Strategic Assessment
The Strategic
Assessment is a periodical report characterized by its dense and focused
material. It tries to investigate a certain event or issue, contemplates its
future course, while favoring the most likely scenario. It then offers
suggestions on how best to deal with it. Its subjects usually deal with the
Palestinian issue including its Arabic, Islamic and international
dimensions.
Editor in Chief: Dr. Mohsen Saleh;
Managing Editor: Mo‘in Manna‘.
Strategic Assessment #43: Palestinian Popular Resistance: The Scenarios and Challenges
Introduction Peaceful popular resistance is not a new option as its adoption has been considered throughout the last years. However, it has been marginalized due to prevalence of the armed resistance option during al-Aqsa Intifadah and the continuous Israeli aggression on the Palestinians. The option of popular resistance started to regain some of its momentum, at least on the theoretical...
Strategic Assessment #42: The Palestinian Authority Elections: Prospects and Implications
Introduction: Despite the statements stressing that the presidential, legislative and Palestinian National Council (PNC) elections will take place as scheduled in May 2012, holding the elections on time remains unlikely in light of the considerations of the involved parties, especially Hamas and Fatah. In addition, the conditions on the ground do not seem to provide a supportive environment. Fatah’s StanceHamas’...
Strategic Assessment #41: Prospects for an Israeli War on the Gaza Strip
Summary: The escalation of media campaigns between the Palestinian resistance and Israel, coupled with the latter's occasional military strikes against the Gaza Strip (GS), suggests that a war is to be waged soon. However, the factors pressing for launching an Israeli war on GS or urging the resistance to end the truce are still limited. In addition, the changes in...
Strategic Assessment #40: The Future of the Bid for a UN Membership for a Palestinian State in the UN Security Council
Summary: The Palestinian bid for full United Nations (UN) membership for a Palestinian state presented to the UN Security Council has come to a dead end, after it hit the obstacle of failing to obtain the nine required votes. Thus, the American administration was not compelled to use its veto power, as it had threatened; while the Palestinian leadership had...
Strategic Assessment #39: The Palestinian Internal Situation in Light of Developments in the Issues of Palestinian Statehood, Reconciliation, and Prisoner Exchange
Summary The Palestinian scene keeps changing according to positions taken by the Palestinian current favoring...
Strategic Assessment # 38: The Protests in Israel and their Implications
Summary: The tent protests prevailed on the Israeli streets during last July. These protests erupted on the basis of the decline of the middle class and the high living costs amidst reduced governmental spending on public services. The protestors demanded the change of the socio-economic policy pursued by the government and the return to a system of “social welfare.” The...
Strategic Assessment # 36: Israeli Approach to the Palestinian Reconciliation and its Deadlines
Summary: The Israeli leaders were disappointed with the announcement of reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. This prompted the Netanyahu government to embark on a series of punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank (WB) and to threaten taking additional steps that would be harder and more severe, equally on the PA’s leaders and on the Palestinians’ public...
Strategic Assessment # 35 Declaration of the Palestinian State: The Scenarios and Implications
Summary: The long series of disappointments suffered by the Palestinian negotiator, the obstacles facing the peace process, the absence of international reference and the need for any achievement, at least a moral one, were behind the idea of the resort to the UN to declare the Palestinian State and attain full membership. To achieve this ...
Strategic Assessment # 34 The American Policy Towards the Palestinian Issue in the Light of the Arab Developments
Summary: Israel is not the only US interest in the region; however, it remains the cornerstone for its Middle East policy. Thus, it is early to predict whether the Arab uprisings would reshuffle the priorities of the decision-maker in the White House. The Obama administration exercises pressure on Netanyahu’s government to take into account the US...
