Opinion and Analysis

Week ending 18 June 2014

1. How the West facilitates Hamas’s mission

Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, 17 June 2014

On the basis of Abbas’s assurances that the unity government would “renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist,” the Obama Administration and several EU governments rushed to announce that they would work with the new government, even as Hamas continued to deny Abbas’s claims.  Abbas may now finally have realized that Hamas’s real intention is to get rid of him, yet it is the U.S. and Europe that have emboldened and legitimized the Islamist movement, thus facilitating Hamas’s mission to carry out terrorist attacks against Israelis and take over the West Bank.

2. Don’t blame the victim

Sherri Mandell, Jerusalem Post, 16 June 2014

The Palestinians can try to undermine and destroy us but they won’t succeed.

3. Crisis in Iraq and Military Options: “By, With, and Through Who?”

Nathan Freier, CSIS, 13 June 2014

As Iraq increasingly stumbles in the face of an overt threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS), troubling questions emerge about how the United States might assess and address instability in the Middle East and wider threats posed by unconventional or irregular forces.

4. The Two-State solution: The way forward

Manuel Hassassian and Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Fathom, 12 June 2014

When we launched Fathom the editors declared that the journal would be ‘a partisan and artisan of the two-state solution.’ That’s why we are pleased to publish this paper from Professor Manual Hassassian, the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and Professor Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Founder and Director of the Middle East Study Group at the University of Hull. The editors welcome their argument that the success of the two-state solution depends upon profound mutual recognition: ‘Israel shall recognise the State of Palestine, Palestine should recognise the Jewish state of Israel.’ Of course, Fathom does not endorse the detail of this or any other particular framework agreement. That’s not our role. And we are aware that many Israelis and Palestinians will disagree with aspects of the document. So we will be inviting responses to this document and we hope our pages will host a wide-ranging discussion about the future of the two-state solution.

5. ISIS expansions in Iraq and Syria bring Middle East to brink of complete chaos

Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet News, 11 June 2014

ISIS Islamic militants capture Iraq’s second biggest city; Iraqi military buckles and runs under pressure of religious, ethnic divisions.

6. Why even the PA opposes the boycott of Israel

Jake Wallis Simons, World Business Report, 9 June 2014

It appears that the Palestinian leadership views BDS activists as little more than embarrassing troublemakers, and wishes to suppress them.

7. America’s Global Dilemma

Ben Cohen, Fathom, 3 June 2014

Reset,’ ‘Pivot,’ ‘Leading from Behind,’ ‘Red Lines,’ – the catchphrases of President Obama’s foreign policy are now often read as markers of failure, though non-intervention has been popular at home. What are the consequences of US retrenchment for the Middle East, and where will US policy go next? Fathom advisory editor Ben Cohen talked to Michael Doran about America’s global dilemma