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6341. Terror At the Hajj

Author:
Anna Robinowitz
Publication Date:
03-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Among the two million Muslims participating in this year's Hajj in Mecca were a relatively small number of Palestinians and Israeli Arabs. While the vast majority of these pilgrims devoted all of their time in Mecca to religious purposes, others participated in meetings with terrorist operatives as well. Indeed, Hamas, Hizballah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have all attempted to recruit future terrorists -- particularly from the coveted Israeli Arab pool -- during the Hajj and lesser pilgrimages to Mecca (or 'umrah). For example, over the past two-and-a-half years, Israeli security forces have arrested two Hizballah terrorists recruited during the Hajj and seven other terrorists recruited while making 'umrah. The fact that terrorist groups of any sort are operating at the Hajj has dangerous implications for the United States. Indeed, it would be naive to assume that al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations targeting U.S. interests are not using Mecca as a convenient and secure location for their own meetings, recruitment, and fundraising.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Arabia, and Mecca

6342. Special Policy Forum Report: Will Israel Withdraw From Gaza? A Labor Perspective

Author:
Matan Vilnai
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
On February 11, 2004, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Matan Vilnai addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. General Vilnai is former deputy chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). From 1989 to 1994, he served as head of the IDF Southern Command, with responsibility for deploying Israeli forces out of Gaza in accordance with the 1994 Gaza-Jericho accord. As a leading member of the Labor Party, he has also served as a senior cabinet minister and member of the Knesset since 1999. The following is a rapporteur's summary of his remarks.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution
Political Geography:
United States, Washington, Middle East, Israel, Gaza, and Arab Countries

6343. Special Policy Forum Report: Prospects of Israeli Disengagement-- A View From the Opposition

Author:
Shimon Peres
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
On February 23, 2004, Shimon Peres addressed The Washington Institute's Special Policy Forum. Current chairman of Israel's Labor Party, Mr. Peres previously served as that country's prime minister, foreign minister, and defense minister, as well as in numerous other positions during a career that has spanned six decades. For his contributions to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, he received the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize along with the late Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat. The following is a rapporteur's summary of his remarks.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution
Political Geography:
United States, Washington, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Arab Countries

6344. Is All Quiet on Israel's Northern Front?

Author:
Zohar Palti
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
For much of the upcoming presidential election season, the United States will no doubt be preoccupied with domestic affairs on the one hand, and the postwar transition in Iraq on the other. Although Washington undoubtedly hopes for a quiet year in the Middle East, reality might bring less desirable results. In the Arab-Israeli arena, the most significant threat to regional stability (beyond Palestinian terrorism) is the Syria-Hizballah-Iran triangle. Hizballah and Syria appear to be reverting to their traditional pattern of ratcheting up terrorist activity whenever they feel they are being ignored. Unless an effort of some sort is made to halt such escalation, Israel's northern front will become the site of a broader conflict in which neither Israel nor the United States wants to become enmeshed at the moment.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution
Political Geography:
United States, Washington, Middle East, Israel, Arab Countries, and Syria

6345. Assessing Sharon's Gaza Settlement Evacuation Proposal

Author:
David Makovsky
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Abstract:
Less than a year ago, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon rejected the idea of a unilateral pullback from Gaza, telling Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna that isolated settlements such as Netzarim were equal to Tel Aviv in his eyes. Last week, however, Sharon -- a leading architect of Israel's settlement movement -- declared his intention to authorize plans for a unilateral evacuation of at least seventeen of the twenty Israeli settlements in Gaza. Although some remain unsure whether the prime minister will follow through on this pledge, skepticism regarding Sharon's intentions should be balanced by other considerations.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, Israel, Gaza, and Arab Countries

6346. Algeria: President Bouteflika\'s Second Presidential Term

Author:
Ulla Holm
Publication Date:
11-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
For the second time, the Algerian president, Bouteflika has been elected president. He has now another five years for restoring the economy and for demonstrating that the army and the security forces no longer will be the hidden puppeteers of politics. The Algerians are asking themselves whether Algeria is on the way to further democratization after the sacking of the influential army Chief, Lamari. This Brief discusses whether there is a possibility of withdrawal of the army to the barracs due both to Bouteflika\'s and the army\'s wish to getting closer to the EU and to the US.
Topic:
Security, Democratization, and Government
Political Geography:
Africa

6347. Strengthening African Security Capacities

Author:
Lousie Mørup
Publication Date:
10-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
In preparation for the expected Danish membership of the UN Security Council in 2005 DIIS organised a conference to discuss how to strengthen African conflict prevention and management capacities and make the most of Denmark's Africa Programme for Peace. This brief sums up some of the main ideas which were presented at the conference. The discussion bore witness to the complexity of the issue and the tremendous tasks ahead facing the African regional organisations, and made it clear to this author that Denmark has to prioritise its efforts to a few areas where it can make a difference in the two years of its expected UN Security Council membership.
Topic:
Security, Peace Studies, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Africa

6348. Water and Conflict - Lessons Learned and Options Available on Conflict Prevention and Resolution in Water Governance

Author:
Helle Munk Ravnborg
Publication Date:
08-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Over the last decade, water scarcity has increasingly been coupled with international security. Hitherto, the focus of concern has been transboundary water resources and international efforts have been devoted towards establishing institutions for cooperation on the management of such transboundary water resources. Such efforts appear to be successful in mitigating potential conflicts and therefore need to be sustained. At the same time, however, several observers point to the risk that local water conflicts will increase in numbers and intensity. This calls for improved understanding of the nature, extent and social, economic and political implications of such local water conflicts as well as better understanding of how to achieve effective water governance, i.e. a legislative, institutional and regulatory framework which promotes equitable access to and environmentally and economically sound management of water. These are some of the conclusions emerging from a Danida-funded study carried out by DIIS on Conflict Prevention and Mitigation in Water Resources Management, which are further expanded in this DIIS brief.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, International Relations, Security, and Environment

6349. From Diplomatic Talking Shop to Powerful Partnership?

Author:
Halle Malmvig
Publication Date:
05-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
NATO plans to play a greater role in the Middle East. At the upcoming summit in Istanbul, the Alliance is expected to boost its neglected cooperation programme with seven states in the Middle East - the so-called Mediterranean Dialogue. The Dialogue is to be turned into a Partnership programme modelled on the Partnership for Peace (PfP) experience. This brief argues that NATO only can play a limited role in the efforts to reform and strengthen relations with Middle Eastern states. NATO does not have the political and economic tools necessary for tackling the root causes of the security problems in the Middle East, and there is a real danger that increased cooperation on terrorism and defence reform may undermine the overall goal of democratic and genuine change in the region.
Topic:
International Relations, NATO, and Diplomacy
Political Geography:
Middle East

6350. The Palestine Question in the Wake of the War in Iraq

Author:
Michael Irving Jensen
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
By mid-January 2003 the American Assistant Defence Minister, Paul Wolfowitz, stated that America would work intensively in order to create a Palestinian State as soon as the War in Iraq was over. In Denmark and other European countries a number of politicians issued similar statements, and peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis became an argument to justify a war against Iraq. Even people who were not convinced by the necessity of war began to argue that something positive would eventually emerge from the war – especially in the case of the Palestine Question. Their argument held that the Americans had to do something constructive in the Middle East. They needed to engage more seriously, and they had to demonstrate to the Arab world that although part of the "war against terror" might be taking place in the Arab world, it was not a war against the Arab world, or against Islam, for that matter. Thus, it was only logical to engage the US in the Middle East, and thereby do the utmost in order to force the Israeli occupation to cease. Despite the huge American problems in "post-war" Iraq the question of Palestine is still very high on the agenda not only in the Middle East, but globally.
Topic:
International Relations and War
Political Geography:
Europe and Middle East