Lebanon: Political Imagination, Accountability, and a New Roadmap for Regional Stability

By Ayman Mhanna / Fall 2025

Independent media, some syndicates, civil society organizations, student movements, reform-minded entrepreneurs, and the diaspora continue to carve out spaces of accountability, even as national institutions flounder

Rebuilding from Rubble: The Future of Gaza

By Abigail Flynn / Spring/Summer 2025

Amid the dust and rubble, the new ceasefire offers relief to a war-ravaged Gaza; hope remains for a bright future in the Strip as questions surface of the role civil servants formerly employed by Hamas will play in governance

Trump’s Peace Plan for Gaza: The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown

Fall 2025

The most recent ceasefire deal proposed by the U.S. president makes big promises, but can it deliver?

Beyond Its Wildest Dreams: Israel’s Campaign for Geo-Strategic Dominance in the Middle East

By Richard Silverstein / Fall 2025

Israeli hubris as it celebrates the demise of its enemies will be its ultimate downfall

The Double Genocide in Gaza

By Gregory H. Stanton / Fall 2025

Israel’s disproportionate response to Hamas’ October 7, 2023 massacre includes genocide against Palestinians in Gaza

A State is not Built with Rhetoric Alone—with H.A. Hellyer: CR Amplified ep. 5

By Abigail Flynn / Fall 2025

Verbal gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state mean little without practical policies to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law

Caught in the Crossfire: Jordan’s Balancing Act in the Iran-Israel Conflict

By Francesca Maria Lorenzini and Kourosh Ziabari / Fall 2025

Jordan’s defensive action to intercept Iran’s retaliatory drones and missiles, slashing through its skies in mid-June, has drawn both approval and criticism, underscoring the kingdom’s struggles to balance strategic alliances with public opinion

Israel and Iran: Major Threats to Middle East Stability

By Erwin van Veen / Fall 2025

Both states have violated international law and instigated regional chaos

Confederative Futures and the Burden of Leadership in Israel/Palestine

By Klara Vlahčević Lisinski / Fall 2025

The pathway to recognition of Palestinian Statehood does not require the world’s approval through the raising of 192 flags; rather, it requires convincing “one state only—the state of Israel”

Israel is Erasing Palestine and the West is Complicit

By Nour Odeh / Fall 2025

The genocide unfolding in the Gaza Strip has allowed Israel to speed up its takeover and ethnic cleansing of the occupied West Bank in stealth mode

What Palestinian Statehood Must Mean to Mean Anything

By Omar Auf / Fall 2025

As more governments prepare to recognize Palestine this September, the gesture risks being performative unless matched with concrete policies such as sanctions and legal obligations, and a decolonial vision of statehood that challenges occupation at its roots

Journalism in Peril: The Gaza Genocide as a Global Test of Press Freedom

By Mohamed Salama and Mona Raafat Alsaba and Saif Shahin and Shahira S. Fahmy / Fall 2025

In Gaza, it isn’t only civilians that are being laid to ruin; the freedom to tell the story of its people is being muzzled by successive Israeli strikes targeting and killing Palestinian journalists

Ending the War In Gaza: What Must Be Done Now

By Gershon Baskin / Fall 2025

Israel’s military juggernaut will not be stopped in Gaza without significant international pressure and a range of conditional sanctions

Recognizing a Palestine State: What’s New—and What’s Not

By Bidisha Biswas / Fall 2025

Australia is the latest G8 nation to pledge recognition of an independent Palestine, but long before Western capitals took action, recognition of the Palestinian state echoed across India, Indonesia, South Africa, and much of Latin America in a shared sentiment of justice rooted in anti-colonial solidarity

On World Refugee Day, the World Must Help Correct the Historic Injustice Against Palestinian Refugees

By Ola G. El-Taliawi /

Since 1948, the international community has offered little more than hand-wringing and humanitarian aid when it comes to the plight of Palestinian refugees. The global community must recognize that return is not a threat to peace, but a precondition for it

Gamechanger or Fantasy? Trump’s Evolving Middle East Strategy

By Carla Dondera and Gedaliah Afterman /

Trump’s return to the White House has revived his ambition to reshape the Middle East, but as the recent war between Israel and Iran shows, the way forward is anything but simple and demands an unprecedented level of U.S. involvement

Governing AI Under Fire in Ukraine

By Anna Mysyshyn / Spring/Summer 2025

Ukraine offers an opportunity to examine how democracies may balance innovation, accountability, and human rights in the age of autonomous warfare

Gaza: Israel’s AI Human Laboratory

By Anwar Mhajne / Spring/Summer 2025

Israel’s use of artificial intelligence has wreaked horrific destruction on Gaza; this technology will likely be sold across the globe in the near future

Tehran’s Red Lines, Trump’s Maximum Pressure, and Regime Survival

By Ali Fathollah-Nejad / Spring/Summer 2025

Progress toward a potential nuclear deal between the United States and Iran stalls, amid a high-stakes process for Tehran and others

Who are Palestine’s Overlooked Refugees? Investigating Stateless Palestinians in Jordan

By Francesca Maria Lorenzini /

Stateless Palestinian refugees originally from Gaza who now live in Jordan face a precarious legal and economic situation as they lack adequate support systems. Scant attention is paid to their struggles

Can the ‘F’ Word Help Save Ukraine?

By Klara Vlahčević Lisinski /

Is federalism the solution for a peaceful Ukraine after Russia withdraws? A discussion with federalism expert Soeren Keil

Longer Sticks and Shorter Carrots: How the U.S. is Changing its Engagement in MENA

By Amr Adly / Winter 2025

The United States’ approach to achieving international hegemony is shifting away from trade and investments back toward bombs and missiles

In Jordan, Trump is a Divisive Figure

By Laila Shadid / Winter 2025

Before Trump officially took office, some Jordanians believed that he was the “lesser of two evils”. Now, two months into his presidency, Trump has few fans in Amman

The Consequences and Prospects of Israel’s Ban of UNRWA

By Jørgen Jensehaugen and Kjersti G. Berg and Lex Takkenberg / Winter 2025

As the UN agency’s operations continue to be obstructed, its outright ban will continue the perpetuation of severe human suffering and have multidimensional ramifications, from illegality on the international level to political considerations regarding the tenuous ceasefire

Syria Remains at a Dangerous Crossroads

By Jacob Blau /

The recent removal of Bashar al-Assad’s regime creates two divergent paths for Syria, one of freedom, and the other that embodies an all too familiar authoritarian style of governance

Round Two: Trump’s Foreign Policy Takes on New Challenges

By William B. Quandt / Winter 2025

Trump will have to manage the continuing conflict in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, and the rising power of China as he navigates the beginning of his second term

Palestinian Journalists as Both Storytellers and Targets in the Israel-Gaza War

By Mohamed Salama and Mona Raafat Alsaba and Shahira S. Fahmy /

For Palestinian journalists confronting physical and psychological threats online and on the ground, the perilous pursuit to document Israel’s war on Gaza embodies a deeper personal mission

Trump’s Return: What It Could Mean for Palestine and the Region

By Ramzy Baroud / Winter 2025

Donald Trump’s return to the White House in the context of the Gaza war and other regional conflicts raises questions regarding his approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict

A Resurgent Trump Returns to a Turbulent Middle East

By Paul Salem / Winter 2025

Trump’s unpredictable yet forceful leadership is entering a region in flux, offering both challenges and opportunities for his second term

President Trump’s Policies in the Middle East

By Raphael Cohen-Almagor / Winter 2025

The U.S. president’s pragmatic approach and his out-of-the-box bold ideas may bring a positive change to both Israel and the Palestinians provided they will be translated into action plans carefully and through sensitive communication with all concerned stakeholders

Trump’s Alternate Reality in the Middle East

By Hussein Ibish / Winter 2025

With his recent foray into drastic measures to resolve the Israel-Palestine continuum, could there be a method to the madness of King Trump?

Relocating Palestinians to “Clean Out” Gaza: Trump’s Proposal Echoes Forced Population Transfer

By Ola G. El-Taliawi / January 30, 2025

Moving the Palestinians in Gaza to neighboring Arab countries will not solve the underlying problems caused by the Israeli occupation

The Elusive Saudi-Israeli Normalization Deal: Why an Agreement is Likely to Fall Short of Expectations

By Robert Mogielnicki / Winter 2025

A deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel will likely happen eventually but is unlikely to transform the Middle East

Duel with Israel is Turbocharging Iranian Nationalism

By Kourosh Ziabari /

There’s only one ingredient in the Iranian people’s worldview that has not been outperformed by a disastrous mélange of crackdowns on civil liberties, economic maladies, corruption, and the specter of an all-out confrontation with Israel: nationalism

Israel, Hamas, and the Burdens of History

By Michael J. Reimer / Fall 2024

The violence of the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent retaliatory war on Gaza have reignited historical collective traumas and existential fears among Jewish-Israelis, the Jewish Diaspora, and Palestinians

Syria is the Middle East’s Hinge, but Which Way Will It Turn?

By Hussein Ibish /

The demise of the Syrian dictator has put the country on the precipice of the chaos and instability other countries experienced since the Arab uprisings. But there is a glimmer of hope that Syria can buck the trend and instead embrace tolerance, plurality, and security