The Prospects for a Regional Climate Forum in the Middle East

This paper examines the prospects for establishing a regional multilateral forum to help address climate change in the Middle East. The document defines the constructs of forums, analyzes the characteristics of various regional forums around the world, and discusses the pros and cons of such frameworks in general, and their relevance to Israel, in particular. The paper also describes opportunities for leveraging existing policy structures in the Middle East to enhance transboundary climate cooperation, presents new ideas for such regional cooperation, and points out the barriers to such an endeavor. This paper was born out of collaboration between Mitvim, the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, and Israel Policy Forum.

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Political-Climate Sustainability: The Core of Foreign Policy in the Twenty-First Century

This policy paper introduces the concept of “sustainability-oriented policy”, which translates the principles of sustainability into the field of domestic and foreign policymaking. The term proposes a conceptual framework for shaping policy that corresponds with the main challenges of our time. Climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity and is already affecting every aspect of our lives. It is also reshaping the role of the state and aligning it with current and future challenges. The more principles of sustainability can be incorporated into the process of conceptualizing and implementing policy, the more adapted and effective tools political systems will have to deal with the climate crisis and its consequences, and to leverage the crisis into opportunities. This article proposes four fundamental sustainability principles as the basis of policy making based both on the political and climatic spheres: future orientation, equality, environment and diversity. It highlights the symbiosis between environmental change, economic and social change, and emphasizes that the indicators serving us to assess the desired good must also be redefined. A framework of sustainability-oriented policy provides a variety of tools and strategies for future-oriented decisions extrapolated from the current reality, inter-sectoral work processes, reliance on scientific methods, and stronger local resource management, among other benefits. In the context of Israeli foreign policy, sustainability-oriented approaches propose: (1) the formation of regional partnerships to strengthen regional resilience, (2) the linking of Israel’s integration into the Middle East to the promotion of Israeli-Palestinian peace, (3) the redefinition of who makes foreign policy,

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The Day After Abu Mazen – Simulation Summary

On January 30, 2023, the Mitvim Institute held a simulation exercise to explore various scenarios related to Israel-Palestinian Authority (PA) relations, and the involvement of regional and international actors in this arena, in the wake of the departure of the PA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), and against the backdrop of the new Israeli government.    The framework of the simulation was an emergency international summit convened at the initiative of the United States three days after the announcement of Abbas’ passing, and in light of the relevant actors’ need to confront this new reality. The opening scenario included the appointment of Civil Affairs Minister Hussein al-Sheikh and General Intelligence Chief Majed Faraj as interim PA co-chairs until elections are held. It was based on assumptions regarding the existing political reality in Israel following the establishment of a new government, tensions between Israeli security agencies and the political leadership of the settlement movement, as well as instability and violence on the ground.  The agenda focused on ways of maintaining stability in the region, steps to restore calm and a road map for future relations between Israel and the PA. Participants in the summit included Israeli and PA officials and representatives of Egypt, Jordan, the Gulf states, and the European Union (EU). The three Israeli players were Benjamin Netanyahu (prime minister), IDF Chief Lt. Gen. Herzl Halevi (security establishment), and Minister Bezalel Smotrich (settlement leadership). On the Palestinian side, the three players were al-Sheikh and Faraj (interim PA leadership), Marwan Barghouti (rival

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Leveraging Friction: Using Israel’s tensions with normalization countries to engage them in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking

Since the signing of the Abraham Accords, Israeli governments have successfully isolated the normalization process from events in the Israeli-Palestinian arena. This separation has assisted the development of the process but, at the same time, impeded its potential to expand and deepen. In the last few months, the Netanyahu-Smotrich government has pursued policy efforts to challenge the status quo in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), increasing the risk of Israeli-Palestinian escalation. These steps changed the normalization countries’ attitudes towards Israel and the Palestinian issue. Their attempt to minimize involvement in the Palestinian issue has been replaced by a strong stance against Israeli government policy, and increased involvement, especially by the United Arab Emirates, in the Palestinian arena. Moreover, normalization countries appear to be reconsidering their policy of normalization vis-à-vis Israel and the value of further developing relations with it if the government continues its current line of escalation. The mainstream political right has branded the normalization process a historic success story. Its popularity among the general public, particularly moderate right-wing voters, turns normalization countries into significant leverage points to stop Israeli annexation and escalation activities. The threat of downgrading relations could incentivize the Israeli government to refrain from violating the status quo in the OPT. Subsequently, the specific involvement of the normalization countries in halting the escalation trends may serve as a basis for expanding their overall political involvement in the Palestinian issue, as separate countries or as part of international coalitions. Paradoxically, this Israeli right-wing government and its escalatory policies create an opportunity to finally leverage the normalization process to promote Israeli-Palestinian

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