What Iranian Leaders Really Say about Doing Away with Israel: A Refutation of the Campaign to Excuse Ahmadinejad’s Incitement to Genocide

Joshua Teitelbaum

Talking to Terrorists: The Myths, Misconceptions and Misapplication of the Northern Ireland Peace Process

- John Bew and Martyn Frampton

It has become fashionable to look to the lessons of the peace process in Northern Ireland as holding insights for other areas of conflict in the world. However, the core realities unique to the region do not necessarily translate elsewhere. For the British government, formal negotiations with the IRA could only occur in a context in which republican violence had been brought to an end. With the IRA in a position of declining military and political fortunes, it sought to extricate itself via the peace process.

The Hamas Interest in the Tahdiya (Temporary Truce) with Israel

- Jonathan D. Halevi

Hamas regards the temporary cease-fire as a tahdiya and not a hudna. A tahdiya - "a period of calm" - is used by Hamas to describe a simple cease-fire. A hudna implies recognition of the other party's actual existence, without acknowledging its legitimacy. In an interview with Al-Jazeera (April 26, 2008), Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal clarified that for Hamas, a tahdiya is "a tactic in conflict management." He added that it "is not unusual for the resistance...to escalate sometimes and to retreat a bit sometimes as the tide does....The tahdiya creates a formulation that will force Israel...to remove the siege...and if it happens it will be a remarkable achievement."

Hizbullah’s Triumph: The Long-Term Implications of Prisoner Exchanges

- Justus Reid Weiner and Diane Morrison

By exchanging prisoners with the proxy organizations as if they were law-abiding states, Israel can be seen as upgrading the status of the organizations’ unlawful combatants from terrorists and war criminals. Such exchanges afford them the same rights as lawful soldiers, without demanding from their leaders the reciprocal obligations. At the same time, Israel downgrades the rights of its own captured soldiers by overlooking the organizations’ systematic depravation of POW rights for Israeli soldiers under the Geneva Conventions.

Google Earth: A New Platform for Anti-Israel Propaganda and Replacement Geography

Andre Oboler

Virtual Israel, as represented by Google Earth, is littered with orange dots, many of which claim to represent "Palestinian localities evacuated and destroyed after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war." Each dot links to the "Palestine Remembered" site, where further information advancing this narrative can be obtained. Google should treat Israel as it treats every other country on the globe. The core layer of Google Earth should be ideology free and not serve as a platform for indoctrination or a campaign to wipe Israel off the virtual map.

Winning Counterinsurgency War: The Israel Experience

- Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror

Contrary to popular belief, conventional armies can indeed defeat terrorist insurgencies. This study details the six basic conditions which, if met, enable an army to fight and win the war against terrorism, among which are control of the ground where the insurgency is being waged, acquiring relevant intelligence for operations against the terrorists themselves, and isolating the insurgency from cross-border reinforcement with manpower or material.     
 It also examines the factors that can help drive a wedge between the local population and the insurgent forces seeking its support. The principles of war are also analyzed in terms of their applicability to asymmetric warfare to show how they still serve as a vital guide for armies in vanquishing terror.
    Finally, the study warns that if the U.S., Israel, or their Western allies incorrectly conclude that they have no real military option against terrorist insurgencies - out of a fear that these conflicts inevitably result in an unwinnable quagmire - then the war on terrorism will be lost even before it is fully waged.

Robert Kennedy's 1948 Reports from Palestine

- Lenny Ben David

In April 1948, one month before Israel declared independence, Robert Kennedy, then 22, traveled to Palestine to report on the conflict for the Boston Post. His four dispatches from the scene were published in June 1948. The newspaper closed in 1956, and for decades the reports were virtually forgotten.

Long-Term Jerusalem Center Projects

Iran's Race for Regional Supremacy: Strategic Implications for the Middle East

- Lt.-Gen (ret.) Moshe Yaalon, Dr. Dore Gold, Maj.-Gen (res.) Aharon Farkash, Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira, Daniel Diker, Uzi Rubin, Dr. Martin Kramer, Lt.-Col. (ret.) Jonathan D. Halevi

Jerusalem: The Dangers of Division

How to Meet the Demographic Challange without Subtracting Arab Neighbors

Nadav Shragai 
While some speak of the need to improve the demographic balance between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem by “subtracting” Arab neighborhoods from the city limits, this study recommends contending with the problem by addressing its principal cause: the departure of Jews from Jerusalem.

Defensible Borders for a Lasting Peace

(Revised and Updated - 2008)

When Prime Minster Ariel Sharon first proposed his Gaza Disengagement Plan he did not seek a quid pro quo from the Palestinian side. Instead, he obtained one from the United States in the form of a letter from President George W. Bush, dated April 14, 2004, in which the U.S. assured Israel that with respect to the disputed West Bank, Israel was entitled to defensible borders. How the idea of defensible borders works into the post-Iraq War Middle East is fully examined as well as the territorial, legal, and policy implications of this critical U.S. guarantee.

Referral of Iranian President Ahmadinejad on the Charge of Incitement to Commit Genocide

- Justus Reid Weiner, Esq., with Amb. Meir Rosenne, Prof. Elie Wiesel, Amb. Dore Gold, Irit Kohn, Adv., Amb. Eytan Bentsur, and MK Dan Naveh

From Durban I to Durban II: Preventing Poisonous Anti-Semitism

- Alfred H. Moses

There can be no repeat of the anti-Semitism displayed at Durban. It has no place anywhere, but most certainly not at a follow-up conference to combat racism and intolerance. This message has to be delivered forcefully, not only to Europe and elsewhere but also to the conference's chief sponsors in Africa who have the greatest stake in the outcome of the Durban process. The same message needs to be conveyed to the Muslim world. Similarly there can be no linking of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with racism.

Antisemitism Embedded in British Culture

- Interview with Robert S. Wistrich

Major Anti-Semitic Motifs in Arab Cartoons

- Interview with Joël Kotek

The main recurrent motif in Arab cartoons concerning Israel is "the devilish Jew." This image conveys the idea that Jews behave like Nazis, kill children and love blood. The similarity with themes promulgated by the Nazis is evident. Many Arab cartoons praise suicide bombing or call for murder. The collective image of the Jews thus projected lays the groundwork for a possible genocide.

Conferences

Israel at 60: Its Historical and Legal Rights Still Challenged?