Reflections on Conflict Resolution

The following sections are included:

• Dedication
• About the Author
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: A New Horizon for the Middle East and North Africa

With over 2.6 billion users worldwide, social media has drastically altered the traditional media landscape. Social media introduced a whole new participatory component, and an unprecedented ability to disseminate information and connect an immense user base. At the same time, social media features that provide this exceptional ability to reach new audiences bring with them detrimental side effects. As with many discoveries and innovations, social media’s meteoric development preceded society’s ability to fully comprehend, and appropriately manage, the ways in which it impacts on communities…

In light of Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential elections, the public discourse regarding the influence of social media in politics has seen a resurgence. In this environment, teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has attracted global attention following the rapid spread of her school strikes for climate movement through social media. With nine million followers on Instagram alone, Thunberg has leveraged social media platforms to magnify her call to action on climate change, highlighting the ability of social media to amplify voices that might not otherwise be heard, such as that of a youth activist. This article reviews the scholarly research around the role of social media in politics, and in particular the global political discussion surrounding climate change. It assesses the state of environmental politics in Israel, seeking to apply lessons from the role of social media in the global climate debate to the Israeli case. The authors conclude that social media has the potential to disrupt current political norms and elevate climate discussion in Israel, if leveraged by environmental activists and environmentally oriented politicians.

The rise of Anti-Semitism has become a focal point in the political debate within the European Union (EU). The European Council and Commission have made it their commitment to combat Anti-Semitism in a joint effort and clearly state that it is no longer solely the responsibility of the Jews to address Anti-Semitism. The EU urges member states to undergo policy reforms, in cooperation with the national Jewish communities and the Jewish Diaspora, to find suitable solutions to rising security threats within their states. Their overall aim is to enable a future for Jews in Europe and facilitate the ability for Jews to pursue their daily lives. Therefore, the field of diplomacy becomes essential. To reach policy advances in the EU, negotiations must take place at various political levels and in different settings to influence the respective societies and impact decision makers. This article attempts to identify and analyze the usage of dialogue, persuasion, and negotiations in the context of the EU’s efforts.

With the collapse of the peace talks we need a major initiative to delineate borders between Israel and Palestine as a first step towards partition…

In this essay the author argues that despite the flaws of the Oslo Accords and the current paralysis in the peace process all parties stand to lose far more from the cancellation of the Accords than they would gain. He explains in sobering detail the multiple ways in which Israelis, Palestinians and the international community would all suffer, warning that ‘if cancelling Oslo means resorting to one state, this would be lethal to Zionism and to the Palestinian goal to have their own state established throughout a negotiation process. Such a scenario would result in perpetual conflict and a most likely deterioration to a civil war’.

Historically Europe has been sidelined as a broker in the Middle East peace process, playing second fiddle to the United States. However, Europe plays an important role in any future scenario, and the internal social and political changes now underway will affect how it will engage with Israel in the coming years. This article provides an overview of European engagement in the peace process and proposes recommendations to promote a two-state solution using multi-faceted approaches to build a shared vision for peace. These emphasize: re-engagement in secret talks; support for constructive independent and coordinated efforts; and encouragement of unified efforts via international collaboration. The essay contends that if all parties take the necessary steps to secure the future of Israel and a Palestinian state, peace will be within reach.

By downgrading the importance of the Middle East in U.S. foreign policy, the Biden administration underestimates the threat of instability in the region to American security. Despite the frozen status of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and the considerable obstacles to restart them, a U.S.-led effort could help to gradually forge a “Framework Agreement for an Israeli- Palestinian Permanent Peace.” This policy brief outlines the principles that such a framework might embody, with the essential objective of two states for two peoples.

Saudi Arabia recently rejected America’s request that it reciprocate an Israeli freeze on settlement construction by beginning to normalise relations with the Jewish state. “Incrementalism and a step-by-step approach, has not and, we believe, will not lead to peace. Temporary security and confidence-building measures will also not bring peace,” Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, said in Washington on July 31…

On Aug. 13, a deal was struck that marks a significant geopolitical shift in the Middle East. It is not a “historic peace treaty,” as officials in Jerusalem and Washington described, since peace treaties are made between enemies. No state of war, nor conflict of any kind, exists between the United Arab Emirates and Israel — certainly since 1994. Rather, their relationship has been one of concealed friendship rooted in the post-Oslo Accords 1990s that has become open and institutionalized…

The following sections are included:

• Israeli Involvement in Peace Processes
• Characteristics of Israeli Behavior in Peace Processes
• U.S. Influence
• Status Quo Leading to Stalemate
• Domestic Politics
• Impact of Terrorism
• What Might a Renewed Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process Look Like?
• Conclusion

In presenting the US National Security Strategy document on December 18, 2017, President Trump referred to his predecessors as leaders who “made a disastrous, weak, and incomprehensibly bad deal with Iran,” and determined that Iran has the potential to resume its work on nuclear weapons. These remarks, along with the upcoming mid-January decision benchmark for the President on whether to sign waivers on the sanctions on Iran, make an analysis of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiation process particularly salient at this time…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Characterizing the Negotiating Parties
• Negotiating Leverage and Alternatives
• How is the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Related to this Arm-Wrestling
• Conclusion

For three years, attempts at negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian leadership have failed because of a lack of trust. It now seems highly unlikely that the two sides will return to negotiations — but that does not mean the status quo must be frozen in place…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Lessons Learned from the Gaza Withdrawal
• Meeting the National Aspirations of Both Peoples Through an Israeli Policy of Independent Steps
• The Policy Expounded
• Conclusion

(JTA) – “If there is something that deprives me of sleep it is the fissures in Israeli society,” former Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon declared, just after he resigned in May. That same day Ehud Barak, who preceded Ya’alon as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s defense minister from 2009 to 2013, accused Netanyahu of embracing a “divide and rule” approach…

Let me end with three short statements: one, our conflict is resolvable; we are not doomed to live in perpetual conflict. Two, the State of Israel needs a border, and it would be good if its borders defined its values and character as the democratic nation-state of the Jewish people: two states for two peoples, and a border between them. And three, time is always ripe for the right act…

The following section is included:

• Index