded certainly helped to create part of the backdrop to Trump‘s announcement; indeed, in his announcement, Trump gave Israel direct cred...

Statement by National Security Leaders on an Israeli-Palestinian Two-State Solution and U.S. Policy USMEP | March 2nd 2018

For three decades, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization have stated their readiness to negotiate a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the goal of achieving the two-state outcome. The United States has also accepted this goal and has played a role in trying to achieve that outcome. Unfortunately, every effort has descended into mutual recrimination and the possibility of a two-state peace has slipped further away. Given the degree of disruption and destabilization in the Middle East during this new century, it is important to remember that a sustainable and mutua...