This year Israel celebrates 75 years since it was established. That spawned the Arab-Israeli conflict and the displacement of the Palestinians, known as the Nakba. PRIO researchers have done extensive research on the formative years of Israel and the events surrounding the establishment.
Ine Eriksen Søreide’s tenure as Norway’s Foreign Minister between 2017 and 2021 was reviewed by PRIO researchers Torunn L. Tryggestad, Inger Skjelsbæk and Jørgen Jensehaugen, in two academic articles in a special issue of the Norwegian journal, Internasjonal Politikk.
A CMI report co-authored by PRIO researcher Jørgen Jensehaugen takes stock of the UNRWA, its role and way forward in context of a funding crisis.
Today, for the fifth time in just over three years, Israelis are holding an election.
Før måtte de skjule at de var jøder i arabiske land. Nå flytter mange jøder fra hele verden til muslimske Dubai. Hvorfor?
Over the past decade, Israel-Cyprus relations have improved dramatically. Jump-started by a shared concern over regional in/stability during the Arab Spring, a mutual desire to profit from discovery of large off-shore gas reserves in the Mediterranean, and the souring of Israel-Turkey relations, cooperation between the neighbors has rapidly become a major geopolitical reality in the Eastern Mediterranean. While others have discussed the emergence and nature of this new alignment, the present paper focuses on how viewed by the Israeli elites view the Israel-Cyprus relationship. Using media reports, parliamentary protocols, government statements, and other open-source materials, the paper examines how Israeli elites perceive the importance, nature and future of their strong relationship with the Republic of Cyprus.
See paper here
Jørgen Jensehaugen has just published the book En kort introduksjon til Israel - Palestina-konflikten. [A brief introduction to the Israel - Palestine conflict]. There will be a book launch as soon as PRIO opens up for public events.
This new case brief by Jørgen Jensehaugen examines the dilemma of inclusion/exclusion, which is one of many central problems
in Arab–Israeli peacemaking, by using three instances of international
mediated involvement in the conflict to highlight how mediation gatekeeping has served
to exclude Palestinians, either as a people, as a
political unit, or as a spoiler group.
In a MidEast Policy Brief, Research Professor Pavel Baev writes about the future of UN humanitarian aid to Syria, following the UN Security Council adoption of Resolution 2585 on 9 July 2021. Even though the resolution might appear to be a recycle of the compromise reached at the Security Council in 2020, it is different in many important aspects and will be tested again in 2022, argues Baev.
This year, four master's students at the UiO-PRIO Student Programme have successfully defended their master's theses on topics related to the Middle East. Their theses address a wide variety of topics: effects of sectarian violence in Egypt, sexual violence during the Egyptian Revolution, France's involvement in the Lebanese Civil War, and the Reagan administration's approach to the Palestinian question.
Recent discovery of hydrocarbon has exacerbated existing geopolitical tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. In an episode of PRIO's Peace in a Pod, PRIO Cyprus Centre Researcher Zenonas Tziarras gives an overview of the Eastern Mediterranean, laying out its key players and its recent history, and sheds light on why hydrocarbons are consequential for a region that includes several Middle Eastern countries.
On 9-10 September 2021, around 20 researchers met for a hybrid online-offline workshop to share their research on specific cases of ethical issues in peace negotiations and mediation. The workshop was part of the PRIO project 'On Fair Terms: The Ethics of Peace Negotiations and Mediation' (FAIR) and included both PRIO researchers and researchers from across the world.
Bjørn Schirmer-Nilsen has successfully defended his thesis "Successful Failure: The Intifada and the Shultz Initiative of 1988".
Congratulations Bjørn!
In a series of brief blog posts, researchers of the PRIO Middle East Centre offer their reflections on the unfolding Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. The reflections cover historical and political background as well as current dynamics and future prospects.
In a recent article entitled "Energy and Sovereignty in the new Geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean" published in the Oxford Energy Forum, PRIO Cyprus Centre researcher Zenonas Tziarras asks how much of the recent crises can really be attributed to hydrocarbons, given other underlying issues and a history of regional tensions. He argues that hydrocarbons can only have a positive impact on eastern Mediterranean dynamics if the regional states (first) manage to resolve their fundamental and sometime decades-old differences.
In May, a new PRIO Middle East Centre project started. The project, entitled 'Reacting to COVID-19 Across the MENA region', aims to explore how Middle East states reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic and what these varied reactions say about the regimes in question, combining statistical analysis of regional patterns with five case studies: Jordan, Turkey, Iran, Israel, and Palestine. The case studies are published in the MidEast Policy Brief series, with an accompanying PRIO Paper presenting the statistical analysis.
Organised by: the Association for Social Reform (OPEK) Cyprus and the Cyprus Technical University
Monday 17 October 2016 starting at 19:30
Venue: Tasos Papadopoulos Building, Amphitheatre 2, Cyprus Technical University - LIMASSOL
THE EVENT WILL BE IN GREEK
During the International Seminar-Book Presentation: The Future of Natural Gas: Market and Geopolitics, organised by The International Affairs Institute (IAI) and the OCP Policy Center, Rabat 27.05.16
MidEast Policy Brief
Journal Article in Internasjonal Politikk
Journal Article in Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism
Book Review
Book Chapter in Lives in Peace Research: the Oslo Stories
Book Chapter in Lives in Peace Research: the Oslo Stories
Monograph
FAIR Case Brief
Journal Article in Quaderni CeSPI
FAIR Case Brief
Occasional Paper Series
Report - External Series
Report - External Series
Journal Article in Oxford Energy Forum
Master Thesis
Popular Article in Dagens Næringsliv
Popular Article in Eurasia Daily Monitor
Popular Article in Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies Blog
Popular Article in LSE Middle East Centre Blog
Popular Article in Al-Araby Al-Jadeed