Carnegie Middle East Center
External pressure has never been effective in forcing the parties to abandon their core principles. Only a negotiated two-state solution has the potential to satisfy both sides.
The United States can play an important mediating role in conflicts, but it's only truly effective when the parties own their negotiations and engage with one another based on their own interests and motives.
A rights-based approach to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking must be balanced with the national interests of the United States, as well as those of the parties themselves.
The Saudi and U.S. government relationship is in crisis. Is the Biden administration doing enough to heal it?
Ten years after its protests sparked the Arab Spring, Tunisia remains the lone country in the Middle East to have effectively changed its system of governance. Yet many Tunisians have mixed feelings about how much progress their country has made.
In an unexpected constitutional decree, Oman’s new sultan created a crown prince position and reconfigured the powers of the country’s two-chamber assembly. But to create real change, he would have to empower the consultative council to truly represent citizens.
By pushing economic liberalization in the Middle East without requiring transparency and fighting corruption, international donors have allowed the region’s elites to hog power and resources. The result is a combustible mix of anger and disillusionment.
The United States is putting pressure on Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel. But the outcome of such a deal may not be as advertised.
Will the Mauritanian president manage to keep the country’s political transition on track by fending off his predecessor’s attempts to sneak back into office?
The much-vaunted announcement that Bahrain will normalize relations with Israel, hot on the heels of the United Arab Emirates, has been greeted with excitement in Western foreign policy circles. But true stability in the region is a long way off.
The blasts that ripped through Beirut’s historic port could hardly have come at a worse time, as the city struggles with the coronavirus pandemic and an economic crisis. As the smoke clears, the catastrophe has laid bare festering structural weaknesses that are damaging Lebanon’s plural society.
Faced with no shortage of domestic challenges, Erdogan is expanding Turkey’s role in the Eastern Mediterranean—and antagonizing Europe in turn.
Divisions dating to the June 2017 split among Gulf Cooperation Council states have shaped the region’s contrasting approaches to political messaging and public health in a time of observance.
The kingdom’s national history, geopolitical competition, and future vision have all shaped its approach to the coronavirus. The Islamic holy month will underscore how long-standing traditions have changed.
Division and self-interest have largely derailed efforts to restore legitimate governance in Yemen.
While Jared Kushner was researching his plan for peace in the Middle East, he consulted one of Carnegie’s senior fellows, among others.
The British, French, and German foreign ministers have formally accused Iran of breaking the terms of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a step that could lead to sanctions. Are the Europeans preparing to pull the plug?
For India, the equation is pretty simple: better diplomatic relations between the United States and Iran would let New Delhi deal more smoothly with both countries. A decline in the relationship adversely affects Indian interests.
Saudi Arabia’s reaction to the operation that obliterated Iran’s Major General Qassem Solaimani has been reserved. Riyadh is right: it is not all good news for the kingdom.
After decades of dictatorship, Sudan’s unlikely transition to democracy may finally be happening. How did the battle-scarred country reach this point, and what might derail the delicate transition?