Update

This Update is focused on analysing the wider picture behind some recent events affecting Israel's defence strategy - namely, claims Israel launched raids on Iranian targets in Iraq over recent weeks, reports that Hezbollah has now established a presence in Syria on the Golan border with Israel, and the recent successful test of Israel's new Arrow-3 missile defence system in Alaska

In the wake of yet more tensions in the Persian Gulf - including Iran's seizure of a UAE tanker, and a US claim to have downed an Iranian drone - this Update offers some views and reporting on US and Western efforts to manage that tension. 

This Update features two pieces on the state of the current Hamas-Israel confrontation around Gaza, and the current strategies of the two parties - five years after the last major Gaza war... We also offer a unique insider's perspective on the Bahrain "Peace to Prosperity" workshop

As expected for several weeks, this week the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Iran had breached the 300kg limit on stocks of enriched uranium it is allowed to hold under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear plan.

The past week has seen the release of the Trump Administration's US$50 billion "Peace to Prosperity" economic vision for the Palestinians, and the holding of a "workshop" in Bahrain dedicated to encouraging and further developing this plan, with the participation of many Arab states.

This Update is devoted to the prospects of the upcoming "peace to prosperity" workshop to promote Palestinian economic welfare, to be held in Manama, Bahrain on June 25-26. The workshop, announced by the Trump Administration two weeks ago, is designed to be the first stage in the Administration's "Deal of the Century" Israeli-Palestinian peace plan

Israel is going back to the polls again on Sept. 17. This Update is devoted to how and why this unprecedented political event occurred, its wider implications and what might happen in the new poll.

This Update is dedicated to the aftermath of the major battle around Gaza that took place last weekend. It was the worst such violence since the 2014 Gaza war and saw 690 rockets fired into Israel, 4 Israelis killed, and at least 23 Palestinians, most of them members of terrorist groups, killed in Israeli counter-strikes.

This Update features material on the growing financial crisis being faced by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the wake of its refusal to accept tax funds from Israel because of Israel's deduction from these funds of money allocated for "pay for slay" payments to terrorists and their families, and its implications for Palestinian politics.

Israel's election is over, and despite the fact that the two largest parties, Likud and Blue and White, finished with only a one-seat difference, it looks virtually certain the incumbent PM Binyamin Netanyahu will form Israel's next government. This Update follows up with some expert analysis of what the result means and its implications for the future.