With the Arab world and the Middle East in turmoil, Israel may soon find itself negotiating with a new and unfamiliar government in Egypt. When the uneasy neighbors do meet, how many points would Egypt bid, out of a possible 100, for Israel to bless the creation of a Palestinian state, especially if that calculation came at the expense of bids on other matters of importance to Egypt? Steven J. Brams has examined the current peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, negotiated at Camp David, Md., in 1978, as a way to test his theories about fairness and his recommendation that ... Read More
The Arabic Education of Israel’s Jewish Students
June 17, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
They call her the witch — because she bewitches her students. As 27-year-old Mayada Beem walks into the classroom, her long waves of black hair trailing her every step, the room full of sixth-graders grows quiet for a second. "Marhaba!" she announces, greeting them with "Hello!" in Arabic. The blonde, blue-eyed girl jumps into her seat. The boy with dark skin and curly black hair swivels his chair around from his friend behind him and looks straight ahead. Then, on cue from a girl in the front row, everyone breaks out in the birthday song. "Hayom yom huledet l'Mayada!" they serenade ... Read More
Is the Gaza Blockade Backfiring?
June 21, 2010 • By • 8 Comments
In the weeks since Israel's lethally bungled raid on a boatload of protesters trying to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the Jewish state has come under tremendous pressure to lift its punishing blockade of the Palestinian enclave. Though they've recently announced a partial easing of restrictions on imports, Israel argues it must continue to isolate Gaza to keep Hamas from smuggling in weapons and ultimately drive them out of power. In other words, Palestinian civilians must suffer economic hardship so that Israeli civilians are no longer menaced by rockets. That's a ... Read More
Taming Suicide-Bomber City
April 8, 2010 • By • 1 Comment
The streets of Jenin are still plastered with posters commemorating Palestinian "martyrs" killed fighting Israel. Buildings are still pocked with bullet holes from the fighting when Israeli troops stormed this West Bank city several years ago. That's hardly surprising in a place long notorious as one of the fiercest hotbeds of Palestinian militancy, home to at least 30 suicide bombers and site of the bloodiest battle of the last intifada. Today, however, Jenin is gaining attention in an unexpected way: as a model of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation. Suicide attacks have stopped. Militant ... Read More
The Man Who Bridges Troubled Waters
December 29, 2008 • By • 2 Comments
In 1991, as Aaron Wolf was finishing his doctoral dissertation, the Madrid Middle East peace process was just getting under way. The two sides decided to tackle five sets of regional issues, including the equitable division of water resources. As a budding expert on the subject — his research focused on the Jordan River and its dual role as "a flashpoint and a vehicle for dialogue" — Wolf agreed to advise the U.S. team designing the talks. Fifteen years later, one remnant of that failed attempt at Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking remains: the water negotiations. "They still go on," Wolf ... Read More
