European Council on Foreign Relations
Director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the European Council on Foreign Relations and editor of its Middle East Channel; senior research fellow at the New America Foundation; former Policy Director for the Geneva Initiative, a joint Israeli-Palestinian plan for peace; former advisor and peace negotiator for then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak
Netanyahu, the US and the Isolation of Israel The US and much of the world has long agreed that a two-state solution is needed to resolve differences between Israel and the Palestinians. After last week's reelection, President Obama told Benjamin Netanyahu the US will have to "reassess" its policy of supporting Israel unconditionally. In an exclusive interview with the Huffington Post , President Obama described what he told the Prime Minister in a phone call. "I did indicate to him that we continue to believe that a two-state solution is only way for the long term security of Israel if it wants to stay a Jewish state and democratic. I did indicate to him that, given his statements before the election, it is going to be hard to find a path where people are seriously believing that negotiations are possible." Netanyahu's warning about Arab voters sounded racist, and post-election claims that he doesn't really oppose a Palestinian state have been widely questioned. American Jews are divided, and Israel is becoming a partisan issue in Washington. After decades of American vetoes at the UN, will that mean allowing the Security Council to put Israel on the spot regarding settlements and a two-state solution?
Should Other Nations Recognize a Palestinian State? In the British Parliament this week, long-time supporters of Israel expressed outrage at the annexation of 950 acres of Palestinian land for yet another Israeli settlement. The measure passed 274 to 12—but more than half of the 650 members abstained, including Prime Minister David Cameron, whose government will ignore the action. Sweden’s newly elected government has recognized Palestine, and European support for Israel appears to be dwindling.
The Fight Against ISIS Creates Strange Bedfellows Last week, President Obama was taking heat for saying he did not yet have a “strategy” for dealing with the Islamic State. But Friday, after the NATO summit in Wales, he announced his intent to build a new coalition to oppose the group he refers to by one of its many names, ISIL—the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani's "charm offensive" When Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani was at the United Nations last week, President Obama made history by calling him on the phone—for the first direct contract between the leaders of Iran and the US in almost 35 years. But there was no face-to-face meeting—or even a handshake. And when he got home, Rouhani told local reporters he was the one who had turned down an invitation... 5 times.
New Rules for Violence in a Changing Middle East The death toll from Israeli attacks in Gaza is now close to 100, many children included, with almost 800 wounded. Yesterday, a bomb missed its intended target, killing 11 people, including nine in three generations of a single family. Three Israelis have been killed by rocket fire that’s come close to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Hamas, the elected leadership in Gaza, appears emboldened by the Arab Spring, and says the barrage won’t end until Israel agrees to concessions. Prime Minister Netanyahu, facing a re-election campaign, refuses to halt Israeli airstrikes until rockets from Gaza stop falling. We update the prospects for a ceasefire, the Arab spring and Israeli politics.
Obama, Netanyahu and the Threat of a Nuclear Iran As President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu finished exchanging views about Iran's nuclear program, came a surprise announcement from Brussels today: Europe, China, Russia and the United States will accept Iran's invitation to renew talks that ended more than a year ago. The possibility of attacking Iran's nuclear program has been the principal topic of Netanyahu's visit to Washington. Have the prospects changed?
The President, the Prime Minister and Possible War with Iran Just as President Obama 's agreed with Prime Minister Netanyahu that Israel has the right to attack Iran's nuclear program, there's a proposal for renewed diplomacy. Europe, Russia, China and the US have accepted Iran's invitation for renewal of talks that broke down more than a year ago. Are upcoming new sanctions already working, as the President hoped they would, or will this be just another effort to kick the can down the road? Has Netanyahu's visit to Washington altered the prospects for armed conflict in the Middle East?
A Real Case of Murder Unfolds Like a Hollywood Thriller On January 19, a military official from the Palestinian group Hamas was killed in his luxury hotel room in the Arab Emirate of Dubai. The Dubai police call the death of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh an assassination by agents of Israel, who allegedly entered Dubai using the identities of other, real people and whose pictures were recorded on surveillance cameras at the airport and at the hotel itself. The Israeli government has said nothing, but the incident has lit political firestorms in Israel itself and around the world. Were the killers agents of Israel? Why did they falsely adopt the identities of real Israelis and allow themselves to be videotaped? Was it a targeted assassination justified in the interests of national defense? Is that like the US practice of using Predator drones to take out the leaders of the Taliban and al Qaeda?
Barack Obama, the Middle East and Iran Israel and Hamas have rebuffed peace overtures, and the fighting in Gaza goes on, with President-elect Obama in the midst of choosing his foreign policy team . Israel says Iran is behind Hamas' rocket fire, and Obama today called Iran a "genuine threat" to America's national security. But he also repeated his campaign pledge to rely on diplomacy in the region, adding that "my national security team is a reflection of that practical, pragmatic approach to foreign policy." We hear about his most likely advisors. Will they open up to Arab and Muslim interests or continue the hard-line, pro-Israel line of the Bush Administration?
Middle East Peace and the So-called 'Israeli Lobby' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the Middle East this week, meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas . That is something Israel has said it will not do, since Abbas' Fatah faction formed a unity government with the more radical Hamas, which refuses to recognize the Jewish state. Meantime in the US, there's heated debate over the so-called "Israel Lobby," epitomized by the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee . Some influential Jewish Americans contend that AIPAC and its allies are too conservative, but say that AIPAC and its allies are so powerful they have squelched debate about American policy in the Middle East. They say that's bad for both the US and Israel itself where, ironically, debate is much more open.
Another Effort at Middle East Peace After testifying to Congress on Thursday about Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will leave for the Middle East on Friday. Her first stops are Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories as she tries to revive the peace process at a time when Palestinian factions are on the verge of civil war and Israelis have lost confidence in their government. We ask both sides if internal conflicts make this the right time for compromise on their most basic issues. Will Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia make helpful concessions because they’re worried about Iran? Does the road to regional stability run through Jerusalem instead of Baghdad after all? We speak with journalists, Palestinians and Israelis, including a former advisor to Ariel Sharon.
One Year Later: Rebuilding from the Thomas Fire This week marks one year since the Thomas Fire descended on the city of Ventura. It burned more than 500 homes within city limits. Since then, roughly half of those properties have received the green-light to start construction, but only a handful have actually broken ground. We visit one neighborhood where some of the first homes are getting rebuilt.
One Year Later: How Ojai Weathered the Thomas Fire Ventura County residents recall how the largest fire in state history, at the time, ignited and threatened to engulf the city of Ojai.
How will the Santa Monica Mountains recover after the Woolsey Fire? The Woolsey Fire that scorched parts of LA and Ventura County was destructive to life and property. But the fire also left a scar on the ecology. We go on a hike with an ecologist.
Repainting the Sheriff's department, tan and green Barring any unforeseen changes, there will be a new L.A. County Sheriff at the start of next week. Alex Villanueva defeated sitting Sheriff, Jim McDonnell, in this month’s midterms after running a partisan campaign that lead to the first ouster of a sitting Sheriff in more than a century. Villanueva told KCRW this week that his goal is to rid the department of officials that, he said, contributed to a corrupt culture under previous leadership. But there is a lot of concern about what that will look like and if recent reforms could be rolled back.