I have just returned from an extended trip to the Middle East, hoping that I would come back feeling recharged by the progress made in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, especially in the wake of the Annapolis peace conference. To my dismay, not in Israel or in Jordan or in talking to Palestinian and Egyptian officials, have I felt or seen much optimism. Those who still believe that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is possible by the end of ...

This article was written for America Magazine.

Although the recently published National Intelligence Estimate...

The most momentous declaration that came out of the Arab world was the Arab Initiative which was re-adopted by the Arab League in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in March 2007. It would be tragic to allow the Initiative to die the way it withered and died in Beiru...

Since President Bush declared his intention a few months ago to convene a Middle East peace conference, experts on the region and government officials have proposed specific agenda items that should be addressed to insure its success. Key suggestions inc...

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs which adopted a resolution calling the Armenian mass killing by Ottoman Turks genocide, has basically sat in judgment on an event that occurred 92 years ago. The question here is whether the mass killing of Armenian...

The notion that the focus of the Middle-East conference is to reach an agreement in principle between Israel and the Palestinians, and so other conflicting parties, such as Syria, are marginal to the deliberation, is fundamentally flawed. The Bush admini...

It appears that the Bush administration's proposed Mid-East peace conference may not be held before November 2007 -- a relatively long time from now considering the volatility of the region, especially the ever deteriorating situation in Iraq and the...

As Congress debates when and how to withdraw American troops from Iraq, the most critical question for every single member to answer is: What sort of Iraq will the United States leave behind? Having torn the country to pieces, destroyed its social order ...

For a number of years, I have been advocating the importance of constructively engaging Syria, not only to improve the prospects for a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace, but to substantially contribute to the stability of the Middle East. With security co...

Thanks to Fatah's ineptitude and corruption, Israel's shortsightedness, and the Bush administration's misguided policies, Hamas is now in control of the Gaza strip, setting the stage for potentially ominous developments.

Specifica...