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401. The Tragedy of Palestinian Divisions (Interview with Rashid Khalidi)

Author:
Rashid Khalidi
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Council on Foreign Relations
Abstract:
A leading expert on Palestinian affairs, Rashid Khalidi, says it is crucial for the Palestinian rivals, Hamas, in Gaza, and Fatah, in the West Bank, to reconcile and create a unified negotiating position with Israel. "This is not something that's impossible," he says. "Fatah and Hamas have agreed three times in the past, only to have those agreements collapse." Khalidi also urges the Obama administration to change its policy of isolating Hamas, which he says is counterproductive to the Mideast peace mission it has vowed to pursue. Khalidi says, despite his frustration, he has not given up on Obama's peace efforts. "I don't think that the moment has entirely passed when something can be done," he says. "I do not believe that it is too late to bring about a two-state solution."
Topic:
Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Middle East, Palestine, Arabia, Gaza, and Egypt

402. The Danger of Prison Radicalization in the West

Author:
James Brandon
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
CTC Sentinel
Institution:
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Abstract:
Since sayyid qutb wrote Milestones Along the Road in an Egyptian prison almost 50 years ago, prisons have become widely recognized as important incubators of jihadist thought.1 In Muslim-majority countries, a number of prominent jihadists were radicalized, at least in part, in prison, including Ayman al- Zawahiri and Abu Mus`ab al-Zarqawi. Islamist extremists in the Arab world have repeatedly used prisons to recruit new followers, reinforce the commitment of existing extremists and to network and exchange ideas with like-minded individuals.
Political Geography:
Egypt

403. Polling Saudis and Egyptians: Iran, Jihad, and the Economy

Author:
David Pollock
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
New data from credible private polls of the Egyptian and the urban Saudi public show strikingly high levels of support -- especially among Saudis -- for tough action against Iran's nuclear program. At the same time, these findings demonstrate clearly that economic concerns, rather than foreign policy or domestic political issues, dominate the popular agenda in both countries.
Topic:
Nuclear Weapons and Sanctions
Political Geography:
Iran, Arabia, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt

404. Hydro-Politics: Water and Difficult Dialogues on Resources

Author:
Abdel Rahman Tamimi
Publication Date:
05-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Macalester International
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Water is considered the most important factor leading to instability and conflict in the Middle East region. Recent analyses and reports point to the fact that the problem of water will get much more complicated than current politics can handle. This is primarily because the problem is in conjunction with the natural features of the region: it is dry and desert terrain. Indeed, desert covers 60% of Israel, 70% of Syria, 85% of Jordan, and 90% of Egypt.
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, Syria, Egypt, and Jordan

405. EU Democracy Promotion in the Mediterranean. Cooperation against All Odds?

Author:
Vera van Hüllen
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Kolleg-Forschergruppe (KFG)
Abstract:
Focusing on the Euro-Mediterranean relations since the early 1990s, this paper investigates in how far the EU has been able to shape its relations with third countries according to its democracy promotion policy. The paper traces the evolution of the EU's provisions for democracy promotion and compares the implementation of political dialogue and democracy assistance with seven (semi-)authoritarian regimes (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia) since the early 1990s. A clear regional trend to more intensive cooperation lends credibility to the claim that the EU possesses a certain agenda setting power in international relations. A systematic comparison across countries and over time explores the explanatory power of interdependence, political liberalisation, and statehood for the remaining country variation. The paper finds that the degree of political liberalisation in target countries is the most important scope condition for cooperation in the field of democracy promotion and points to the need of further investigating (domestic) factors to account for the EU's differential 'normative power' in international relations.
Topic:
Democratization and Authoritarianism
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, Arabia, Algeria, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia

406. Reflections on the War on Gaza

Author:
Camille Mansour
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
This essay looks at the Gaza war of winter 2008-2009 within its broader politico-military context. At the political level, Israel's post- 2005 disengagement policies and initiatives with regard to Gaza (and Egypt) and their implications relative to the future of the West Bank are emphasized. Militarily, in examining the background and objectives of the war, the author gives particular importance to the testing of lessons drawn from the past, especially the summer 2006 war on Lebanon, in the aim of regaining a kind of "Dahiya" deterrence based on reprisals against civilians rather than on battlefield victory.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
Israel and Egypt

407. Feldman: Governing Gaza: Bureaucracy, Authority, and the Work of Rule

Author:
Rochelle A. Davis
Publication Date:
07-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
Governing Gaza: Bureaucracy, Authority, and the Work of Rule provides a fascinating and sophisticated examination of the foreign governing systems enacted by civil servants in the Gaza Strip during the periods of the British Mandate over Palestine (1917-48) and the Egyptian administration of the Gaza Strip (1948-67). The mainstay of Ilana Feldman's book is what she calls "the tenuous domain of the everyday that was never entirely lost" in the "ruptures of Palestinian history" (p. 2). Feldman is both an anthropologist and a historian, and thus her book, an "ethnographic history," examines both the "government at work" and what it meant for people to "work for the government." Her analysis encompasses historical material currently held in archives in four different countries, enriched with oral histories of civil servants, and made sense of by her own experiences of living in Gaza amid the modern-day bureaucracy of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli occupation authorities.
Topic:
Government
Political Geography:
Gaza and Egypt

408. The Draft Party Platform of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood: Foray Into Political Integration or Retreat Into Old Positions?

Author:
Amr Hamzawy and Nathan J. Brown
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
In the late summer 2007, amid great anticipation from Egypt's ruling elite and opposition movements, the Muslim Brotherhood distributed the first draft of a party platform to a group of intellectuals and analysts. The platform was not to serve as a document for an existing political party or even one about to be founded: the Brotherhood remains without legal recognition in Egypt and Egypt's rulers and the laws they have enacted make the prospect of legal recognition for a Brotherhood-founded party seem distant. But the Brotherhood's leadership clearly wished to signal what sort of party they would found if allowed to do so.
Topic:
Democratization
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arabia, and Egypt

409. PolicyWatch #1399: The Future of U.S. Assistance to Egypt

Author:
J. Scott Carpenter
Publication Date:
08-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
On August 2, renowned Egyptian activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim was convicted in absentia for "harming Egypt's reputation," and sentenced to two years in prison. His "crime" was asserting in the Washington Post that U.S. aid to Egypt be tightly linked to specific political and economic outcomes. During President Bush's first term, Ibrahim served two years for "tarnishing Egypt's image" and receiving foreign funds "without permission." Ironically, he was finally set free after the White House conditioned future aid on his release.
Political Geography:
United States and Egypt

410. PolicyWatch #1373: Bush's Last Middle East Trip Could Be More Than Just Farewells

Author:
Simon Henderson and David Pollock
Publication Date:
05-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
President Bush returns to the Middle East this week for the second time in 2008. Initially planned to mark Israel's sixtieth anniversary, his itinerary has expanded to include meetings with top officials from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, and Saudi Arabia. Except for a trip to Riyadh, these meetings will be held at a World Economic Forum conference in Sharm al-Sheikh, Egypt. This lineup prompted National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley to say the trip has "both symbolism and substance" and, considering the urgency of the issues, something of substance may actually emerge.
Topic:
Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, Middle East, Israel, Asia, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan