Blogs

Middle East Matters

Robert Danin analyzes critical developments and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

Latest Post

Subscribe to Blog Updates
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wait for photographers to depart before beginning their meeting at the Presidential Palace in the West Bank city of Bethlehem
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wait for photographers to depart before beginning their meeting at the Presidential Palace in the West Bank city of Bethlehem (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters).
Subscribe to Blog Updates

Reading The Trump Administration in Ramallah

by Robert Danin August 6, 2018

Does the United States seek relations with Hamas in Gaza and to undermine the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leadership in the West Bank? Palestinians officials and insiders asked me this question repeatedly during a recent visit to Ramallah. At first, the question seems strange. How could well-informed insiders come to wonder if the United States prefers to deal with an Islamist terrorist organization to a leadership that avows non-violence and actively pursues security cooperation with Israel on a daily basis? Read More

Israel
President Trump’s Settlement Policy Breaks Ground
For the first dozen days of the Trump administration, it seemed to Israelis that they had a free hand to settle the West Bank. Israel announced its intention to build thousands of new houses, and Pri…
Blog Post by Robert Danin February 6, 2017 Middle East Matters
United States
Paved with Good Intentions? France’s Middle East Peace Conference
The Madrid peace conference in 1991 to launch comprehensive Arab-Israeli negotiations was a diplomatic triumph. The 2007 Annapolis conference relaunched peace-making and a new, well-prepared three tr…
Blog Post by Robert Danin January 16, 2017 Middle East Matters
United States
Secretary Kerry’s Vision-Seeking Israeli-Palestinian Speech
Secretary of State John Kerry just delivered the speech he’s been eager to give for several years. Following the abrupt failure of his ambitious all-or-nothing peace initiative in April 2014, Kerry a…
Blog Post by Robert Danin December 28, 2016 Middle East Matters
  • Donald Trump
    Trump May Inadvertently Force Netanyahu’s Hand
    The election of Donald Trump has fueled an intense struggle within Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over the future disposition of the West Bank that Israel has occupied for nea…
    Blog Post by Robert Danin November 23, 2016 Middle East Matters
  • Israel
    Foreign Affairs: The Struggle For Israel
    The July/August print edition of Foreign Affairs, entitled "The Struggle for Israel," is out. It includes interviews with several leading Israeli politicians and articles by veteran analysts Aluf Ben…
    Blog Post by Robert Danin June 9, 2016 Middle East Matters