Essays

Trump’s Toughest Deal

Fall 2017

President Donald Trump has boasted “We will get this done” on peace in the Middle East. Negotiations between wary Israeli and Palestinian leaders might need a provocative jolt in order to stop the slide toward a “one-state reality.”

A Century’s Legacy of Conflict

By Abdel Monem Said Aly

Fall 2017

Understanding the lessons of a conflict deeply steeped in history is essential to resolving it. The strength of facts on the ground, the futility of “might makes right,” and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict’s persistent role in the region’s instability are all part of a legacy that must be acknowledged to achieve peace.

Peace versus the People

By Khalil Shikaki

Fall 2017

Palestinian and Israeli leaders could never reach an agreement on a permanent peace settlement. But what do public opinion surveys reveal about popular, and increasingly ambivalent, support for the peace process’ promised two-state solution among Palestinians and Israelis?

Modi in Israel

By P. R. Kumaraswamy

Fall 2017

Narendra Modi was the first Indian prime minister to visit the Jewish state. Now India, Asia’s rising giant, is stuck between a rock and a hard place: caught at once between its historical support for the Palestinian cause, and its rapidly growing business and technology relations with Israel.

Beyond “Land for Peace”

By Allison Hodgkins

Fall 2017

Peace negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis in the last quarter-century were never designed to support the establishment of a two-state solution. Brokers of the conflict should look beyond the “land for peace” formula and return to some of the finer details of UN General Assembly Resolution 181 on the partition of Palestine.

Trump versus Globalization

By Cathleen Cimino-Isaacs and Gary Clyde Hufbauer

Summer 2017

As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump campaigned on promises that would reverse years of trade liberalization. Whether or not he triggers a global trade war, his policies are undermining America’s standing as the preeminent world leader.

The Case for Open Markets

By Dany Bahar

Summer 2017

Is the free trade party over? Competition certainly has its losers. But the widespread discontent with globalization misses a crucial point: only more trade, not less, will reverse the slowdown in world productivity.

Anti-Trade Alliance

By Pietra Rivoli

Summer 2017

Who’s afraid of globalization? Everybody from Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders, it seems, and environmentalists and factory workers in between. An unlikely coalition of skeptics from across the political spectrum is driving the anti-trade movement.

Speed Bumps on the Silk Road

By Rebecca Liao

Summer 2017

China has unveiled a “win-win” policy paper to guide its approach to the Middle East. Its $1 trillion One Belt One Road infrastructure initiative will extend all the way to North Africa. But can trade buy Beijing political clout in the region?

Rajai and Musaab Fayyad in their greenhouse at The Brothers Farm, Zababdeh, West Bank, May 3, 2016. Marda Dunsky for the Cairo Review

Made in Palestine

By Marda Dunsky

Summer 2017

Expansion of Israeli settlements, restriction on access to water, and land confiscation are displacing Palestinians from agricultural livelihoods they have known for centuries. But olive tree growers and backyard gardeners are refusing to surrender their heritage. This is a story of farmers under occupation.

Is There Hope for Iraq?

By Muhamed H. Almaliky

Summer 2017

Defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria will offer Baghdad a fresh state-building opportunity to correct the mistakes following the ouster of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. As Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds pursue their own interests, a serious effort toward communal understanding is the key to progress.

Rise of the Militiamen

By Renad Mansour

Summer 2017

The end of the strongman era in Iraq has led to the rise of paramilitaries representing sects and ethnicities. Popular Mobilization Units have become part of the state’s official security structure. Although the PMUs have been instrumental in the fight against ISIS, their more powerful militias pose a stark challenge to the country’s future stability.

Scramble for Syria

By Mohammad-Reza Djalili and Thierry Kellner

Summer 2017

Iran’s support for the Al-Assad regime in Damascus has long provided it with a foothold in Lebanon, Palestine, and the rest of the region. But with its deepening role in the Syrian civil war, Tehran is losing hearts and minds in the Arab World.

Fury in the Philippines

By Richard Javad Heydarian

Summer 2017

When President Rodrigo Duterte unleashed a deadly war on drug traffickers, criticism by the Obama administration highlighted growing tensions in the century-old U.S.-Philippine alliance. Will Duterte’s budding friendship with a new American president head off Manila’s tilt to China?

Palestinian protester during clashes with Israeli troops in West Bank, Kofr Qadom, Feb. 10, 2017. Mohamad Torokman/Reuters

Ripples of the 1967 War

By Ahmad Samih Khalidi

Spring 2017

By crushing the Arab armies, Israel paradoxically resurrected the Palestinian national movement. But fifty years after Israeli forces captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the bitter struggle over Palestine continues, and continues . . .

Jewish settlement near West Bank city of Ramallah, Givat Zeev, February 7, 2017. Ammar Awad/Reuters

Myths of the Six-Day War

By Ilan Pappé

Spring 2017

Were Arab leaders determined to launch an attack on Israel? Were Israeli leaders willing to seek peace after their stunning military victory? New scholarship easily challenges the falsehoods long prevalent in Western circles.

Leaders pose for group photo at Arab League summit, Dead Sea, Jordan, March 29, 2017. Raad Adayleh/ Associated Press

Winds of Change

By Nabil Fahmy

Spring 2017

The Middle East is reeling from domestic battles between progressive and repressive visions, the impact of globalization, and an exploding youth bulge. Now the reemergence of Russia, the rise of China, and the election of a nonconformist American president also require the Arab World’s urgent attention.

Tunisians rallying for Nidaa Tounes party, Tunis, Dec. 21, 2014. Anis Mili/Reuters

Inside Tunisia’s Power Struggle

By David B. Ottaway

Spring 2017

Given the domestic upheavals that accompanied the Arab uprisings of 2011, how did Tunisia become the Arab Spring’s success story? Part of the answer is the pragmatism of the Islamist Ennahda movement, which formed a troika coalition with two secular parties after the ouster of the country’s dictator.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Presidential Palace, Ankara, Oct. 26, 2016. Yasin Bulbul/ Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s Authoritarian Legacy

By Halil Karaveli

Spring 2017

It’s tempting to blame the country’s recent slide into repression on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s thirst for personal power. But did the ruling Islamist party ever really abandon the country’s long tradition of state authoritarianism?

Modi at the Parliament House, New Delhi, Jan. 31, 2017. Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Modi’s Bold New World

By Michael Kugelman

Spring 2017

Narendra Modi was a global pariah only a few years ago, a Hindu nationalist vilified for anti-Muslim riots that left hundreds dead in Gujarat state. Halfway into his term as India’s prime minister, his swashbuckling foreign policy is scoring military and economic deals from Washington to Beijing.