Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The popularity of Sayyid Qutb among some members of the Muslim Brotherhood may speak to a desire to pull the Brotherhood back from its broad social and political work and refocus its efforts on reforming society through a more elitist approach.
Following U.S. pressure and a message of support from the Arab League, indirect talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders are set to begin this week. In spite of U.S. efforts, however, the talks are unlikely to lead to a breakthrough.
The entire Egyptian political order is carefully structured so that all lines of authority lead to the president. The regime has retained its control over the political sphere even when, as a result of President Mubarak’s illness, it is no longer clear who is actually wielding power.
The announcement of new construction in East Jerusalem that interrupted U.S. Vice President Biden’s trip to Israel to reinvigorate peace negotiations reflects the strained relations between Israel and the United States and how much remains to be done before Israeli-Palestinian negotiations can lead to real progress.
By scaling back its political engagement to focus on a traditional religious, educational, and social agenda, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is leaving behind an even greater lack of political competition in the country.
The collapse of U.S. diplomacy on the Israeli-Palestinian front has provoked predictably partisan sniping in Washington, with the Obama administration’s critics (and actually even some of its friends) charging it with incompetence.
In the wake of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s announcement that he would not seek a second term, any further attempts at some form of peace process must not ignore a few basic realities about the settlements, Hamas, and Palestinian politics.
There are no viable opportunities at the moment to push for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Israel does not believe such a solution is possible, and the Palestinians remain divided.
The split that resulted from the Hamas-Fatah civil war in June 2007 created two different political systems deeply at odds with another and unlikely to resolve their disputes anytime soon.
Efforts to move the Israeli–Palestinian peace process forward will fail if the United States continues to marginalize or ignore Hamas.
