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{
  "authors": [
    "Michele Dunne"
  ],
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  "centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
  "centers": [
    "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
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  "primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
  "programAffiliation": "MEP",
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    "Middle East",
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Source: Getty

In The Media

The Arab Spring and Palestine

The Arab Spring has initiated a wave of change that will affect every aspect of society in the Middle East, including the Israel-Palestinian conflict and Egypt's influence in the Middle East and North Africa.

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By Michele Dunne
Published on May 18, 2011
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Middle East

The Middle East Program in Washington combines in-depth regional knowledge with incisive comparative analysis to provide deeply informed recommendations. With expertise in the Gulf, North Africa, Iran, and Israel/Palestine, we examine crosscutting themes of political, economic, and social change in both English and Arabic.

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Source: Charlie Rose Show

The Arab Spring has initiated a wave of change that will affect every aspect of life in the region, including the Israel-Palestinian conflict. “The Arab Spring is about people standing up against conditions they long were forced to accept,” Michele Dunne said on the Charlie Rose Show. The initial reaction of Palestinians to the Arab Spring was reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah. The past few weeks have also seen peaceful demonstrations in Gaza and the West Bank. However, the recent peaceful demonstrations on the borders of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt represent a potentially new situation that scares Israel, Dunne said.  

In regards to Egypt, Dunne suggested that “the Egyptian government is going to be more responsive to public opinion than it was during Mubarak’s reign.” This means that Egypt will begin to take on independent initiatives, as it did in facilitating reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, without necessarily consulting with the United States.
 

About the Author

Michele Dunne

Former Nonresident Scholar, Middle East Program

Michele Dunne was a nonresident scholar in Carnegie’s Middle East Program, where her research focuses on political and economic change in Arab countries, particularly Egypt, as well as U.S. policy in the Middle East.

    Recent Work

  • Research
    Islamic Institutions in Arab States: Mapping the Dynamics of Control, Co-option, and Contention
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      Yasmine Farouk, Nathan J. Brown, Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen, …

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    From Hardware to Holism: Rebalancing America’s Security Engagement With Arab States
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      Robert Springborg, Emile Hokayem, Becca Wasser, …

Michele Dunne
Former Nonresident Scholar, Middle East Program
Michele Dunne
Political ReformSecurityMiddle EastIsraelNorth AfricaEgyptPalestine

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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