It may be the dog days of summer, but much is going on in the Middle East.  In the West Bank, Fatah has just ended its first convention in two decades. Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama is demanding that Israel abide by a complete settlement freeze – including building in East Jerusalem. Obama is also asking the Arab world to take some steps toward normalizing relations with Israel.

To help you understand these and other current events, David Weinberg, Director of the CIC Israel Office, has put together a short recommended reading list:

• The Two-State Solution Doesn’t Solve Anything
  Hussein Agha and Robert Malley, New York Times

• Autocracy and the Decline of the Arabs
  Fouad Ajami, Wall Street Journal

• Oslo Revisited: Are the Fundamental Assumptions Still Valid?
  Zaki Shalom, INSS at TAU

• No Expansion vs. Freeze: Obama’s Dilemma over Israeli Settlements
  David Makovsky, Washington Institute

• Where Have All the Palestinian Moderates Gone?
  David Schenker, Foreign Policy

• Why Israel Is Nervous
  Elliott Abrams, Wall Street Journal