Iran’s Green Movement: Ashura and the death of Montazeri
January 6, 2010 | AIJAC staff
The Iranian regime has had a bad few weeks internally, resorting to considerable violence to suppress dissident protests first during the annual Ashura Shiite religious festival and then again during the funeral and other mourning ceremonies for leading dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hosein Ali Montazeri.
Iran, Gaza and Gilad Shalit
December 23, 2009 | AIJAC staff
Today’s Update concerns the linked issues of Iran, Egypt, Gaza and the fate of Gilad Shalit. It opens with a discussion in the Wall Street Journal of “The Peoples’ Revolt in Iran,” an editorial discussing the mass protests at this week’s funeral for opposition figure (but former heir apparent to the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini) Hossein Ali Montazeri.
Barriers to two-state peace/ Olmert’s Offer
December 18, 2009 | AIJAC staff
This Update features some new pieces on the barriers on the Palestinian side which seem to be preventing the resumption of peace negotiations or achievement of a two-state peace deal after PA President Mahmoud Abbas placed some additional pre-conditions on resuming talks this week.
An Iranian nuclear “smoking gun”?
December 17, 2009 | AIJAC staff
As has been widely reported, the Times (UK) has revealed what appears to be a “smoking gun” on the Iranian nuclear program – documents which appear to reveal work on a neutron initiator, a nuclear component which has no other use than triggering a nuclear weapon.
Iran: Last Chance for Sanctions?
December 9, 2009 | AIJAC staff
Today’s Update features a number of pieces on the state of the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program – with a special focus on the prospects of additional sanctions now that the end-of-year deadline for negotiating progress set by the US administration is looming.
Obama’s Surge / Hezbollah’s New Manifesto
December 4, 2009 | AIJAC staff
We begin today’s Update with some analysis of US President Barack Obama’s announcement he will send an extra 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. The decision comes after the US commander in Afghanistan, and architect of the successful surge in Iraq, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, called for 40,000 more troops last August.
Netanyahu, Obama and Settlements / The Islamist Narrative
December 3, 2009 | AIJAC staff
Today’s Update features some additional follow-up from the Israeli settlement freeze announcement, looking especially at discussions of the relevant motivations of Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu, as well as lessons for the future of US-Israeli relations.
Israel’s cabinet formally approves partial settlement freeze/ Shalit Deal?
November 26, 2009 | AIJAC staff
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu formally announced yesterday that the Israeli cabinet had approved a moratorium on all new residential construction in Israeli settlements on the West Bank for 10 months, and called for a renewal of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
Iran’s rejection of the uranium deal/ Iran’s unpopular regime
November 25, 2009 | AIJAC staff
This Update looks at the state of the P+1 (US, Russia, China, Britain, France. Germany) group’s negotiations with Iran, and especially the apparent de facto rejection by Iran of the major deal on offer – which would take some Iranian uranium out of the country to be enriched for purely civilian use in Russia and France.
