Current Analysis The Final Approach to Final Status The Israeli-Palestinian summit scheduled for July 11 at Camp David carries high stakes for the principal parties. President Clinton's hoped-for legacy as a statesman rests to a large degree on mediating a comprehensive settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The future of Prime Minister Barak's fragile government Roger Normand • 6 min read
Current Analysis Afghan Girls' Struggle for Schooling When the first snows started to melt in March, schoolchildren in towns and villages across Afghanistan put on fresh uniforms, strapped satchels across their backs and headed off for a new semester. Despite disruptions in education from more than twenty years of fighting and civil war, education remains a high Jeanette O'Malley • 5 min read
Current Analysis Israel's Cabinet Crisis and the Political Economy of Peace Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak postponed this week's cabinet meeting from Sunday to Tuesday in an effort to resolve the crisis prompted by the Shas Party's announcement that it is leaving his government. Shas (Sephardi Torah Guardians), with 17 seats in the Knesset, is Israel's third largest part Joel Beinin • 4 min read
Current Analysis Lebanon: An Occupation Ends Just about everything about last week's Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon was surprising to most observers. When, in the early hours of May 24, the last Israeli soldier stepped off Lebanese soil and locked the border gate behind him, he ended a 22-year occupation several weeks ahead of Lara Deeb • 6 min read
Current Analysis "They Dignified Our University" In February 1998, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Secretary of Defense William Cohen, and National Security Adviser Sandy Berger held a "town meeting" at Ohio State University to rally public support for a new round of bombing of Iraq. Despite the administration's careful orchestration of the Fadia Rafeedie, Nadine Naber • 7 min read
Current Analysis Lebanon's Most Dangerous Summer Lebanon is where Palestinians were most loved and most hated, said Shafiq al-Hout, a former PLO Executive Committee member and now the top PLO official in Lebanon, at the 1983 PNC Algiers meeting. Listeners could not have missed the reference to the cold-blooded massacre of about 2,000 Palestinian refugees Ghassan Bishara • 6 min read
Current Analysis Destroying Houses and Lives Salim Shawamreh is a Palestinian living with his family just outside occupied Jerusalem, or not really living, he protests, because "you are always in fear" of the Israeli soldiers marching to "your house hauling your belongings out the street and bulldozing your house." As terrifying and Ghassan Bishara • 7 min read
Current Analysis Greater Insecurity for Refugees in Lebanon Expectations of a regional settlement have exacerbated the always bad security situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Possible unilateral Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon has intensified regional competition to control the "Palestinian card," particularly in the South where more than hal Rosemary Sayigh • 6 min read
Current Analysis News Not "Fit to Print" On February 8, at 12:45 am, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a series of air strikes against Lebanon as revenge against recent Hizballah attacks in south Lebanon. Three power switching stations, the most vital electricity facilities in the country, were bombed -- one in the Jamhour district of Jennifer Loewenstein • 7 min read
Current Analysis Rafsanjani's Gambit On February 18, Iranians will go to the ballot box for another crucial event, this time to elect the sixth Parliament (majlis) of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The elections have raised considerable excitement in Iran because President Muhammad Khatami's forces may gain control of the Majlis, which Djavad Salehi-Isfahani • 7 min read
Current Analysis Israeli-Syrian Talks: Back In a Deep Freeze Israel's terms for peace with Syria as revealed in the Israeli-leaked American document speak of a military redeployment with the settlements remaining in place. While Syria is responding favorably to Israeli demands for normalization and security, Israel's ideas are more a road-map for permanent oc Ghassan Bishara • 6 min read
Current Analysis The Collapse of WTO Negotiations: Implications for the Middle East The failure of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial meeting to agree to launch a new global trade agreement, amidst protests of the WTO's policies by labor and environmental activists outside the meetings and developing countries' delegates inside, was a major setback for proponents of greater deregulation Robert Naiman, Steve Niva • 6 min read
