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292. Empowering Mahmoud Abbas after Disengagement
- Author:
- Mohammed Yaghi
- Publication Date:
- 09-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- Empowering Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas and fellow moderates at this critical time may be in the interest of everyone who favors a return to peace negotiations, but Abbas himself faces immense challenges to his authority that make him unlikely to be able to implement significant changes in the four months left before Palestinian legislative elections in January. The weakened position Abbas inherited included limited control over security forces, paralyzing rivalries within the Fatah movement that limit any support for difficult decisions, and an increasingly assertive Hamas that constantly flaunts its ability to act independently. None of these sources of Abbas's weakness is likely to change significantly in the coming months. And, despite Abbas's intentions to establish law and order and begin economic revitalization in Gaza as articulated in a speech delivered on September 13, the chaos exhibited along the border at Rafah and in the old Israeli settlements immediately after the Israeli withdrawal demonstrates just how difficult his task will be.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Palestine
293. A Wind in Hamas's Sails: Palestinian Militants Gather Post-Disengagement Momentum
- Author:
- Michael Herzog
- Publication Date:
- 09-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- On September 12, the last departing Israeli forces closed the gates of Gaza behind them, followed by a salvo of Palestinian rockets aimed at southern Israel. In the unsettled aftermath of the Israeli disengagement from Gaza and parts of the northern West Bank, only one camp seems clearly to know where it is heading -- the militant Palestinian Islamist groups, led by Hamas. These groups now profess their intention to continue their violent campaign in and from the West Bank. Their strategy, using armed and political capabilities, poses a serious challenge to both Palestinian and Israeli leaderships and may undermine prospects of improved Israeli-Palestinian relations.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Ethnic Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
294. Post-Gaza Crises for Religious Zionism in Israel
- Author:
- David Makovsky
- Publication Date:
- 09-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- Israeli disengagement from Gaza and the northern West Bank settlements has left in its wake three important crises for the religious Zionist movement that spearheaded settlements in Israel. These crises involve the settlers' future relationships with the Israeli public, the Israeli state, and the political secular right. For settlers, these three relationships are now colored by a sense of betrayal, raising the question of whether disengagement will radicalize the ideological settlers.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, and Gaza
295. Encouraging a Tougher PA Response to the Hamas Challenge
- Author:
- Michael Herzog
- Publication Date:
- 07-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's July 22-24 visit to the Israeli-Palestinian scene came amid critical domestic challenges to the Palestinian leadership against the backdrop of imminent Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank, scheduled to begin August 15. In an unprecedented step, Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas recently demonstrated the will to enforce his policy of nonviolence on Hamas and curb the group's efforts to become an alternative armed authority. Given his precarious vacillation between appeasement and enforcement, the international community should encourage Abbas to continue down the latter path and provide him with practical support toward that end.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
296. Gaza Disengagement: The U.S. Role in Ensuring Success on the Ground
- Author:
- Dennis Ross
- Publication Date:
- 07-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- I have spent the past month in Jerusalem, meeting with Israelis and Palestinians here, in Ramallah, and in Gaza City. In my years of dealing with both sides, I cannot recall a time when emotion in general, and frustration in particular, have so clearly shaped their outlook. Given the death of Yasser Arafat, the emergence of Mahmoud Abbas, and Ariel Sharon's decision to disengage from Gaza, this should be a time of hope and opportunity. Instead, there is less a sense of possibility than of foreboding. It may not yet be too late to use the withdrawal as a platform on which to build a different future. Yet, much of what could have been done to prepare the ground for disengagement has not been done—and that may explain the unease that pervades both sides.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, International Relations, and Religion
- Political Geography:
- United States, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza
297. Post-Conflict Recovery: Does the Global Economy Work for Peace?
- Author:
- Tony Addison
- Publication Date:
- 06-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Angola, and Sierra Leone are now attempting to recover from major wars, often amidst continuing insecurity. The challenge is to achieve a broad-based recovery that benefits the majority of people. The economic and social recovery of conflict-affected countries cannot be separated from their interaction with the rest of the world through flows of finance, goods, and people. Unfortunately, the global economy is not working well for peace. Trade reform, in particular, must take account of the need to create better, and non-violent, livelihoods for the world's poor: rich-country protectionism in agriculture hinders broad-based recovery and thereby harms the new international security agenda. Post-conflict economies also need more external finance to support early institutional development and reform, thereby increasing the effectiveness of longer-term aid inflows.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Economics, and Globalization
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Middle East, Sierra Leone, and Angola
298. PRTs in Afghanistan: Successful but not Sufficient
- Author:
- Peter Viggo Jakobsen
- Publication Date:
- 04-2005
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The report analyses the contributions made by the provincial reconstruction teams (PRTs) on the ground in Afghanistan. It concludes that the PRTs are successful because they have helped to extend the authority of the Afghan government beyond Kabul, facilitated reconstruction and dampened violence. At the same time, it is equally clear that they cannot address the underlying causes of insecurity in Afghanistan. The PRTs only make sense as part of an overall strategy in which they serve to buy time while other instruments are employed to tackle the military threat posed by the Taliban and Al Qaida; the infighting between the warlords; the increased lawlessness and banditry; and the booming opium poppy cultivation and the drug trade. A comprehensive strategy that couples the deployment of more PRTs by NATO with determined action against these causes of instability is therefore required. Future PRTs should be based on the UK PRT model, which is generally considered the most successful. To heighten its profile in Afghanistan, Denmark should consider establishing a PRT of its own or contributing to the establishment of a joint Nordic PRT.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, NATO, and Development
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United Kingdom, Middle East, and Denmark
299. Iraq: One Year After
- Author:
- Thomas R. Pickering, James R. Schlesinger, and Eric P. Schwartz
- Publication Date:
- 03-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- On March 20, 2003, the United States launched Operation Iraqi Freedom, designed to remove the regime of Saddam Hussein. By mid-April, major fighting was essentially over, and on May 1, the United States declared an end to major combat operations.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution and Democratization
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iraq, and Middle East
300. From Warlords to Peacelords - Local Leadership Capacity in Peace Processes
- Author:
- Gordon Peake, Cathy Gormley-Heenan, and Mari Fitzduff
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Initiative on Conflict Resolution and Ethnicity
- Abstract:
- The starting point for the research upon which the report is based has been our interest in the phenomenon of political leaders in conflict and peace building. In particular, this report has considered leadership in three countries that have attracted infamy for the protracted nature of their brutal conflicts - Afghanistan, Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Each country is now considered to have emerged from conflict and to be at formal 'peace'.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Peace Studies, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Middle East, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone