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Ever since the downfall of Qadhafi, Libyans have wrestled with the question of what to do with those ...
Continue ReadingThe last few days have been particularly difficult for Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, and especially so for ...
Continue ReadingIsrael, the United States, the UK and other nations have confirmed with varying degrees of certainty the use ...
Continue ReadingAl Jazeera recently interviewed Middle East Policy Council executive director Dr. Thomas R. Mattair on the U.S. reaction to ...
Continue ReadingAfter more than two years of civil war in Syria, few people dare to hope for a swift or ...
Continue ReadingIraqis across the country voted in provincial elections over the weekend, the first of their kind since the ...
Continue ReadingDr. Thomas R. Mattair, executive director of the Middle East Policy Council, was recently interviewed by Voice of America concerning ...
Continue ReadingPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has accepted the resignation of his prime minister, Salem Fayyad. Regarded as a reformer and ...
Continue ReadingIraqis are marking the ten year anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime this week. However, unlike ...
Continue ReadingTurkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will have much to talk about when he visits the White House on May ...
Continue ReadingTwo developments in particular have drawn the attention of the public and observers in the Middle East: the ...
Continue ReadingMuch to the chagrin of Iran, the Arab League voted last week to officially back the Syrian opposition, ...
Continue ReadingDr. Abdulaziz Sager, the chairman and founder of the Gulf Research Center, has published an important analysis of the problems ...
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The Middle East Policy Council ...
Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has finally apologized to the Turkish government for the lethal raid mounted by Israeli ...
Continue ReadingToday’s issue of LE MONDE, France’s preeminent newspaper, features a front-page editorial entitled “Israel-Palestine: the renunciation of Obama.” ...
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Barack Obama has embarked on his first presidential trip to Israel and Palestine. The White House has tried ...
Continue ReadingChina’s once-in-a-decade leadership change has just been completed with the appointment of Xi Jinping as president and Li Keqiang ...
Continue ReadingTen years since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Iraq continues to suffer from near-constant sectarian violence, which ...
Continue ReadingNews that an armed faction of the Syrian opposition captured (and subsequently released) 21 members of a UN ...
Continue ReadingTurkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruffled the feathers of Israeli officials and the U.S. government by ...
Continue ReadingThe situation in Egypt continues to remain unstable, as opposition figures call for a boycott of the upcoming parliamentary ...
Continue ReadingI’m delighted to be here. I want to thank Phil Wilcox and Anne Joyce from the Foundation for Middle ...
Continue ReadingPalestinians took to the streets this week to protest the death of Arafat Jaradat, a Palestinian prisoner in an ...
Continue ReadingNews of the appointment of former Kadima leader and current Hatnuah chairwoman Tzipi Livni as Justice Minister in the ...
Continue ReadingThe Council’s Capitol Hill conference this quarter examined whether there is a U.S. Grand Strategy for the ...
Continue ReadingTunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned yesterday, after failing to form a new coalition government. Jebali's departure comes after ...
Continue ReadingOn the second anniversary of the departure of Hosni Mubarak, the Obama Administration is criticizing President Mohammed Morsi ...
Continue ReadingWolfram Lacher has co-authored a new article analyzing the international effort to stabilize Mali, including a history of the root ...
Continue ReadingIn this clip from our recent conference, U.S. Grand Strategy in the Middle East, Ambassador Chas W. Freeman, ...
Continue ReadingIt was announced last week that Barack Obama will visit Israel, the West Bank and Jordan at the ...
Continue ReadingAll my life, I’ve been proud to call myself an Arab. Our ancestors gave birth to great civilizations and ...
Continue ReadingIt has been almost a week since the Israeli airstrike on a Syrian convoy allegedly delivering anti-aircraft weapons ...
Continue ReadingIn this new piece written for The American Prospect, Karim Mezran highlights the decline of law and order in the ...
Continue ReadingConflicting reports of an Israeli air strike inside Syrian territory have caught many in the region by surprise. ...
Continue ReadingIn this clip from our recent conference, U.S. Grand Strategy in the Middle East, William Quandt (Professor, University ...
Continue ReadingIn Egypt, deadly violence — never too far from the surface as of late — has erupted once again. ...
Continue ReadingReferencing his essay one year ago in our journal titled "The Syrian Uprising of 2011: Why the Assad Regime ...
Continue ReadingThis week’s election in Israel has once again failed to yield a clear mandate. While the current right-wing Prime ...
Continue ReadingBarack Obama was publically sworn in yesterday to a second term as President of the United States of ...
Continue ReadingThe attention of the world community turned to Saudi Arabia last week, as the controversy surrounding the execution of ...
Continue ReadingElections in Israel are fast approaching, and the notoriously fractious Israeli political system continues to prove volatile and ...
Continue ReadingThe new year in Iraq has begun much as the old one ended. The Nouri al-Maliki government appears ...
Continue ReadingThe enlightened thought, sweat and sheer hard slog that has gone into making the UAE the near Utopia it ...
Continue ReadingAs the U.S. Treasury gears up to impose new sanctions in 2013, Iran will be looking for ways to rearrange ...
Continue ReadingThe Israeli government is promising to make good on its threat to retaliate against the Palestinian Authority’s decision to seek ...
Continue ReadingCouncil board member Karen AbuZayd is part of the independent international Commission of Inquiry on Syria, mandated by the UN ...
Continue ReadingOn Saturday, the Egyptians went to the polls to determine the fate of the country’s much contested new constitution. The ...
Continue ReadingThis report from 1996 was prepared for newly elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Authored by the Institute for Strategic ...
Continue ReadingBahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa said Bahrain must continue political and judicial reforms in an address ...
Continue ReadingFollowing the UN General Assembly’s overwhelmingly supported vote to recognize Palestine as a non-member observer state, the Israeli ...
Continue ReadingThe conflict in Syrian continues to largely take the form of a sectarian struggle, with the Sunni majority ...
Continue ReadingAmid the pomp of the UN General Assembly vote granting Palestine non-member observer status, a forensic investigative committee ...
Continue ReadingShortly after being praised by Western observers for his crucial role in the Israel-Hamas negotiations, Egyptian President Mohamed ...
Continue ReadingThe ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears to be holding for now. And nobody stands to gain more ...
Continue ReadingThis week has seen a worrying surge in violence between Israel and Gaza. Claiming it was acting in response ...
Continue ReadingTalks between Egypt and the IMF regarding a loan package of $4.8 billion will continue through the end of ...
Continue ReadingIn this clip from our recent conference, Policy Choices for the New Administration, Scott McConnell, founding editor of The ...
Continue ReadingWith the entire world seemingly distracted by the U.S. presidential elections last week (not to mention China’s once-a-decade leadership ...
Continue ReadingBarack Obama has secured a second term as President of the United States, defeating GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt ...
Continue ReadingPalestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas seems to have come closer than other Palestinian leader to dropping one of the ...
Continue ReadingIn this clip from our recent conference, Policy Choices for the New Administration, Paul Pillar, former National Intelligence Officer ...
Continue ReadingAl Jazeera recently interviewed Middle East Policy Council executive director Dr. Thomas R. Mattair on the topic of U.S. policy ...
Continue ReadingIn the wake of Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s surprise announcement of early parliamentary elections, the main ...
Continue ReadingDr. Thomas R. Mattair, executive director of the Middle East Policy Council, recently chaired a panel discussing Iran at the ...
Continue ReadingThe killing of Lebanon’s domestic intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan last week in a massive car bombing in the heart ...
Continue ReadingChurch leaders represent an important constituency for peace. Recently a letter was sent to members of the U.S. ...
Continue ReadingWe at the Council are mourning the death of our former president, George McGovern (see his full ...
Continue ReadingThis week, President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney met for their second debate. Even though foreign policy accounted ...
Continue ReadingThe pieces of the jigsaw are slowly coming together, and from the perspective of Gulf States and Arab ...
Continue ReadingVoice of America recently interviewed Thomas R. Mattair, executive director of the Middle East Policy Council, on the disputed Abu ...
Continue ReadingThe new publication The Ayatollah’s Nuclear Gamble examines a neglected facet of the Iranian nuclear issue: the chemical and radiological ...
Continue ReadingOne hundred days into the term of Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Egyptians and the media are asking ...
Continue ReadingDear President Obama:
I have been tempted to write to you ever since your first days in office ...
Continue ReadingThe eyes of the world are fixated on the upcoming presidential and congressional elections in the United States. However, ...
Continue ReadingEver since the anti-Assad demonstrations began in Syria over 18 months ago, there have been worries that the internal ...
Continue ReadingThis week marked a grim milestone in the United States’ involvement in Afghanistan, as an American soldier gunned down ...
Continue ReadingMEPC boardmember Brian Katulis, writing for U.S. News & World Report, gives a mostly-positive scorecard to the Obama administration for ...
Continue ReadingIsraeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu showed his knack for the dramatic at the UN yesterday, bringing out a cartoony ...
Continue ReadingLast week, Palestinians vented their frustration against what they perceive as mismanagement of the economy by Palestinian Authority ...
Continue ReadingMost of the recent blowback in the United States against Mitt Romney, the GOP candidate for president, has focused ...
Continue ReadingThe U.S. release of a crude amateur film depicting the prophet Mohammed has sparked violent protests across the Middle ...
Continue ReadingIsraeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu insists that Washington must set clear “red lines” if it wants to stop ...
Continue ReadingMEPC boardmember Brian Katulis, speaking at an AEI panel, discusses the future of American aid to Egypt and Libya in ...
Continue ReadingAmbassador William Rugh, a Middle East Policy Council boardmember, has been interviewed by Voice of America's Middle East Voices, answering ...
Continue ReadingEleven years since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the debate still continues about the significance of the ...
Continue ReadingJ. Christopher Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, was among four Americans killed in an attack in Benghazi, Libya ...
Continue ReadingFollowing the conclusion of the Republican and Democratic Party Conventions in Tampa and Charlotte (respectively), observers and newspaper ...
Continue ReadingMEPC boardmember Brian Katulis writes an op-ed for the New York Times, describing differences of opinion on foreign policy throughout ...
Continue ReadingNine years after the death of American activist Rachel Corrie, an Israeli court has found not guilty the IDF ...
Continue ReadingNews of increased violence in Iraq has once again raised fears that the country might slide back into civil ...
Continue ReadingHaifa, Israel (CNN) -- Nine years after an American activist was crushed by an Israeli army bulldozer, an Israeli civil ...
Continue ReadingNext week, the member states of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) will meet in Tehran. NAM is an international organization ...
Continue ReadingAs refugees flee Syria and civil strife there becomes more and more violent, politicians and observers from the region ...
Continue ReadingIn this clip from our recent conference, Crisis in Syria: What Are the U.S. Options?, ...
Continue ReadingEarlier this month, the Iranian rial closed at a record low of 22,300 per dollar at currency trading houses ...
Continue ReadingIn what seems to have become a favorite national pastime, Israeli commentators and dailies have spent the week occupied ...
Continue ReadingKaren AbuZayd (former Commissioner-General for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East ...
Continue ReadingIn this clip from our recent conference, Crisis in Syria: What Are the U.S. Options?, ...
Continue ReadingThe militant attacks against Egyptian border police in the Sinai Peninsula seem to have claimed their most high profile ...
Continue ReadingEgyptian troops continue to pour into the Sinai Peninsula, days after the killing of 16 border guards by suspected ...
Continue ReadingAnalysts at the Middle East Policy Council’s 68th Capitol Hill Conference, Crisis in Syria: What Are ...
Continue ReadingLast week’s visit to the autonomous Kurdish Region in Iraq by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has drawn ...
Continue ReadingMitt Romney, the GOP candidate for president, visited Israel this past week as part of an international tour designed ...
Continue ReadingBrian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a member of the Middle East Policy Council ...
Continue ReadingAl Jazeera recently interviewed Middle East Policy Council executive director Thomas R. Mattair on the U.S.-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act ...
Continue ReadingAfter months of relative silence, Iraq is once again attracting the attention of the international community and regional observers. ...
Continue ReadingNews of the killing of several senior Syrian government officials over the weekend has sparked a serious discussion about ...
Continue ReadingWhile the civil strife continues in Syria, Libyans have gone to the polls for the first time since the ...
Continue ReadingEgyptian President Mohammed Mursi completed his first trip abroad as head of state this month. He visited Saudi Arabia ...
Continue ReadingA committee appointed by the Netanyahu government to examine the legality of Israel’s claim to Judea and Samaria (known ...
Continue ReadingEight years since his death, Yasser Arafat still stirs up emotions from both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Those ...
Continue ReadingLast week’s meeting in Geneva, which strived to bridge the differences between Russian and Western policies on Syria and ...
Continue ReadingPakistan closed NATO supply routes to Afghanistan six months ago, following a NATO attack that killed 24 Pakistani ...
Continue ReadingThe downing of a Turkish military jet by Syrian forces one week ago had threatened to turn Syria’s unrest ...
Continue ReadingLast week, with the attention of the world turned toward the presidential elections in Egypt, the Palestinians in Gaza ...
Continue ReadingKing Abdullah’s appointment of Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz as Crown Prince on June 18 was widely expected ...
Continue ReadingSky News Arabia recently interviewed Middle East Policy Council executive director Dr. Thomas R. Mattair on the flow of arms ...
Continue ReadingEgypt’s supreme court rendered a decision on Thursday which effectively nullified the recent parliamentary elections, bringing the country ...
Continue ReadingIraq’s governance drama has proved remarkably persistent. Nouri al-Maliki, the current prime minister, continues to come under attack ...
Continue ReadingTwo years after the Mavi Marmara tragedy — when nine Turkish citizens were killed by Israeli soldiers while aboard ...
Continue ReadingFollowing the worst single-day killing of innocent civilians since the beginning of anti-government protests in Syria, many commentators ...
Continue ReadingLast month Iraqi crude exports rose to their highest levels since 1990, averaging 2.51 million barrels per day ...
Continue ReadingThe results of the first round of Egypt’s presidential elections have taken many by surprise. While it was expected ...
Continue ReadingThe 28 member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) met in Chicago this week to discuss ...
Continue ReadingBrian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a member of the Middle East Policy Council ...
Continue ReadingLast December, Saudi Arabia proposed an expanded, tighter and stronger union for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Now, months ...
Continue ReadingFresh clashes in the northern Lebanese town of Tripoli have once again underscored the fragile situation on the Syrian ...
Continue ReadingIn an unexpected move last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called early elections for September of this year. ...
Continue ReadingIn November 2011, less than one year after the ouster of President Ben Ali, the College of Arts and ...
Continue ReadingLast week, protests against Riyadh’s decision to press charges against an Egyptian human rights lawyer forced the closure of ...
Continue ReadingWith the Egyptian presidential elections scheduled to take place in less than three weeks, the attention of the media ...
Continue ReadingOne year ago, on May 2, 2011, the elite U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6 unit killed al-Qaeda leader Osama ...
Continue ReadingOne year since the death of Osama bin Laden, regional newspapers and commentators are taking stock of the consequences ...
Continue ReadingBrian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a member of the Middle East Policy Council ...
Continue ReadingThe Middle East Policy Council is pleased to announce the release of former MEPC visiting scholar Mark N. Katz's new ...
Continue ReadingLooking forward to the 64th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel, many Israeli commentators and newspaper ...
Continue ReadingAl Hurra recently interviewed Middle East Policy Council executive director Dr. Thomas R. Mattair on the topic of Ahmadinejad's visit ...
Continue ReadingThe Israeli Defense Force (IDF) once again finds itself in the spotlight. News and video of the beating of ...
Continue ReadingLast Saturday, Turkey hosted talks between members of the UN Security Council and Iran aimed at addressing ongoing ...
Continue ReadingIf you believe state media in Iran, the Islamic Republic is now preemptively boycotting some states in the European ...
Continue ReadingNearly a year after failing to give birth to its own version of the Arab Spring, the majority Shia ...
Continue ReadingOver a month after the departure of the country’s long-ruling ex-president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen’s new leader, Abed Rabbo ...
Continue ReadingThis week, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt reversed its long-held promise that it would not field a candidate for ...
Continue ReadingDr. Thomas R. Mattair, executive director of the Middle East Policy Council, recently participated in the Policy Studies Organization's Middle ...
Continue ReadingLast week, Palestinian took to the streets to commemorate Land Day. As Miftah’s Julie Holm notes in ...
Continue ReadingThe targeted killing of three Jewish children and their teacher by a French-Algerian in the French city of Toulouse ...
Continue ReadingMembers of the Arab League are due to meet in Baghdad amidst violence and uncertainty. Expectations are low, with ...
Continue ReadingThe Guardian and Al Arabiya recently revealed that they had received thousands of leaked emails from Syrian President Bashar ...
Continue ReadingThe Philadelphia Inquirer has published an editorial by General Jospeh P. Hoar (USMC, ret.), former commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command ...
Continue ReadingKaren AbuZayd, former Commissioner-General for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) ...
Continue ReadingThe day that U.S. and international forces leave Afghanistan may have drawn nearer. After weeks of bad PR resulting ...
Continue ReadingArab leaders and officials will meet in Baghdad later this month for the annual Arab League summit. The meeting, ...
Continue ReadingDespite the news of a last minute ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, few believe ...
Continue ReadingVladimir Putin has, surprising nobody, won Russia’s presidential elections, returning to the office after his stint as prime ...
Continue ReadingFrustration over the escalating death toll and suffering in Syria is beginning to show. Fed up with what some ...
Continue ReadingTwo incidents in recent days have raised questions about the ability of the U.S. government and military to maintain ...
Continue ReadingLast week, Yemenis voted in an uncontested election for the successor of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The only candidate ...
Continue ReadingIraq’s Kurds continue to come under intense pressure from the authorities in Baghdad. In the latest twist of what ...
Continue ReadingAnthony Shadid, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the New York Times (and before that for the Boston Globe and the ...
Continue ReadingThe Israeli-Iranian cold war has gotten hotter, judging from news coming from India, Georgia and Thailand, where Iranian operatives ...
Continue ReadingSyria continues its descent into chaos as the Asad regime continues to brutally suppress popular protests and armed rebels ...
Continue ReadingThe secondary effects of the European Union ban of Iranian oil and new American sanctions targeting Iran’s Central Bank ...
Continue ReadingFollowing news of the recent negotiated agreement between Fatah and Hamas on a unity government headed by President ...
Continue ReadingLast Wednesday in Port Said, 74 Egyptians were killed in a riot that began on the soccer pitch — ...
Continue ReadingQuestions about how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program continue to occupy the pages of the regional dailies. Not ...
Continue ReadingRecent events in Libya have raised serious doubts about the stability and future of the nation. The ruling ...
Continue ReadingThe current Palestinian-Israeli talks hosted by Jordan’s King Abdullah were meant to offer a venue where the two sides ...
Continue ReadingMiddle East Policy Council executive director Thomas R. Mattair has been interviewed by Voice of America's Afghanistan Service on political ...
Continue ReadingThe French Senate this week passed a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian “genocide” in the dying days ...
Continue ReadingThe following article by Peter H. Stone appeared on the Center for Public Integrity iWatch News site on Monday ...
Continue ReadingNext week, the Egyptian revolution turns one year old. Much has transpired in one year, but unrest continues to ...
Continue ReadingGeneral Joseph Hoar (USMC, ret.), former Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command and current Middle East Policy Council board ...
Continue ReadingOver the last two weeks, Baghdad and other major Iraqi cities have suffered a barrage of suicide bombings ...
Continue ReadingRecent events in Israel have once again raised questions about the ability of Israeli society to peacefully integrate ...
Continue ReadingA new year has brought with it yet another attempt at bridging the gap between the Israelis and the ...
Continue ReadingAl Jazeera recently interviewed Middle East Policy Council executive director Dr. Thomas R. Mattair on the topic of U.S. sanctions ...
Continue ReadingAnalysts at the Middle East Policy Council’s 67th Capitol Hill Conference titled “Israel, Turkey & Iran in a Changing Arab ...
Continue ReadingAnalysts at the Middle East Policy Council's 67th Capitol Hill Conference titled "Israel, Turkey & Iran in a Changing ...
Continue ReadingAnalysts at the Middle East Policy Council’s 67th Capitol Hill Conference titled “Israel, Turkey & Iran in a Changing Arab ...
Continue ReadingAfter the tumultuous events of 2011, the ratcheting up of rhetoric over a possible conflict in the straits of ...
Continue ReadingIn the latest attempt aimed at bridging the differences between Fatah and Hamas (as well as other Palestinian factions), ...
Continue ReadingNearly a year since the fall of the Hariri government, the situation in Lebanon continues to remain tense. ...
Continue ReadingThe following op-ed by John E. Sununu appeared in the Boston Globe on Friday December 16, 2011.
The article is ...
Continue ReadingEarlier this year, Ayatollah Khamenei claimed that the unrest seizing the Arab world was inspired by the Iranian ...
Continue ReadingOn December 15, U.S. troops in Baghdad lowered their flag, signaling the end of the American military mission in ...
Continue ReadingThe New York Times has published an editorial by Charles C. Krulak and General Jospeh P. Hoar (USMC, ret.), former ...
Continue ReadingWith the Republican presidential primaries weeks away it is perhaps inevitable that some of the statements of the GOP ...
Continue ReadingThis week’s errant airstrike by ISAF forces — which killed 25 Pakistani soldiers — has raised the ire of ...
Continue ReadingLast week, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh finally signed off on a Gulf Cooperation Council-backed plan which transitions ...
Continue ReadingOver the last several weeks, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has been considering a series of controversial measures that ...
Continue ReadingAs suggested last week, the first Egyptian parliamentary elections since the ouster of Mubarak always held ...
Continue ReadingPressure continues to mount on the Assad regime from external parties and opposition tactics appear to be increasingly brazen, ...
Continue ReadingIn the three weeks since Saudi Crown Prince Sultan passed away, many Western pundits have speculated about succession, given ...
Continue ReadingIn a dramatic turn of events, and following weeks of frustrating diplomacy, the Arab League decided last week ...
Continue ReadingFollowing the rather successful conclusion of parliamentary elections in Tunisia, attention has now turned to elections in Egypt. ...
Continue ReadingLast week, Israeli newspapers broke the news that their government was considering a plan to take out Iranian ...
Continue ReadingFollowing the success of Palestine’s UNESCO bid, it was only a matter of time before the United States ...
Continue ReadingDr. Thomas R. Mattair, executive director of the Middle East Policy Council, has been interviewed by RTV Arabic regarding the ...
Continue ReadingLast week, Tunisia, the forerunner of the Arab Spring, held its first free elections since the toppling of ...
Continue ReadingMiddle East Policy Council Executive Director Thomas Mattair made the following comments regarding Bahrain at the 2011 Arab-U.S. Policymakers ...
Continue ReadingQaddafi’s death and Abd el-Jalil’s declaration on Sunday to apply Sharia in the new Libyan state have raised doubts ...
Continue ReadingThe Arab League met last week in an emergency meeting to discuss the ongoing instability in Syria and allegations ...
Continue ReadingAs news of Muammar Gaddafi’s death spread yesterday, many stopped to consider his legacy as well as what his demise ...
Continue ReadingLibya is restoring oil production faster than many analysts initially expected but probably not as fast as some ...
Continue ReadingFollowing revelations of an alleged plot by Iranian operatives against the Saudi ambassador to the United States, reaction ...
Continue ReadingThe news of a breakthrough in the case of Gilad Shalit — an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas ...
Continue ReadingThe tenth anniversary of the beginning of US military action in Afghanistan has provided an opportunity for looking ...
Continue ReadingThe Middle East Policy Council published the following press release containing a summary of our 66th Capitol Hill Conference ...
Continue ReadingThe situation in Yemen continues to remain deadlocked, despite months of anti-government rallies. Though opposition forces have been ...
Continue ReadingThe announcement of new parliamentary elections in Egypt, together with new provisionary laws governing them, has triggered an ...
Continue ReadingThis week’s announcement by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia that women would now have a greater role in ...
Continue ReadingMiddle East Policy Council executive director Thomas R. Mattair has been interviewed by McClatchy Newspapers on Texas Governor Rick Perry's ...
Continue ReadingIn his speech at the United Nations last week, President Barack Obama made clear what everyone in his ...
Continue ReadingAs discussions at the UN about the future status of the Palestinian Occupied Territories heat up, observers from ...
Continue ReadingAmerican hikers Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, captured on the Iran-Iraq border in 2009, have been released by Tehran. ...
Continue ReadingOn September 23, the Palestinian Authority is going to ask the UN Security Council to admit the state ...
Continue ReadingLost amidst the Arab Spring turmoil and recent events in Libya and Syria, the news coming out of Iraq ...
Continue ReadingThe Committee on Mission Responsibility through Investment, an important part of the hierarchy of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has ...
Continue ReadingPrince Turki al-Faisal, former director of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence service, former ambassador to the United States and current ...
Continue ReadingLast Friday, hundreds of Egyptian youths stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo and set it on fire, triggering ...
Continue ReadingKaren AbuZayd, former Commissioner-General for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) ...
Continue ReadingTen years since that fateful day in September, commentators and editorials have begun reflecting on the significance of ...
Continue ReadingThe salvation of the Syrian people may not be achieved by initiatives of the West or international organizations, ...
Continue ReadingFollowing the release of the UN “Palmer” report on last year’s raid by Israeli forces on a Gaza-bound ...
Continue ReadingTuesday marked the first day of Eid Al Fitr. Leaders and simple citizens alike have taken the opportunity on this ...
Continue ReadingEver since the collapse of the Mubarak regime earlier this year, Israeli government officials have expressed concerns about ...
Continue ReadingPlanning is ongoing in Western capitals for a prominent international role in the state-building process that is to ...
Continue ReadingIt has been only a few days since the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) forces stormed the Libyan ...
Continue ReadingThere are many things that could go wrong in a post-Qaddafi Libya. The 20th century does not provide too ...
Continue ReadingThis weekend has been a decisive one for Libya. Having recently made substanial progress by capturing important cities ...
Continue ReadingRelations between Israel and Egypt have taken a turn for a worse since the fall of ...
Continue ReadingAs the Syrian government continued its policy of military confrontation against domestic opposition forces, erstwhile allies of the ...
Continue ReadingAgainst the backdrop of the Arab Spring and the removal of Hosni Mubarak, the long-simmering but low-level conflict ...
Continue ReadingEngland has been rocked for the last few days by rioting and looting in a number of its ...
Continue ReadingFor the last two weeks, Israel has been rocked by large street demonstrations protesting regarding recent changes in ...
Continue ReadingAs the trial of Egypt’s former president, Hosni Mubarak, began this week, many were incredulous at the events ...
Continue ReadingIn an unprecedented act, all four chiefs of the Turkish General Staff have requested early retirement. The move ...
Continue ReadingEver since December’s Tunisian revolution and the subsequent upheavals throughout the region, pundits and commentators have been asking, ...
Continue ReadingIn the aftermath of the worst attack on Norway’s soil since World War II, editorials and commentary from ...
Continue ReadingAs the Syrian government struggles to contain what is turning out to be a resilient opposition movement, many ...
Continue ReadingLast week, the Arab League released a statement in support of the Palestinian plan to call on UN ...
Continue ReadingThis week, the Knesset passed a law banning boycotts. The new measure has met with fierce opposition not only from ...
Continue ReadingWhile the Israeli-Turkish relationship had been on the decline for some time, the killing by the Israeli Defense Forces of ...
Continue ReadingAlmost six months after mass protests toppled the Mubarak regime, it is still unclear what the future holds ...
Continue ReadingLebanon is once again in the news as the Special Tribunal for Lebanon issued indictments for four individuals ...
Continue ReadingIn the past few weeks, Senators McCain and Kerry have emerged among the strongest supporters of the idea that ...
Continue ReadingThe arrest of Kiryat Arba-Hebron Chief Rabbi Dov Lior this week for endorsing extremist views has all sides ...
Continue ReadingThe Arab Spring is giving a new strategic role to Iran in the region. In this process of ...
Continue ReadingPresident Barack Obama announced last week the withdrawal of 10,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year ...
Continue ReadingThe deteriorating situation in the Palestinian territories, particularly in the Gaza strip, has once again captured the headlines this ...
Continue ReadingHundreds of protesters gathered this week in Iraq to protest the failure of the Maliki government to fulfill its ...
Continue ReadingAfter weeks of protests resulting in a government clampdown, the situation in Syria seems to be reaching a ...
Continue ReadingThis coming Sunday, Turkey will hold its parliamentary elections. Turkey’s two main political parties, the ruling Justice and ...
Continue ReadingIn Saudi Arabia, an old debate on whether women should be allowed to drive or not has resurfaced after ...
Continue ReadingLast week, the interim Egyptian government decided to permanently open the Rafah crossing at the border between Egypt ...
Continue ReadingLast Sunday, Islamic terrorists in Pakistan made good on their threats following Osama Bin Laden’s death by launching ...
Continue ReadingAfter triggering the collapse of the Ben-Ali and Mubarak regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, the forward momentum of ...
Continue ReadingPresident Barack Obama gave his second major speech on the Middle East yesterday, in which he outlined the U.S. ...
Continue ReadingIn his speech yesterday, the president committed his administration to supporting reform and transitions to democracy across the region, opposing ...
Continue ReadingAl Jazeera interviews Middle East Policy Council executive director Thomas Mattair on U.S. Sanctions on Bashar al-Asad and his associates. ...
Continue ReadingClick here to watch an RT Arabic interview with Middle East Policy Council executive director Thomas R. Mattair ...
Continue ReadingIn the course of last week’s meeting in Saudi Arabia, the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) ...
Continue ReadingIn Iran, tensions between the camps of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have been ...
Continue ReadingFollowing Egypt’s successful efforts to broker a reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah, against the opposition ...
Continue ReadingLast week Fatah and Hamas reached an agreement, mediated by Egypt. According to various news reports, it marks ...
Continue ReadingIn the age of instant communication, news of Osama Bin Laden's death spread quickly. Almost as instantaneous was the ...
Continue ReadingFollowing last week's decision by Syrian President Bashir Al Assad to lift the emergency law, in place for over ...
Continue ReadingTwice this month, members of extreme Palestinian factions murdered pro-Palestinian activists in Gaza. The tragedy has once again ...
Continue ReadingFollowing protests in various parts of Syria, President Bashar al-Assad promised in two recent speeches to move forward with ...
Continue ReadingLast week, the French government prohibited the wearing of the full veil in public spaces. Some see in the ...
Continue ReadingClick here to watch Al Jazeera's Riz Khan interview Middle East Policy Council executive director Thomas R. ...
Continue ReadingAs people in the MENA countries begin to assess the changes and achievements of the last four months, questions ...
Continue ReadingPreoccupied by the dilemma over what to do in Libya and more immediate concerns about a possible U.S. government ...
Continue ReadingFollowing Judge Richard Goldstone's turn-around last week regarding the findings of the UN sponsored “Goldstone Report,” Israeli officials ...
Continue ReadingIn an opinion piece in The Washington Post on April 1, Judge Richard Goldstone wrote that in light of ...
Continue ReadingFollowing the intervention of Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council troops in Bahrain, Iranian leaders have made a series of charges ...
Continue ReadingSoviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989; the Marxist regime Moscow had been supporting fell in 1992. The ...
Continue ReadingMiddle East Policy Council president Frank Anderson brings his experience in Afghanistan to bear in this NPR story ...
Continue ReadingThe following was presented at the Middle East Policy Council's round table discussion, "Governance, Human Rights and ...
Continue ReadingRemarks by H.E. Shaikh Abdulaziz bin Mubarak Alkhalifa, international media advisor, Information Affairs Authority for the Kingdom of Bahrain, Dr. ...
Continue ReadingThe following was presented at the Middle East Policy Council's round table discussion, "Governance, Human Rights and ...
Continue ReadingThe following proposal, endorsed by various signatories including former Mossad Chief Danny Yatom, former IDF Chief Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, General (Res) ...
Continue ReadingThe following was presented at the Middle East Policy Council's round table discussion, "Governance, Human Rights and American Interests ...
Continue ReadingClick here to watch a CNN interview with Middle East Policy Council president Frank Anderson discussing the possibilities ...
Continue ReadingClick here to watch a Defense News interview with Middle East Policy Council executive director Thomas R. Mattair discussing ...
Continue ReadingFollowing the widespread protests in the Middle East, Palestinian youth took to the streets last week calling for ...
Continue ReadingThe Council's website was recognized for a prestigious Interactive Media Award, naming us Best in Class for non-profit organizations. ...
Continue ReadingThe Arab world and other countries in the MENA region are deeply conflicted about the UN Security Council resolution ...
Continue ReadingOn the occasion of International Women's Day, many commentators and activists voiced their opinions on the status of ...
Continue ReadingAfter Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan in 1988-89, the regime it was defending there fell. This experience contributes to ...
Continue ReadingClick here to read a NBC interview with Middle East Policy Council president Frank Anderson discussing the Libyan government's ...
Continue ReadingJ Street, the dovish Jewish lobby, held its second annual national conference in Washington, DC, February 26-28. ...
Continue ReadingClick here for an interview with MEPC Executive Director Thomas Mattair discussing U.S. policy toward Libya and ...
Continue ReadingEarlier this week, the Egyptian military leadership approved a draft for constitutional amendments aimed at satisfying the demands ...
Continue ReadingLibya’s strongman Muammar Qadhafi appears willing to fight on against Libya’s own citizens, prolonging the battle between government ...
Continue ReadingOver the weekend, the United States vetoed a resolution before the UN Security Council condemning Israeli settlements in the ...
Continue ReadingFollowing the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, experts and pundits began commenting on the significance of his ...
Continue ReadingWith Tunisia and Egypt roiled by mass protests, Al Jazeera reports that Middle East rulers have been ...
Continue ReadingThe official Russian response to recent popular demonstrations against governments in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle ...
Continue ReadingAs noted earlier, there are several parallels that can be drawn between America’s involvement in Indochina ...
Continue ReadingThis year started with a series of significant political developments in the Middle East. The Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, ...
Continue ReadingLost in the news barrage on Egypt are two important developments elsewhere in the region: the scheduling of ...
Continue ReadingThe extraordinary uprisings in the Arab world that began in early 2011 have already achieved extraordinary results: the ...
Continue ReadingPresident Barack Obama’s electoral promises of change in foreign policy have come under fire these last few weeks. ...
Continue ReadingHaving stated in the last article that the “War on Terror” seems certain to continue for years ...
Continue ReadingWith the protests in Egypt showing no signs of abating, many regional governments are taking measures to head off ...
Continue ReadingClick here for an interview with MEPC Executive Director Thomas Mattair discussing the political situation in Egypt.
... Continue ReadingLast week, Al Jazeera and The Guardian began the release of what many are now calling the “Palestine Papers.” Continue Reading
One prediction about the “War on Terror” can be made with great confidence: It is not going to end ...
Continue ReadingFollowing a revolt in Tunisia sparked by the suicide of a university graduate prevented by police from selling fruit ...
Continue ReadingThere are many regional and local conflicts that are linked to the “War on Terror.” As argued in the ...
Continue ReadingThe Iraqi firebrand Moqtada Al-Sadr has returned to Iraq almost four years after his last public appearance in ...
Continue ReadingPakistan’s relationship to the “War on Terror” has been highly ambivalent. On the one hand, Pakistan played a key ...
Continue ReadingYemen has witnessed many conflicts since the early 1960s. Currently, there is conflict taking place between the Saleh regime ...
Continue ReadingFollowing the most recent setback to U.S. diplomatic efforts to mediate a peace process between the Israeli government ...
Continue ReadingIn light of the serious setbacks to U.S. efforts to advance Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the Middle East Policy Council is highlighting ...
Continue ReadingHostility between Iran on the one hand and the United States, as well as several of its allies (especially Israel), ...
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While there are many other regional and local conflicts linked to the ...
Continue ReadingJust as Iraqi politicians seem to have finally put behind them a rather difficult political season, calls by the ...
Continue ReadingAt the end of the ninth article in this series, I argued, “The emergence of…local opposition to ...
Continue ReadingWith the release of yet more confidential documents from the WikiLeaks website — containing embarrassing and revealing conversations and ...
Continue ReadingIf serious disputes arose between Islamic revolutionary actors, America and others might be able to exploit them. But will ...
Continue ReadingFormer president of the Middle East Policy Council Chas W. Freeman wrote an op-ed in the New York Times this ...
Continue ReadingFaced with the prospects of a yet another failed Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Obama administration indicated last week ...
Continue ReadingWhatever popular support they may have enjoyed before coming to power or just afterward, radical Islamic revolutionaries have quickly proven ...
Continue ReadingMany fear (and many others hope) that American withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan will lead to a takeover of these ...
Continue ReadingThis week five Arab women were given awards in Dubai for their contributions to science in ...
Continue ReadingWhatever the strengths and weaknesses of the Obama strategy toward the “War on Terror,” one aspect of it is now ...
Continue ReadingOn November 9, Jordanians went to the voting booths to elect 120 members of the country's lower house. The ...
Continue ReadingWhen he was running for president in 2008, Barack Obama argued that the manner in which the Bush administration had ...
Continue ReadingThe “War on Terror” is not taking place in a void. Other geopolitical developments affecting international relations on a ...
Continue ReadingMiddle East Policy Council executive director Thomas Mattair, author of Global Security Watch: Iran – a Reference Handbook, ...
Continue ReadingKing Abdullah of Saudi Arabia recently offered to host a meeting of Iraqi leaders in an attempt to end ...
Continue ReadingHowever well-intentioned the Bush administration’s efforts to democratize Afghanistan and Iraq after occupying them may have been, the pre-existing ethnic ...
Continue ReadingThe release of 400,000 classified U.S. military Iraq logs by the whistleblower website Wikileaks has been met ...
Continue ReadingEight years and two general elections since reinventing itself as a constitutional monarchy, Bahrain’s ruling house of Khalifa has reversed ...
Continue ReadingAs in Iraq, the United States and its allies did achieve some important successes in Afghanistan. Not only was ...
Continue ReadingChas W. Freeman, Jr., esteemed iconoclast and president emeritus of the Middle East Policy Council, has just brought forth ...
Continue ReadingMiddle East Policy Council executive director Thomas Mattair was recently interviewed by Al Jazeera on the topic of Iraq.
Note: ...
Continue ReadingFive years since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, sectarian and political peace in Lebanon ...
Continue ReadingIn this timely New York Times op-ed, Nicholas Krisof suggests that education is one of the best bulwarks against extremism ...
Continue ReadingAlthough the United States intervened in Iraq after it began its intervention in Afghanistan, it is withdrawing from Iraq first. ...
Continue ReadingAbsent the 9/11 attacks and the George W. Bush administration’s reaction to them, the War on Terror may not have ...
Continue ReadingIn November, Egypt will hold parliamentary elections to determine the political balance in the lower house, the 8th ...
Continue ReadingThe phrase "War on Terror" was popularized by President George W. Bush and his administration in the aftermath of 9/11. ...
Continue ReadingAt the beginning of September, the Bahraini government arrested 23 Shia opposition politicians on charges of inciting acts ...
Continue ReadingMark N. Katz, visiting senior fellow at the Middle East Policy Council, discusses Russia's foreign-policy stance and objectives in the ...
Continue ReadingThe “War on Terror” was launched by President George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist ...
Continue ReadingMuch has been made of the new diplomatic role of Turkey in the Middle East. However, the recent release ...
Continue ReadingAt a time when Israeli and Palestinian leaders are engaged in face-to-face talks, it might be wise to recall that ...
Continue ReadingClick here for an interview with Middle East Policy Council Executive Director Thomas Mattair discussing the Arab - Israeli ...
Continue ReadingThe officers and staff of the Middle East Policy Council extend our deepest sympathy to the family of Peter Gubser, ...
Continue ReadingAre the Iraqi security forces ready to stand guard over the country?
They are neither in a position to control ...
Continue ReadingMiddle East Policy Council Executive Director Thomas Mattair was interviewed by Al Jazeera. In this interview, he ...
Continue ReadingBy most accounts, the Obama Administration is tantalizingly close to announcing the resumption of direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, ...
Continue ReadingClick here for an interview with Middle East Policy Council Executive Director Thomas Mattair discussing the Arab - Israeli ...
Continue ReadingIn a likely indication of what to expect in the 2011 presidential elections, the results of Egypt's Shura Council mid-term ...
Continue ReadingDr. Mattair presented a paper at the Gulf Research Center's 1st Annual meeting at Cambridge University, held from July 7th ...
Continue ReadingAfter two decades, several false starts, and many missed deadlines, Israeli efforts to develop an ambitious active missile defense (AMD) ...
Continue ReadingThe strongest opposition movement in Egypt is facing an existential crisis. Long having posed the nation's most significant political threat ...
Continue ReadingOctober 2009 was meant to be a pivotal month for Iraq. Hard-won security gains appeared at last to have created ...
Continue ReadingThe window of opportunity for Yemen to shape its own future is narrowing. Already the poorest country in the Arab ...
Continue ReadingDr. Shahak predicted the catastrophe being played out today in Israel and the Occupied Territories. The following article "The Religious ...
Continue ReadingSome organs of the major media, such as The New ...
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From Gaza to the West BankThe frenzied media coverage of the evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza did not present many perspectives from the Palestinian ... Continue ReadingA Relationship in Transition - And Then 9/11Saudi-American Forum: Two years have passed since the terror of 9/11 changed the fundamental nature of the US-Saudi relationship. How ... Continue ReadingSaudi Arabia and the Forces of GlobalizationThe dominant power on the Arabian Peninsula, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has long been one of the world’s least ... Continue Reading |