Opportunities in Change

A Fresh IsraeIi Approach to the Changing MiddIe East

A project of Mitvim - the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies
and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation, 2011


Winds of change are blowing across the Middle East. For the first time in decades, Arab citizens
in different countries have been going to the streets and demanding freedom and basic human
rights. Successes have already been achieved in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, leading to transition
periods in these countries. n much of Europe and North America, these developments have
been by and large greeted with enthusiasm and hope for democratization in the Middle East.

srael, however, is viewing things differently. t is examining the new regional situation with
considerable concern, and even fear. The sraeli consensus is that we are witnessing the start
of a long era of instability, with increased threats of regional radicalization and slamism. Mitvim
believes that these potential threats form only part of a larger and more complex picture, and
that recent developments across the Arab world also hold important opportunities for srael's
regional foreign policies and for its standing in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

For this reason, Mitvim - The sraeli nstitute for Regional Foreign Policies has partnered with
the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation on a program that sets out to identify these opportunities and to
start putting them into use. Opportunities in Change develops principles for a fresh sraeli
approach to the changing Middle East, as part of a broader peace-oriented and multilateral
sraeli foreign-policy paradigm to be developed by Mitvim.

n 2011, the project included the following phases:

A. An expert workshop titled "Changing Paradigms in IsraeI's Foreign PoIicy: Do Think
Tanks Matter?" that was carried out on May 18
th
2011. t was led by Prof. Donald
Abelson, the leading expert on think tanks and their impact on foreign policy making.

The workshop provided the conceptual base to the project. t dealt with the relevance
of think tanks to the sraeli political culture, the need to balance long term strategic
planning with immediate responses to current events, the need to identify relevant target
audiences and to design outputs that will serve them efficiently, and the means to
achieve both policy impact and public visibility, without confusing the two.

B. A muIti-discipIinary task-team has been assembled to identify and analyze the various
Opportunities in Change, and to devise plans towards their implementation. t consisted
of sraeli experts in the fields of Middle Eastern studies, international relations, public
policy, and the media.

The task-team identified 1our main cIusters o1 opportunities for srael:

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1) 'iabIe and sustainabIe peace opportunities to renew sraeli-Palestinian

negotiations following the Palestinian approach to the UN; to engage new Arab
societal groups in the peace process, and; to promote Fateh-Hamas unity as a
means to dismantle obstacles for peace.

2) Changing regionaI reaIities opportunities to weaken the ran-Syria-Hezbollah-
Hamas axis; to promote the taking shape of new moderate albeit critical towards
srael) regional alignments; to stop the deterioration in srael-Turkey relations and to
promote reconciliation between the two, and; to strengthen coordination and
relations between srael and its Western allies.

) New channeIs to the Arab worId opportunities to introduce the peoples of the
Middle East with sraeli voices committed to peace and regional belonging via Arab
new media, TV stations, and newspapers; to engage in forward-looking regional
policy dialogue with emerging groups and think tanks in the Arab world, and; to
deepen Arab knowledge and understanding of srael, its society and politics.

) A new IsraeIi discourse on the MiddIe East opportunities to promote better
sraeli understanding of the Middle East; to dismantle psychological barriers to
peace; to have the Palestinian citizens of srael become more central in shaping
sraeli-Arab relations, and; to promote a paradigm shift in srael's foreign policy.

The task team has analyzed which opportunities can be immediately implemented,
which require further development, and which require political change in order to enable
their implementation. The role of itvim in promoting the different opportunities has been
examined, leading to a process of devising relevant work plans towards implementation
of the different opportunities.

C. n parallel to the task-team deliberations, a series of individuaI papers have been
written for publication by the team members. These are:

1) Dr. Ehud Eiran, "The Arab Spring: Opportunities Hebrew and English)

2) Dr. lai Saltzman, "Opportunities in Change: Assessing the Upside of the Arab
Spring English)

) Ms. Ksenia Svetlova, "The Arab Spring's Blossoming Opportunities: Arab Mass
Media and Relations with srael English)

) Mr. Kamal Hasan, "A New Role for the Palestinian Citizens of srael in Shaping
sraeli-Arab Relations Hebrew)

) Dr. Nimrod Goren, "n Support of an srael-Turkey Reconciliation Agreement
Hebrew and Turkish)

) Ms. Michal Eskenazi, "The American Discourse on the Arab Spring and its
Relevance to srael: A Survey of American Think Tanks' Publications English)