Elliott Abrams argues that fifteen months of President Obama's diplomacy have undermined Palestinian autonomy and the willingness of Palestinian leaders to allow Arab states to determine their fate.

Richard N. Haass warns, "The danger of exaggerating the benefits of solving the Palestinian conflict is that doing so runs the risk of distorting American foreign policy."

In light of recent controversy surrounding the expansion of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, international fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy Ehud Yaari, and Managing Editor of Foreign Affairs Gideon Rose discuss the future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

While the Obama administration has rejected any notion of a U.S.-Israel crisis, the announcement of plans to build sixteen hundred new housing units in East Jerusalem during Vice President Joseph Biden's recent trip to Israel has stirred considerable debate about whether the announcement was a snub, whether the U.S. overreacted, and how to move forward.

In this The Guardian op-ed, Aluf Benn talks about the discrepancy between how Israelis view their country and how it is viewed from the outside, offering an explanation for why American efforts to resume the Israeli-Palestinian talks fail to interest Israelis.

Congress is interested in issues related to Middle East peace because of its oversight role in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy, its support for Israel, and keen constituent interest. It is especially concerned about U.S. financial and other commitments to the parties, and the 111th Congress is engaged in these matters. Congress also has endorsed Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel, although U.S. Administrations have consistently maintained that the fate of the city is the subject of final status negotiations.

Explanations for the lack of progress in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians fail to acknowledge one fact: the Palestinians’ repeated rejection of increasingly attractive Israeli offers, write Elliott Abrams and Michael Singh. The reason behind this lies in demographics, evolving regional dynamics, political realities and increasingly asymmetric means of warfare--all of which are tilting the Palestinian people away from a two-state solution with Israel.

Steven Cook asks if Palestinian leadership is going to use violence against Israel as a means to strengthen domestic support and gain a political advantage.

Listen to CFR's Steven A. Cook discuss the Israel-Palestinian conflict in light of the release of the Goldstone Report, which was recently completed by the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, as part of CFR's Religion and Foreign Policy Conference Call series.

Learn more about CFR's Religion and Foreign Policy Initiative.

Elliot Abrams argues that the Obama administration is pursuing a confusing and unclear policy towards Israel.

Prompted by the "complete failure" of the President's Israel strategy, Elliot Abrams asks, "can anything else possibly go wrong for the Obama administration's Middle East policy?"

Thomas Friedman argues that it is time for the Obama administration to take a "radically new approach" towards Israel and Palestine by halting the peace process altogether.

Elliott Abrams argues, "In Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech today he took one major step toward the Obama administration, by endorsing a Palestinian state. In every other way, he resisted President Obama's pressure."

Tim McKirk says to be a Christian in Gaza is difficult and requires discretion. Gaza once had a thriving Christian community, but now it is down to 2,500.

Peter Beinart argues that in the Palestinian territories, "it's best to stop worrying so much about what Hamas says and try to create a situation in which we can better influence what it does."