"Annapolis's Fading Hope", David Ignatius, The Washington Post, March 9, 2008

"The Annapolis peace conference last November was a good moment for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She seemed to be getting serious, finally, about using American diplomacy to push for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement whose basic parameters are understood by everyone -- but which requires U.S. follow-through to make it happen. Since then, that crucial ingredient -- American follow- through -- has been sadly lacking. As a result, the Annapolis process has languished to the point that over the past two weeks, some Israelis and Palestinians warned it was near collapse...What's needed is some sort of cease-fire between Hamas and Israel...Rice keeps insisting that she is serious about achieving an Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough before President Bush leaves office. But progress requires disciplined follow-through. Without it, you can add Annapolis to the dustbin."
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"What Lies Ahead for Gaza?" American Task Force on Palestine, March 6, 2008

"The confrontations last weekend between Hamas and Israel in Gaza have brought two facts into sharp focus. First, Hamas and Israel have locked themselves into a logic of progressively increasing violence that - unless broken - will inevitably lead to a wide scale land operation against Gaza. Second, unless accompanied by a policy of strengthening the Palestinian Authority (PA) under President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad by enabling them to deliver concrete results, the strategy of pressuring Hamas will not work and would likely be counterproductive. Violence in Gaza, accompanied by a worsening or even static situation the West Bank, will make it impossible to sustain permanent status negotiations..."
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"Forward From Gaza: How The U.S. Can Lead," Interview With Daniel C. Kurtzer by S. Daniel Abraham, Middle East Progress , March 5, 2008

"...For both long- and short-term reasons, it is not too late for the United States to commit itself more actively to try to make this Annapolis process work. For long-term reasons, it's because the president says he wants some kind of an agreement by the end of his administration. If that's serious then he's got to show it. And that means much more U.S. activity than we have seen until now. But even in the short term, while people think there's no alternative way to deal with Gaza other than through violence, the reality is that the more the moderate Palestinian leadership gets empowered through negotiations and gets empowered through a process of peace-making with Israel, that's the way to undermine Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This is not a zero-sum game where you either have to accept Hamas or destroy them. You can also empower Palestinian moderates so that they begin to prevail again as the deciding force within Palestinian society. And the way they prevail is twofold: number one, through the peace process and number two, through active internal reforms, which they have not yet engaged in, but which they should be encouraged to do immediately..."
For full interview click here.

"The Road Out of Gaza," Nathan Brown, Carnegie Endowment Policy Outlook No. 39, February 2008

"The Middle East peace process will fail unless Palestinian political institutions are rebuilt, argues a new paper from the Carnegie Endowment. The rebuilding of viable political structures to represent and serve the Palestinians is the only way to move beyond the current political stalemate and the failed effort to build a Palestinian state. In The Road Out of Gaza, Palestinian expert Nathan J. Brown discusses the economic and political disarray not only in Gaza and the West Bank but within Hamas and Fatah as well, and argues that the international efforts to rebuild Palestine are in reality counterproductive. Brown suggests a long-term international strategy based on restoring Palestinian institutions, encouraging a Fatah-Hamas agreement, and emphasizing regional diplomacy."
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Israelis and Palestinians Respond: "Poll # 164: The Majority of the Palestinians Support at Present a Palestinian Israeli Calm," Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, March 12, 2008

"The survey results have shown that (73.0 %) of the Palestinian people support at present a Palestinian-Israeli calm period. The most important result, Dr. Nabil Kukali said, was that (49.4 %) oppose the suicide bombings inside Israel and (67.4 %) support the call of the released Hamas' activists on their leadership in Gaza to retreat from the military decision in Gaza Strip..."
To view the full result as PDF click here.

"Poll: Most Israelis back direct talks with Hamas on Shalit," Yossi Verter, Haaretz, February 27, 2008

"Sixty-four percent of Israelis say the government must hold direct talks with the Hamas government in Gaza toward a cease-fire and the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit. Less than one-third (28 percent) still opposes such talks. The figures were obtained in a Haaretz-Dialog poll conducted Tuesday under the supervision of Professor Camil Fuchs of Tel Aviv University. According to the findings, Israelis are fed up with seven years of Qassam rockets falling on Sderot and the communities near Gaza, as well as the fact that Shalit has been held captive for more than a year and a half. An increasing number of public figures, including senior officers in the Israel Defense Forces' reserves, have expressed similar positions on talks with Hamas. It now appears that this opinion is gaining traction in the wider public, which until recently vehemently rejected such negotiations..."
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