Research Library

President Biden’s announcement that the U.S. is preparing to open a maritime corridor to Gaza highlights a deteriorating relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and attempts to address voter concerns ahead of the November election.

In a new commentary, fellow Joe Barnes lays out the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war, including President Joe Biden’s careful response to attacks by Iran-backed groups in the region.

At least a dozen countries, including the U.S., have suspended funding to the United Nations agency that delivers aid to Palestinian refugees. The cuts fit a long-time pattern of the politicization of refugee aid, write Nicholas R. Micinski and Kelsey Norman.

Hama's Oct. 7 attack on Israel threatens to undermine a key pillar of Saudi Arabia’s foreign and domestic agenda: the “de-risking” of the region, writes fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen.

The surprise attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas has raised a number of critical questions related to geopolitics, aid, energy, and other global affairs. Baker Institute fellows and scholars are continuing to provide expert analysis on the conflict.

Declarations against violence issued by ulama on behalf of their government provide an opportunity for Muslim political leaders to signal their commitment to the international security agenda while vilifying Islamist opposition actors as terrorists. Baker Institute Blog: https://bit.ly/2LNAZrr

Despite right-wing pushes for the annexation of a significant portion of the West Bank, support remains for a two-state solution to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yair Hirschfeld, fellow in the Center for the Middle East, analyzes Israel's political environment in this post on the Baker Institute Blog.

The UN adopted new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the end of September 2015. Using data from the Arab Millennium Development Goals Report, research analyst Ariana Marnicio recommends the Arab world primarily focus on three SDGs to improve the lives of women

While much media attention recently has focused on the geopolitical fault lines that connect Syria’s violence to wider region-wide trends, the plight of individual women, men, and children displaced within Syria or living in camps beyond its borders shows no sign of ending. As Secretary of State John Kerry has stated, the humanitarian situation in Syria is "an outrage" but the violence only looks set to worsen as opposition groups turn on each other and radical trans-national elements feed off the resulting vacuum of authority and control. This is the task as the international community prepares to reconvene in Switzerland on January 22, writes Baker Institute fellow Kristian Coates Ulrichsen in the Baker Institute Blog.