Copyright 2010 Middle East Forum Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:17:03 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Obama Mideast Monitor http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor webmaster@meforum.org (Middle East Forum) webmaster@meforum.org en-us http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2010/03/iran-michael-ledeen-vs-flynt-leverett Thu, 4 Mar 2010 10:16:39 EST Here is the transcript of an interesting debate about Iran, between Michael Ledeen, the leading advocate of a strategy of regime change, and Flynt Leverett, the leading proponent of the theory that a grand bargain with Iran is possible. http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2010/03/j-street-not-invited-to-biden-meeting Wed, 3 Mar 2010 18:45:32 EST Those who found my recent piece, "Barack Obama: More AIPAC than J-Street" interesting, may find further evidence in the fact that J-Street was not invited to Vice President Biden's meeting with community leaders yesterday. Accoding to Politico, "Among http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2010/02/obamas-iran-team Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:53:56 EST Josh Rogin, who took over The Cable blog at Foreign Policy when Laura Rozen defected to Politico, just published a handy guide to the key people working the Iran issue in the Obama administration. Here are key excerpts: Bill Burns, under secretary of http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2010/01/interesting-george-mitchell-interview Thu, 7 Jan 2010 11:04:02 EST Mideast Envoy George Mitchell made some interesting observations in an interview with Charlie Rose. Obama's Demand for a Settlement Freeze Charlie Rose: The New York Times editorial [says] that the past year has not been successful because the http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/12/mitchell-on-parallel-israel-palestinian-talks Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:21:43 EST Special Envoy George Mitchell, in an interview with the Center for American Progress published on December 1, 2009, raised the possibility of "parallel talks between the U.S. and Israel and the U.S. and the Palestinians on key issues ." Here are excerpts http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/12/abbas-i-could-have-reached-an-agreement-with Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:30:32 EST Haaretz reports that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Asharq Al-Awsat, "I negotiated with [Olmert] and felt we could have reached an agreement." Abbas said a meeting had been scheduled to take place between negotiators Shalom Turgeman and Saeb http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/12/netanyahus-new-agreement-with-mitchell Sat, 19 Dec 2009 11:15:25 EST Netanyahu's New Agreement with MitchellBY STEVEN J. ROSEN Foreign Policy DECEMBER 18, 2009 For a year or two at an early stage in his career, I commuted to and from our adjacent offices each morning and evening with Martin Indyk, later a top http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/12/more-details-of-olmert-offer-disclosed Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:33:00 EST Haaretz published more details about the specific terms former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Olmert offered Abbas land near Gaza as swap for settlements By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent Haaretz http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/12/63-of-americans-support-preemptive-attack-on-iran Fri, 4 Dec 2009 09:53:50 EST Pew Research Center December 3, 2009: "A majority of the public approves of using U.S. military forces in several international situations. More than six-in-ten (63%) approve of using U.S. forces if it were certain Iran had a produced a nuclear weapon http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/12/olmert-details-his-offer-to-abbas Tue, 1 Dec 2009 17:09:49 EST Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert provided the first detailed account of the offer he made to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on 2008, in an interview with the Australian newspaper published November 28. Here are the key excerpts: Ehud Olmert still http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/11/j-street-allied-to-goldstone Mon, 2 Nov 2009 21:03:20 EST I haven't posted for a while, but this is remarkable. Michael Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard discovered ("J Street Adviser Morton Halperin Goes to Work for Goldstone") that a letter purportedly written by Judge Richard Goldstone to criticize a House of http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/08/progress-on-settlements-compromise Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:31:06 EST One of the essential elements of a workable compromise on the settlement issue that has roiled Obama's relations with Netanyahu seems to be in the works. The Administration apparently recognizes that it made a mistake lumping construction inside the http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/08/settlement-freeze-talks-accelerating Sun, 16 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST The effort to close the gaps between the Israeli and American positions on the terms of a settlement freeze are accelerating. Netanyahu's top negotiator, Yitzhak Molcho, arrives in Washington Monday, to prepare for the Netanyahu/Mitchell meeting planned http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/08/will-netanyahu-mitchell-meeting-be-postponed-again Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:02:11 EST The Netanyahu-Mitchell meeting already postponed twice--first in late June, and again late in July, is now planned for August 26 in London. But the two sides still have significant gaps on the terms of a settlement freeze, and I am hearing that another http://www.meforum.org/blog/obama-mideast-monitor/2009/08/the-morning-after-a-temporary-settlements-freeze Mon, 3 Aug 2009 22:53:00 EST If Netanyahu did accept a temporary settlements freeze for a period of six or nine months, imposing limits on new construction stricter than those accepted by Ariel Sharon, would the Obama Administration make the reciprocal concession to Israel, that at