N7 Initiative

In the wake of the Abraham Accords signed in September 2020, the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs, in partnership with the Jeffrey M. Talpins Foundation, launched the N7 Initiative to help accelerate and strengthen normalization between Israel and Arab and Muslim countries, and to drive bipartisan support in the US for normalization.

Experts

Past events

Latest analysis

MENASource

Jun 24, 2019

Trilateral tribulations: The upcoming Israeli advisers meeting

By Mark N. Katz

Iran and its role in Syria are likely to be the main agenda item at the June 24-26 trilateral meeting of the US, Russian, and Israeli national security advisers in Israel. What US National Security Adviser John Bolton and his Israeli counterpart, Meir Ben-Shabbat, want from Russia is clear: Moscow’s in reducing or even eliminating the Iranian presence in Syria. Russian National Security Adviser Nikolai Patrushev, though, is unlikely to meet their demands on this score.

Iran Israel

New Atlanticist

Jun 5, 2019

Israel’s political meltdown

By Shalom Lipner

Six nail-biting weeks after he was first tasked by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to construct Israel’s next government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to concede defeat and admit that he had failed to cobble together a new ruling coalition.

Elections Israel

New Atlanticist

May 30, 2019

Netanyahu’s political setback casts a shadow over Kushner’s Middle East peace plan

By James B. Cunningham

Netanyahu now finds himself the victim of a political landscape which he himself had a large part in shaping over the past ten years, unable to build his Likud into a majority party, and beholden to far-right and ultra-orthodox religious parties on the one hand and to the secular followers of Avigdor Liberman on the other. 

Elections Israel

MENASource

May 30, 2019

Why is Bahrain hosting the mideast peace conference?

By Grace Wermenbol

Following a long period of anticipation and repeated delays, US officials announced earlier this month that they will hold an economic workshop in Bahrain in late June as the first step in the administration’s road map for peace between Israel and Palestine.

Israel Middle East

New Atlanticist

May 22, 2019

Crossing the cyber Rubicon: Views from both sides of the river

By Jack Watson and William Loomis

Did the IDF’s airstrike ‘cross the Rubicon’ by using lethal force in response to hacking? On the weekend of May 5, a month after a truce was agreed between Israel and Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip, violence again rose to levels not seen since 2014.

Cybersecurity Israel

MENASource

May 21, 2019

What’s new, and what’s not, in the Kushner Middle East peace plan

By Ambassador Richard LeBaron

On May 19, The White House announced a “Peace to Prosperity” workshop to be held in Bahrain June 25-26 as the first step in its plan for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The meeting was described as “a pivotal opportunity to convene government, civil society, and business leaders to share ideas, discuss strategies, and galvanize support for potential economic investments and initiatives that could be made possible by a peace agreement.” 

Israel Middle East

New Atlanticist

May 6, 2019

A shaky truce in Gaza

By Shalom Lipner

Although similar to earlier occasions on which blows were traded over Israel’s Gaza frontier, this past week’s altercation was extraordinary nonetheless for its intensity.

Conflict Israel

MENASource

May 6, 2019

Risking it all: The Palestinian Authority faces mounting challenges

By Grace Wermenbol

The appointment of Mohammed Shtayyeh as head of a new Palestinian government on March 10 constitutes an overt attempt to consolidate Fatah’s dominance in the Palestinian political arena and, in the process, delegitimize rival party Hamas. Shtayyeh’s installation as prime minister, however, does not just further complicate reconciliation attempts between the two feuding political parties. Heightened tensions with Israel’s overtly right-wing government and economic hardship in the West Bank mean that Shtayyeh faces an almost impossible task.

Israel Middle East

IranSource

May 6, 2019

Are Iranians turning away from the ‘Resistance Front’?

By Mahmoud Pargoo

In Iran, public opinion about foreign policy has become extremely divided. Even recent flooding provided ground for opposing parties to promote their stances, especially in regard to Iran’s backing of foreign militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

Iran Israel

MENASource

May 2, 2019

Israeli-Gulf relations: Will the détente deepen or dry up?

By Daniel J. Samet

On April 25, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that an Israeli delegation will take part in next year’s World Expo, hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fresh off his victory in the April 9 elections, tweeted his approval of Israel’s participation, which he called “another expression of Israel’s rising status in the world and the region.”

Israel The Gulf

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