- Prof. Efraim Inbar
- Paper No. 162
The recent Israeli-Palestinian "pre-negotiations" in Amman mark another ineffectual endeavor to bridge the wide gap between the two sides.
Perspectives Papers
Perspectives Papers provide analysis from BESA Center research associates and other outside experts on the most important issues pertaining to Israel and the Middle East.
- Haim Rosenberg
- Paper No. 161
The threat to Israel of missile warfare is somewhat exaggerated and public discourse on this issue should reflect realistic assessments. Missile attacks would be able to inflict only limited physical damage on Israel.
- Prof. Louis René Beres
- Paper No. 160
Israel should not expect stable coexistence with a nuclear Iran. Instead, it must enhance active defense, improve nuclear deterrence and target selected Iranian infrastructures.
- Dr. Alexander Murinson
- Paper No. 159
The recent discovery of substantial natural gas fields in Israeli and Cypriot territorial waters challenge Turkey’s claim as the central energy hub for Europe. Greece, Israel and Cyprus should increase their strategic cooperation in order to counter Turkish hostility.
- Prof. Hillel Frisch
- Paper No. 158
The Palestinians are part of the old Arab order because time and time again they have aligned themselves with the worst dictators of the Arab world, and their own governments in the West Bank and Gaza are cut from the same cloth as the regimes of the old Arab order.
- Prof. Michael Curtis
- Paper No. 157
Both historically and in contemporary times, the Arabs living in the area now known as Palestine were regarded both by outsiders and by their own spokespeople as members of the greater Arab population, without a separate or distinct identity. Today, however, it is clear that Palestinian nationalism has emerged and become a political factor.
- Prof. Efraim Inbar
- Paper No. 156
In the eastern Mediterranean basin elements of radical Islam could gain control. In this region, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey display Islamist tendencies, leaving Israel and Greece as the only Western allies.
- Prof. Hillel Frisch
- Paper No. 155
Who will shape Egypt's constitution – the Islamists or the military-backed secularists? While the former seemingly holds the majority public vote, the latter holds the fire power, thus evening out the political battlefield.
- Prof. Efraim Inbar
- Paper No. 154
A US strike on Iranian nuclear infrastructure is not only necessary, it is also the only course of action that can prevent the impending American retreat from Iraq and Afghanistan from signaling the denouement of US clout in the Middle East.
- Prof. Joshua Teitelbaum
- Paper No. 153
The process of balancing and satisfying Saudi royal factions depends on patience and conservatism within royal circles. It also requires quiet in the streets of Riyadh and Jedda. Thus far, there are no signs of the so-called "Arab Spring" spreading to Saudi Arabia.