Regime Change in Tunisia
January 18, 2011 | AIJAC staff
This Update deals with the sudden overthrow of the Ben Ali dictatorship in Tunisia over the weekend. It focuses especially on two questions about the aftermath of this event: Is democracy now in the cards for Tunisia, and what are the implications of the regime change in Tunis for other Middle Eastern autocracies?
More Time on Iran?/ Lebanon in Crisis
January 13, 2011 | AIJAC staff
Two senior Israeli figures, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon and Meir Dagan, the retiring head of the Mossad intelligence agency, have recently suggested that current setbacks in Iran’s nuclear program mean there is now more time that previously thought to deal with this issue – perhaps up to four years according to Dagan.
The Gaza Problem
January 7, 2011 | AIJAC staff
This first Update of 2011 contains two new pieces on the always troublesome situation in Gaza, especially in the wake of escalating violence sparked by rocket fire into Israel from there in late December.
The Palestinian Authority makes its next move
December 22, 2010 | AIJAC staff
Today’s Update looks at the strategy of the Palestinian Authority (PA) following the unequivocal signs that it will not be returning to negotiations – direct or indirect – with Israel anytime soon.
Peace Prospects: Impasse, impossible or improving?
December 17, 2010 | AIJAC staff
Today’s Update continues the theme of analysing the latest impasse in Israeli-Palestinian peace making. We begin with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon who, in his usual direct manner, nails the issue: that Palestinians have retreated from previous agreed-upon positions, remain obstructionist in most matters of negotiating an agreement, and that settlements are not the obstacle on the road to peace.
US pulls the plug on settlement moratorium deal
December 10, 2010 | AIJAC staff
The US government has announced it is no longer seeking a second Israeli moratorium on construction in settlements for 90 days. This is because the administration “concluded that even if Mr. Netanyahu persuaded his cabinet to accept a freeze – which he had not yet been able to do – the 90-day negotiating period would not have produced the progress on core issues that the United States originally had sought.”
New P5+1 talks on Iran’s nuclear program
December 8, 2010 | AIJAC staff
As readers may be aware, earlier this week saw the renewal of talks in Geneva between Iran and the “P5 + 1”, that is, the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, concerning Iran’s continued nuclear defiance.
Refugees, revisionism and the real barriers to peace
December 3, 2010 | AIJAC staff
Today’s Update features some new writing on some of the real barriers to an Israeli-Palestinian two state peace. First up is well-known Israeli columnist and writer Ari Shavit, who says the latest Wikileaks revelations show that the West’ accepted dogma about the Middle East is wrong, and this is what is blocking peace.
Yet another Wikileaks document release
December 2, 2010 | AIJAC staff
A third tranche of “Wikileaks” documents has again dominated headlines over the past few days – this time 250,000 US State Department cables. This Update looks at the revelations they contain and their implications.
Ahmadinejad in Political Trouble?
November 26, 2010 | AIJAC staff
It was reported earlier this week that the Iranian parliament or Majlis, started to move to impeach hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, until he was rescued from the move by the intervention of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This Update looks at what is going on in Iranian internal politics in the context of this news.
