Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Samah Sabawi says that "land swaps" rhetoric is designed to protect the large Israeli settlement blocks and their buffer zones.

Given that Israel is costing U.S. taxpayers over $3 billion annually and has put the U.S. in a weaker position in the Middle East because of its intransigence, it is past due that every American demand of their government to withdraw its resources and political clout from entities that are moving the region away from peace, instead of closer to it.

The dust is settling after US President Barack Obama's visit to Israel, the occupied Palestinian territory and Jordan, and it is now easier to see the extent of the debris he has left behind. It is perhaps at the geopolitical level that Obama has done the most damage - and that to the weakest party, the Palestinian authority, he met. The surprise reconciliation he engineered between Israel and Turkey has reversed the only regional realignment in the Palestinians' favour for years.

We won't achieve democracy with a movement that's not democratic. Read a shortened version of Osamah Khalil's original Al-Shabaka policy brief, "'Who are You?'": The PLO and the Limits of Representation."

If the U.S. stops Genie Energy from going ahead with an oil contract, it invites the wrath of myriad pro-Israel groups, writes Al-Shabaka Executive Director Nadia Hijab.

Al-Shabaka Program Director Alaa Tartir reviewed Nigel Parsons's new book, "The Politics of the Palestinian Authority" -- a historical journey in modern Palestinian political history and a "must-read" -- for e-International Relations.

What signals do Obama’s new foreign policy picks send about the kind of America the Middle East can expect?

"Palestinians don’t need more aid. They need American political clout to end the occupation as the first step to a just and lasting peace."

Israel controls the Palestinian population registry and all important cards required to enter Gaza and the West Bank.

This post is part of the series "Roots of Resistance: 25 year retrospective on the first intifada." Read the entire series here.