On Their Fifth Anniversary, Steps to Expand the Abraham Accords

Abraham Accords Signing Ceremony, September 2020. Photo credit: Gripas Yuri/ABACA via Reuters Connect.

There is much to celebrate as we mark the fifth anniversary of the Abraham Accords, the historic agreements mediated by the first Trump administration and signed on September 15, 2020 by Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain, and later by the Kingdom of Morocco.  Long isolated from, and regularly vilified by, […]

Saying the Right Things: The New Syria Takes a First Step Towards the Abraham Accords

US President Donald Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 14, 2025. Photo credit: via REUTERS.

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has a colossal problem. Syria’s infrastructure, including housing and commerce, was significantly destroyed during more than a decade of civil war. The new Syrian government will have great difficulty rebuilding Syria after more than a decade of civil war unless US and other sanctions are lifted. Syria has been under comprehensive […]

President Trump: Kuwait Should Be Next!

Late Cheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah at the White House, September 2018. Photo credit: REUTERS.

Trump’s initial foreign policy moves are producing results. Venezuela and Colombia agreed to accept the return of their citizens who entered America illegally. Mexico is sending 10,000 soldiers to its border with the US border to staunch the flow of migrants and drugs. Canada wants to negotiate, urgently. Panama agreed not to renew its infrastructure borrowing […]

The Abraham Accords at Year Two: A Work Plan for Strengthening and Expansion

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo credit: Kobi Gideon/GPO / Latin America News Agency via Reuters Connect

Although it was not the Biden administration that fathered the Abraham Accords, it proved willing to adopt them—hoping, with this endorsement, to assuage the dismay felt by many in the region with other aspects of its policy. Still, the president has done little, so far, to promote the Accords and their expansion. Moreover, the weakening […]

The ASEAN Model: A Vision of Middle East Integration Beyond the Abraham Accords

Asean Summit in Bangkok (top) and The Negev Summit in Sde Boker (bottom). Photos credit: Koki Kataoka / The Yomiuri Shimbun, REUTERS

The summit of foreign ministers came together on relatively short notice. It was unstructured, informal, with little of the staff work or pre-negotiation that normally precedes such gatherings. The agenda was slim and general, and the outcome rather modest. But viewed through a historical scope, the results were transformational. I am not referring to the […]