Foreign Policy Blogs

Middle East & North Africa

Learning From Barbarian Underdogs

Learning From Barbarian Underdogs

“I have no forts, no houses, no country. I have no cultivated fields, no silver or gold for you to take — all you can get from me is war, nothing else. I have met your men in battle and have killed them. We are greatly pleased about this. Our men who have fallen in […]

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Extending the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks

Extending the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks

  A notable poll of Palestinians was published a month ago that did not receive much attention. The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Policy and Survey Research Center (PSR) in Ramallah, found that a majority of Palestinians support extending the peace talks with Israel past the April 29th deadline if Israel partially halts settlement construction […]

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The Pollard Chess Match

The Pollard Chess Match

Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard has been a thorn in the sides of U.S. and Israeli administrations for 25 years. Since his conviction of sending classified information to Israel when working for the U.S. Navy, the Israeli public and politicians have repeatedly called for Pollard’s release, with their request falling on deaf ears at the White […]

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Abbas Wants to Talk Borders as U.S. Led Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations Resume

Abbas Wants to Talk Borders as U.S. Led Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations Resume

Israeli and Palestinian negotiation teams are expected to meet today with United States Special Envoy Martin Indyk in Jerusalem to arrive at a formula for extending the talks past the April 29 deadline. The meeting was delayed 24 hours, with media outlets reporting different reasons for the one-day postponement. Israeli officials would neither confirm nor deny reports […]

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Erdogan stays in control – for now

Erdogan stays in control – for now

In September 2011, on the heels of the Arab Spring upheaval, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey, visited Cairo. In the shadow of the chaos of the Arab Spring, he took the opportunity to point out that “the Turkish state is in its core a state of freedoms and secularism.” Two and a half […]

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Was Assad Not Responsible for the Chemical Weapons Attack Last August?

Was Assad Not Responsible for the Chemical Weapons Attack Last August?

The journalist who broke the story of the My Lai massacre and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal believes that the al Nusra Front backed by Turkey, not Assad, was responsible for the chemical weapons attack last August. Numerous Turkish commentators disagree with his assessment. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who broke the story of the My […]

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Military Post Attacked Outside Yitzhar

Military Post Attacked Outside Yitzhar

Earlier this week, there was an attack on an Israeli military outpost outside of Yitzhar, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. It started with stones being thrown at the soldiers’ quarters. The site was then ravaged by hundreds of rioters. They slashed tents, destroyed a water tank, a heater, a toilet and other military […]

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Overcoming Impasse May Be in the Horizon: PA, Israel Open to Continuing Talks

Overcoming Impasse May Be in the Horizon: PA, Israel Open to Continuing Talks

On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would be willing to continue the current peace talks past the April 29 deadline on the condition that extended talks include the possibility of establishing a Jewish state with East Jerusalem as its future capital. A senior member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, however, denied the […]

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Israeli Terror Victim Refuses to Surrender to Hatred

Israeli Terror Victim Refuses to Surrender to Hatred

Despite losing an American friend to Palestinian terrorism and also almost getting murdered herself, Kay Wilson refuses to hate all Arabs merely because the Palestinian educational system teaches children to hate and some Palestinians decided to act on such hatred they were taught from birth. Kay Wilson has lived a difficult life. Both she and […]

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Palestinian, Israeli Leaders Showing They Do Not Want to Pay the Price for a Two-State Solution

Palestinian, Israeli Leaders Showing They Do Not Want to Pay the Price for a Two-State Solution

The floundering Israeli-Palestinian peace talks has put a simple fact into full view: Despite sizable constituencies among both the Israeli and Palestinian publics that support a two-state solution – which I have discussed in previous articles – the internal pressures that both the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships feel can be so acute as to derail […]

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MILF Signs Peace Agreement in the Philippines

MILF Signs Peace Agreement in the Philippines

Following forty years of fighting and tens of thousands dead, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) signed a peace deal with President Benigno Aquino’s government at a high-profile ceremony in Manila on Thursday. The conflict over control of this resource-rich area stems from the claims of its Muslim population to an ancestral homeland, dating back […]

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The End of the Road For Kerry and the Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations?

The End of the Road For Kerry and the Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations?

Starting with the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s signing of 15 international conventions, the dramatic events over the past week indicate that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have reached yet another impasse. Several officials on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s senior staff and inside the White House believe “it’s time to say enough.” According to them, […]

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Israel Condemns Palestinian Unilateralism and Calls for Pollard’s Freedom

Israel Condemns Palestinian Unilateralism and Calls for Pollard’s Freedom

Following the recent Palestinian initiative to go unilaterally to the U.N. in order to declare statehood, Israeli Housing Minister Uri Ariel, Israeli Justice Minister Tzippi Livni, and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman condemned the Palestinian Authority. Ariel called for Pollard to be released unconditionally, while associates of Lieberman stated that he would permit his ministers […]

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Women’s Rights Through An Artistic Lens

Women’s Rights Through An Artistic Lens

Rights American and other Western women enjoy are still hopes for women throughout the world. While Western women undoubtedly still struggle for things like job and pay equality, the ability to acquire an education and work are fundamental rights that, among others, are liberties women throughout the world do not yet enjoy. Saudi Arabia is […]

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Armed to the Teeth: The Security Problem with Libya and its Weapons Cache

Armed to the Teeth: The Security Problem with Libya and its Weapons Cache

  When the Libyan Civil War ended with the death of Muammar Gaddafi in October of 2011, the country rejoiced, as they had finally rid themselves of tyrannical rule that lasted 42 years. Shortly after, the National Transitional Council (NTC) declared Libya “liberated” and announced the plans to hold elections in eight months time. This […]

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