To confront Iran, two serious approaches compete for attention. The favorite of the Bush administration — the criticize-and-alienate strategy — has demonstrated limited utility. The other — the criticize-and-engage strategy — has yet to be fully tested but offers greater potential for resolving tensions.
Disappointingly, President Bush has wasted no opportunity to lash out at [...]

Will President George W. Bush’s eleventh-hour visit to the Middle East this week deliver more than photo opportunities?
One might be tempted to say no, based on the low expectations that emanate from virtually all directions. With the right effort, though – that is, demonstrating some humility, advancing a future vision for the region and downplaying [...]

Shortly before this week’s U.S.-guided, Israeli-Palestinian summit meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, I spent a day with someone who understands the complexities of Middle East peacemaking better than most: Jehan Sadat, the widow of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
Our conversations took me back to a more optimistic period, that of the Camp David Accords, when the [...]

When I wrote about the exploding Palestinian-versus-Palestinian crisis last week, I hardly anticipated numerous messages about my “suggested peace plan.” Actually, I referenced more of an idea to break the logjam — a regional peace conference on the order of the Madrid summit of 1991 — than a plan.
One recent development that dovetails nicely with [...]