The OCGG Security Section's Project on the Middle East aims at accomplishing comprehensive agreements.

 

Oxford think tank calls for immediate cessation of hostilities

(Oxford, 21 July 2006) Recognizing that the daily escalation in violence is causing a growing humanitarian crisis, the European Union should give full support to the UN Secretary General’s blueprint for restoring peace in Israel, Lebanon, and the Palestinian areas, starting with an immediate cessation of hostilities, says a think tank based in Oxford.

Press Release (Word)

 

The third issue of the Oxford Journal on Good Governance examines the impact of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza on the Middle East Peace Process.

Featuring contributions from an exclusive group of senior policy-makers and eminent scholars, including Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Michael Ancram, Naomi Chazan, and Yossi Mekelberg, the publication re-examines the past, present and future of one of the longest running and bloodiest conflicts in modern history in the light of the Israeli disengagement.

The high level contributors cover key issues such as Palestinian security reform, Israeli political realignment, the role of the EU, and the underlying causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

You can download the entire journal as a PDF document: Oxford Journal on Good Governance - Vol 2 No 2

 

by Simon Roughneen

Advice to the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Israel, the United States of America, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and the European Union

It was said of the late Yasser Arafat that he would never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Now, with Arafat laid to rest in his battered Ramallah compound, the conventional wisdom is that another opportunity has presented itself to the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships to revive a peace process buried by four years of suicide terrorism, occupation, fence-building and dramatic changes in global geopolitics.

In this case there is much to be said for the conventional wisdom. However, it must also be remembered that any opportunity, no matter how good, is still just that – an opportunity. To realise the opportunity requires demonstrated good will and reciprocity, trust-building, mutual recognition of constraints and needs – and in terms of a process that it is both step-by-step but is simultaneously focused on the endgame. The process must be inclusive and fl exible – and all involved must be aware of the pitfalls and promises – and emphasise the latter over the former in order to create the critical mass necessary to drive the process to its conclusion.

OCGG Security Advice No 1 (PDF)

 

The third issue of the Oxford Journal on Good Governance, Building Walls or Mending Fences? The Middle East Peace Process Beyond Israeli Disengagement, features contributions from Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Michael Ancram, Naomi Chazan, Yossi Mekelberg, and other leading experts from around the world.

Simon Roughneen, OCGG Analyst, presents advice to the key actors in the Middle East on how to revive the peace process in the post-Arafat era in OCGG Security Advice No 1.

Asle Toje, Director of the OCGG Security Section, analyses nuclear proliferation in Iran in OCGG Security Briefing No 5.

Asle Toje, Director of the OCGG Security Section, takes a historical perspective on the Iraq war in OCGG Security Briefing No 3.

Benjamin Schreer, Senior Researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, and Asle Toje, Director of the OCGG Security Section, comment upon the EU's nuclear diplomacy in Iran in OCGG Security Briefing No 1.