This talk addresses the dynamics that led to the eruption of the Gaza War, tracing them back to developments in the international and regionalsystems, the domestic environment of the main actors involved in the conflict, and the nature of the leaders making the most critical decisions leading up to the war. This approach seeks to understand Arab-Israeli developments by exploring dynamics at the three levels of analysis mentioned above, and guides the work of the three panelists in their recently published book, Arabs and Israelis: Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East. The panelists will use the book’s conclusions to shed light on this most recent eruption of Palestinian-Israeli violence and on ways that might help put an end to the conflict.

SPEAKERS:

Khalil Shikaki is Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah. He is a Senior Fellow at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University and currently a visiting scholar at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Shai Feldman is the Judith and Sidney Swartz Director of Brandeis University's Crown Center for Middle East Studies and a Senior Fellow and a member of the Board of Directors at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Abdel Monem Said Aly is Chairman of the Board, CEO, and Director of the Regional Center for Strategic Studies in Cairo and a Senior Fellow at Brandeis University's Crown Center for Middle East Studies.