bloginterviews

Interview with Col. (res.) Dr. Ephraim Lavie: Fatah's success is dependent on "renewal... of the political process with Israel"

The Pulse recently interviewed Colonel (res.) Dr. Ephraim Lavie. He is Director of the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research, Head of the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation and a research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies.

Pulse: In your opinion, what were the main accomplishments of the Fatah convention?

Lavie: Fatah's sixth general convention achieved significant goals in rebuilding the movement both from an organizational aspect as well as an ideological one. First of all, the internal elections for the Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council finally tipped the scales in the power struggle between the old and mid-generation of leaders.

Dr. Stephen Cohen: Obama may set deadline

I sat down yesterday with Dr. Stephen P. Cohen, a longtime advisor to Israel Policy Forum who serves as President of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development. In the 1970's, Dr. Cohen was able to become one of the first to lecture in Egypt on the potential for peace with Israel and to serve as a behind-the-scenes confidant of Israel's Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and President Sadat in the launching of the peace process.

Interview with Ephraim Sneh

The Pulse interviewed Brig. Gen. (ret.) Ephraim Sneh. He is a former Member of Knesset, Deputy Defense Minister and Minister of Transportation.

Pulse: How do you think the US government should be responding to the events in Iran?

Sneh: I think that the one thing that must be avoided by the Americans at this critical time is talking about the proposed dialogue with the Iranian regime. In today's circumstances, it would be a terrible mistake, and would be a huge blow to the democracy-seeking opposition, which is opposing the regime.

Interview with Prof. David Menashri on Iran’s elections: “Fighting within the family”

Earlier today, the Pulse interviewed Professor David Menashri, Director of the Center for Iranian Studies and Dean of Special Programs at Tel Aviv University.

Pulse: What do you think we can expect from the continued unrest in Iran?

Menashri: It is very difficult to know what to expect in such instances. Since the early days of the revolution I do not remember such an outburst of anger and disenchantment. The resentment that we are now witnessing has grown over time due to the frustration regarding the results of the revolution, governmental policy over the years, and, now, the gap between the expectations that the reform camp had concerning the election results and the official results. All together there is a sense that something went wrong in the conduct of the elections and in the process of counting of the votes. The revolution, some claimed, has long been "intercepted" by the radical clerics and, now, demonstrators argue, the election "was stolen" from the reform camp.

Interview with Brig. Gen. (ret.) Israela Oron: Netanyahu should "read the map again"

Earlier today, the Pulse interviewed Brig. Gen. (ret.) Israela Oron, former Deputy National Security Advisor at the NSC.

Pulse: What did you think of Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech at Bar Ilan University?

Oron:  From the Prime Minister's point of view it was a significant step toward  the left, especially because he faces and will continue to face in the future a great deal of opposition from his camp, and from his natural allies as he calls them.  This is important to bear in mind.

Interview with Dr. Kam: "The Supreme Leader Is Khamenei And His Candidate Was Ahmadinejad"

Earlier today, The Pulse interviewed Ephraim Kam, Deputy Head of the Institute for National Security Studies. A former Colonel in the Research Division of IDF Military Intelligence, Dr. Kam specializes in security problems of the Middle East, strategic intelligence, and Israel's national security issues.

Pulse: Were you surprised by the results of the Iranian elections?

Kam: There was no surprise in the election victory of Ahmadinejad.  The surprise was in the far-reaching majority he received in the first round. Most assessments were that he would win because he had advantages over his opponents, specifically he is quite popular among the poor and in the rural villages and he had the support of the spiritual leader, the Revolutionary Guards, as well as religious organizations. However, there is some basis to suspect that the results were distorted because his victory is too overwhelming.

Ayalon on speech: The new "axis of pragmatic forces"

The speech by President Barack Obama in Cairo this afternoon was followed closely in Israel with all stations giving live coverage and commentary. A special note was made of the audience makeup at Cairo University that the Americans pushed for, which included both members of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Israeli Ambassador to Egypt. There was also a major push by the State Department through its embassies to make this speech as accessible as possible across the region from online streaming at Internet cafes to providing speech highlights via text message in Hebrew, Arabic, or English. From Jerusalem it seemed perfectly clear that the President wanted nothing to get in the way of speaking directly to the people and not via their leaders. Immediately following the speech, The Pulse spoke to Major gen. (Res.) Ami Ayalon for his quick reaction.

Interview - Brig Gen (Res) Brom: Overriding Obstacles to Peace

The Pulse interviewed Brig. Gen. (Res.) Shlomo Brom recently. He is former director of the Strategic Planning Division in the Planning Branch of the General Staff of the IDF.

Pulse: What do you think came out of the Obama-Abu Mazen meeting last week?

Brom: Judging from the media reports I see two main efforts on the part of President Obama.

Interview with Gilead Sher: A very typical first meeting

Earlier today, The Pulse interviewed Gilead Sher, former Chief of Staff and Policy Coordinator for Israel's Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak.

Pulse: How do you think the meeting went this week between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu?

Sher: Diplomatically speaking, it was OK.  It was polite, well organized and nothing unexpected occurred. It was very typical of first meetings between a newly elected Prime Minister and the President of the United States.  But in terms of substance the differences and divergences are quite evident.  

Interview with Prof.Yaron Ezrahi: "Bibi wants to block the peace process"

Earlier today, The Pulse interviewed Prof. Yaron Ezrahi, Senior Fellow Emeritus at the Israel Democracy Institute.

Pulse: Special Envoy George Mitchell just concluded his visit to the region where he made it clear that the Obama Administration strongly supports the pursuit of a two state solution. How will the Netanyahu government respond? 

Ezrahi: First we have to recognize that Bibi is back to his blocking and delaying tactics.  He is a perfect follower of Yitzhak Shamir who famously said that he was not against the peace process; in fact, he likes the process so much that he doesn't mind if it never ends.

Bibi's main interest is to conduct an inconsequential peace process that goes no where but to keep him in office.  Bibi wants to block the peace process; he wants to put sticks in the wheels of real substantive progress, and so he sets down conditions that cannot be met: 1) In the past he said that Israel will be ready for peace with the Arab world when they become democracies, which can take quite a while. 2) In the campaign he called for economic integration before political peace - - even in Europe it was found that economic integration can never seriously replace a political process of compromise based on dignity, respect and recognition of independence.  Therefore, an economic peace in which the Arab side is conceding its dignity, honor and rights for economic conditions is absurd and smacks of a colonial mentality that tries to buy off the natives. 3) Now he wants the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, but half of the Israeli public is more interested in Israel becoming a strong democracy before it becomes a Jewish state.  This is a controversial issue within Israel and there are questions as to what defines a Jewish state.