The Jerusalem Post - Israel News

Bruce Maddy-Weitzman

BRUCE MADDY-WEITZMAN is Principal Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University. He holds a PhD from Tel Aviv University in modern Middle East history (1988), after having obtained his B.A in Politics from Brandeis University (1975) and an M.A. in Regional Studies-Middle East from Harvard University (1977). He has also taught at Emory Univ. and Brandeis Univ., and lectured at more than a dozen other academic institutions in the US, Israel, Turkey and Morocco. His publications include The Return To History: Berber Identity and the Challenge to North African States (Univ. of Texas Press, 2011); Palestinian and Israeli Intellectuals in the Shadow of Oslo and Intifadat al-Aqsa (Steinmetz Center for Peace Research,Tel Aviv University, 2002), The Crystallization of the Arab State System, 1945-1954 (Syracuse University Press, 1993), and fifteen edited or co-edited volumes, including Contemporary Morocco: State, Politics and Soci
Demonstrators confront police during clashes after Friday prayers in Algiers, January 16

Six years on in north Africa

North Africa remains a region in flux suffering from the same problems that led to the Arab Spring in the first place.

MARCH 7, 2017
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in a May 17 speech, said new opportunities now exist to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and warmer relations with Arab states

Mideast Monitor: What’s next for Sisi’s Egypt?

While Sisi’s rule does not appear to be in imminent danger, it is unwise to ignore the real and multiple difficulties confronting Egyptian society.

FEBRUARY 18, 2017
A man walks past graffiti depicting relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia in Cairo, October 12

Egypt and Saudi Arabia: The end of an alliance?

Cairo and Riyadh retain mutual interests on Iran, but have clashed on Syria and relations with Russia.

JANUARY 21, 2017

Is the Tunisian revolt about to be replayed in Morocco?

Despite similarities to the Tunisian scenario, protests over the horrific death of a fishmonger are unlikely to expand into a broader challenge to the regime.

DECEMBER 10, 2016
Protesters raise a poster of Riffian Berber hero Abd el-Krim al- Khattabi during a protest, November 6, against the death of a fishmonger in the Moroccan city of Al Hoceima

A drumbeat of negative commentary

With a few exceptions, reactions to Shimon Peres’s death in the Arab world painted him as a warmonger, not a peacemaker.

OCTOBER 31, 2016
Shimon Peres

Indefinite agony

The cease-fire agreed upon by the US and Russia is unlikely to bring Syria’s civil war to an end.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov look toward one another during a press conference following their meeting in Geneva, Switzerland where they discussed the crisis in Syria, September 9

Can Jordan contain the jihadi threat?

Two recent terrorist attacks illustrate the dangers of militant Islamist ideological spillover from the war in Syria.

JULY 23, 2016
Jordanian special forces participate in an anti-terrorism drill at King Abdullah II Airbase in Amman, May 10

How far can Israel and the Arab states go?

The gaps between Israel and the Sunni Arab states remain huge, but common interests could produce a positive dynamic.

JUNE 26, 2016
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in a May 17 speech, said new opportunities now exist to promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and warmer relations with Arab states

Lebanon: Teetering on the edge

No one has yet found the way to mesh communal and civic identities in a way that will enable Lebanon to survive and prosper.

JUNE 10, 2016
Demonstrators take part in a protest against the government’s failure to resolve a crisis over rubbish disposal in Beirut, March 12

Analysis: The Saudi conundrum

Riyadh is entering a new and uncertain era, generationally, economically and strategically.

MAY 7, 2016
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Muhammad bin Salman attends the gathering of the Defense Ministers of the Global Coalition against ISIS at NATO headquarters in Brussels, February 11

Tough times in Amman

Over one million Syrian refugees are imposing severe stress on the always vulnerable Jordanian economy.

MARCH 15, 2016
Zaatari refugee camp with Syria in the distance.

Israel and Egypt: Between alliance and rivalry

Egyptian-Israeli relations remain solid, if not particularly warm.

MARCH 12, 2016
Gazans repair a smuggling tunnel, flooded by the Egyptians, beneath the border between Egypt and Gaza, November 26.

Riyadh and Tehran on a collision course

Saudi assertiveness betrays a deepening insecurity.

FEBRUARY 4, 2016
Flames rise from Saudi Arabia's embassy during a demonstration in Tehran January 2, 2016