On Monday, leaders of the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas announced an end to the political stalemates which has divided the two movements in the past. The agreement announced from Doha, Qatar called for the formation of a unity governemnt led "initially" by Western-backed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the subsequent election of a cabinet made up of independent technocrats. Leader of the Hamas movement Khaled Meshaal said that the Palestinians and Hamas "were happy with ...

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced S.1601, the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2012 and its accompanying report.  The press release noted the committee’s difficult task of funding more with less, including “responding to the turbulent events in the Middle East and North Africa,” with a total budget of $44.64 billion, which is $6.15 billion below the President’s request.  On the Middle East and North Africa:  ...

Days after the U.S. State Department released it's annual report on terrorism and labelled Iran as the "most active sponsor of terrorism," Iran retaliated by accusing the U.S. of being the "biggest sponsor of terrorism."  Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast condemned the report findings by citing that the U.S. supports "the most active supporter of terrorism in the world," Israel. The State Department report says that by supporting groups such ...

On Tuesday, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars hosted a panel titled “An Israeli-Palestinian Agreement? What’s Possible and What Isn’t.” Haleh Esfandiari, the director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center, introduced the panel, which was moderated by Washington Post deputy editorial page editor Jackson Diehl. Panelists included Brandeis University professor Shai Feldman, author and Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar Aaron David Miller, and Hussein Ibish, a ...

Following the final signing of a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement yesterday many international leaders and negotiators weighed in. Benjamin Netanyahu announced in London: "What happened today in Cairo is a tremendous blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism."  Ha'aretz reports that leaked Israeli Foreign Ministry documents state that the agreement could offer Israel a "strategic opportunity", which is in stark contrast to statements coming from Israel's leadership.  Quartet Representative Tony Blair announced that ...

On Wednesday, Fatah and Hamas signed the proposed reconciliation agreement in Cairo following final negotiations. The deal has been heavily criticized by the Israeli Government, who is currently withholding $90 million in  tax revenue owed to the Palestinian Authority. Israel collects nearly a $1 billion annually in tax revenues  and customs on behalf of the PA. The revenue is transferred in accordance with terms of the Oslo accords. Hamas has announced ...

Israel is witholding tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority (PA), which account for about 70 percent of its budget. The U.S. State Department said it would continue its assistance for now and assess its position based on the new Palestinian government's policies. Representative Gary Ackerman (D-NY), ranking member of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, stated, “I don’t think there is any will on the part of the ...

The New York Times reports that the agreement reached by Fateh and Hamas to form a unity government was influenced by regional changes created by the Arab Spring. Specifically, unrest in Syria may deprive Hamas of its external headquarters; while, a new Egyptian regime may open the Gaza-Sinai border. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has argued that unity was needed to give legitimacy to Palestinian Authority's push for statehood before the ...

Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have reportedly reached a deal to end their four year dispute according to Egyptian and Palestinian officials.  Meetings between the officials of the two groups took place n Cairo under Egyptian auspices.  The tentative plan calls for the formation of a single caretaker government with presidential and parliamentary elections to follow in a year's time.  Key questions over the control of rival security forces ...

Writing in the International Herald Tribune, Jean Marie Guéhenno asserts that the 'Arab revolutions are beginning to destroy the cliché of an Arab world incapable of democratic transformation."  In place of this narrative, she states, a new one is building and that the source of the revolutions stems from a thirst for Western style freedoms "mobilized by Facebook and Twitter."  She refutes these claims and states that the revolutions are "about ...

Young, educated, and tech-savvy activists in Gaza are helping organize the self-named March 15 movement seeking to promote Palestinian national reconciliation between the rival Hamas-Fatah. On March 15th, youth activists protesting in Gaza City clashed violently with Hamas police who attacked protesters on motorbikes.  One of the activists, Asma al-Ghoul, a local feminist and journalist in Gaza City, says that the "fear inside the people"  is dissipating.  As the movement ...

David Schenker, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former U.S. Defense Department official, argues that U.S. policy of maintaining stability in Damascus is not the country's vested interest.  Schenker says the Bush administration routinely sidelined any policy aimed at regime change or destabilization fearing that the possible alternatives to Assad were worse despite the regime's active anti-U.S. policies, particularly regarding Iraqi insurgents. While the Pentagon never advocated ...

Bilal Y. Saab, writing for The National Interest, argues that a collapse of the regime would have ripple effects across the Middle East and the country's network of external relations could collapse.  He outlines two ways in which a post-Assad Syria could develop.  On the positive side, Syrian intervention in Lebanese politics could essentially be eliminated along with its support for Hezbollah.  This would significantly weaken Hezbollah he argues.  The ...

Writing at The American Conservative blog, Patrick Buchanan argues that "in the Middle East, democracy is not necessarily America's ally." Buchanan criticizes the Bush Administration for its zealous calls for democracy in the region and points to the gains of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood and most recently Muqtada al-Sadr's party in Iraq as evidence that "when elections are held or monarchs and autocrats overthrown, the masses will turn to leaders who will ...