Middle East Program
Current Initiatives
At present, IPI’s research and policy agenda concentrates in particular on how the Middle East peace process can be moved forward through third-party involvement. Special emphasis is placed on the role of the core body guiding the international community on the peace process: the Quartet (consisting of the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and the Russian Federation). The Quartet not only encompasses IPI’s central partner and constituency, the United Nations, but also steers the implementation of the UN-backed peace plan, the Road Map (endorsed in Security Council resolution 1515), which some of IPI’s Middle East research is immediately focused on.
IPI’s Middle East work began in 2004 with a series of workshops on the role of an international third-party presence in the context of Israel’s disengagement from Gaza. It has since widened in scope. It now involves a combination of in-house research, commissioned analysis, workshops, and seminars. Main lines of research and specific projects currently in the implementation phase include:
- Documentation and analysis of the historical lessons to be learnt from the Middle East peace process;
- Production of an annotated Middle East peace process compendium;
- Analysis of specific issues of topical importance to the United Nations and other relevant actors engaged in the Israeli-Palestinian track of the peace process;
- Research and analysis of broader efforts aimed at reform and the transition to democracy and self-determination in the Middle East;
- A conference and book project on longer-term strategies of peacebuilding in Iraq;
- Outreach on Middle East—related issues to the UN community in New York on various topics and themes, including the peace process, Iraq, Iran, and other salient issues.