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Eyal Zisser

Eyal Zisser is a lecturer in the Middle East History Department at Tel Aviv University.

Many saw Bashar Assad’s visit to the UAE as legitimizing the tyrant from Damascus, but the truth is that it was Assad, a key member of the “axis of evil,” who granted legitimacy to the Abraham Accords and to the normalization between Israel and the UAE.
The world’s attention is now focused on Eastern Europe, but Russia is large enough to act on multiple fronts.
The Gulf States eagerness to get down to work—it’s all Israel can do to keep up with the dizzying pace they are setting.
The negotiators in Vienna deserve a Nobel Prize—not for peace, but for theatrics. The parameters of a deal were determined the day Biden set foot in the Oval Office.
Like other countries in the region, Israel has failed to provide its Bedouin population with housing, employment and education opportunities.
For the first time in a thousand years, the Fertile Crescent is no longer Sunni. This, of course, serves the hegemonic interests of Iran.
At this rate, 2022 could wind up becoming the year that puts paid to what little remains of idea of Palestinian nationalism.
What remains to be seen is whether a national plan to double the region’s population in five years will move forward or remain just that.
In light of the expected U.S. abandonment, the UAE’s interest is to talk to everyone, including Iran, while also advancing and deepening its dialogue with Israel.
With Jerusalem unlikely to decide on the annexation of Judea and Samaria in the foreseeable future, officials appear intent on maintaining the fragile status quo.
The reality in Gaza is complex due to the fact that Israel hasn’t truly disengaged from the coastal enclave.
Ever since President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came to power in the early 2000s, bilateral ties between Israel and Turkey have been in an ongoing state of crisis. At the same time, he has taken care not to cross the line and harm economic ties.