European Rim Policy and Investment Council (ERPIC)
ERPIC is an independent non-partisan, non-profit, non-governmental organisation dedicated to the study of political and economic issues affecting the Eastern Mediterranean.
ERPIC runs three working programs that are at the core of its activities: the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Security Program; the Democracy and Rule of Law Program; and the Energy Program.
ERPIC produces and disseminates original electronic media content, such as interviews, presentations, special briefings, and conferences addressing international law and human rights, democracy building, regional security and energy matters in the Eastern Mediterranean region. ERPIC also organizes live roundtables and seminars featuring diplomats, academics and policymakers.
ERPIC is a founding member of the East Med Forum, an electronic, online discussion forum, the purpose of which is to serve as a platform for the exchange of information and ideas, facilitate intraregional cross-border, cross-industry and cross-cultural dialogue, which aims at creating a framework for regional cooperation.
Latest Videos
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Current Political Developments in Israel
Current Political Developments in Israel
Dr. Elie Friedman
Ashkelon Academic College
11 May 2022
The current political situation in Israel is somehow contradictory. Israel remains strong economically and geopolitically, yet it finds itself in a precarious and difficult situation in terms of internal security and internal politics. Economically, the recovery from the COVID 19 pandemic has been robust. Israel’s regional standing has significantly improved, mainly through the Abraham Accords which have proven to be solid and beneficial for all parties involved. Internally, however, the security situation is fragile and there has been a spike in terrorist attacks in Israel, some of them perpetrated by its own citizens. On top of that, the current government built on a broad coalition of very diverse parties could be on its last legs. Its collapse would spark yet another wave of political instability in the country.
#Israel #IsraeliPolitics #AbrahamAccords
Elie Friedman (PhD) serves as Head of the International Relations Office as well as Head of the Communications Division at the Department of Multidisciplinary Studies, Ashkelon Academic College. His academic rank is Senior Lecturer. He also serves as an adjunct lecturer at School of Communication, Bar-Ilan University, and a visiting lecturer at University of Maryland. His interests include political discourse in national and international contexts with an emphasis on conflict resolution, media, and public diplomacy.
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Turkey's Position on the War in Ukraine
Turkey's Position on the War in Ukraine
Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak
Moshe Dayan Center and Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security
9 May 2022
Turkey sees Russia as its historical nemesis that currently is the only entity in the region capable of posing an existential threat to Ankara. But with regard to Ukraine, Turkey is walking a tight rope. It tries to please the Western camp on one hand, while maintaining its vital relations with Moscow on the other.
#Turkey #Russia #UkraineWar
Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, Ph.D (Tel Aviv University) is a researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, and an expert on contemporary Turkish politics and society. Hay is the editor of Turkeyscope, and a member of the Middle East Network Analysis Desk. He is a frequent guest on Israeli and international media, where he regularly appears to discuss contemporary Turkish issues.
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Recent Developments in Turkish-Israeli Relations
Recent Developments in Turkish-Israeli Relations
Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak
Moshe Dayan Center and Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security
9 May 2022
The Turkish foreign policy nowadays is experiencing a very important U-turn which can be seen as a part of wider change. The most important milestone of this change was Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit to Ankara in November 2021. During that visit, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi promised investments in Turkey amounting to ten billion dollars. At the same time, he requested Turkey to alter its foreign policy and make it more compatible with the needs of the countries that are parties to the Abraham Accords.
#Israel #Turkey #AbrahamAccords
Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, Ph.D (Tel Aviv University) is a researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, and an expert on contemporary Turkish politics and society. Hay is the editor of Turkeyscope, and a member of the Middle East Network Analysis Desk. He is a frequent guest on Israeli and international media, where he regularly appears to discuss contemporary Turkish issues.
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US-Turkey Relations under the Biden Administration
US-Turkey Relations under the Biden Administration
Alan Makovsky, Prof. Yair Hirschfeld and Dr. Christodoulos G. Pelaghias
16 February 2022
Turkey continues to be a concern in the region, in particular with regard to its positions in Libya, Syria, Greece and Cyprus. But the Biden Administration has tried to “normalize” the way of handling relations with Turkey. Like previous administrations, it considers Turkey an important geostrategic asset and is concerned about the possibility that Turkey could drift into the Russian orbit. At the same time, Biden has been more willing than his predecessors to keep Erdogan off balance.
#EasternMediterranean #Turkey #Biden
Alan Makovsky is a senior fellow for National Security and International Policy at American Progress. From 2001 to 2013, he served as a senior professional staff member on the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he covered the Middle East, Turkey, and other related issues. At the Washington Institute for Near East Policy—a private think tank where he worked from 1994 to 2001—Makovsky wrote widely on various Middle Eastern and Turkish topics. He also founded and directed the Washington Institute’s Turkey Research Program. At the State Department where he worked from 1983 to 1994—Makovsky variously covered southern European affairs and Middle Eastern affairs for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He also served as the political advisor to Operation Provide Comfort in 1992 and as the special advisor to the special Middle East coordinator from 1993 to 1994.
Yair Hirschfeld is an Israeli historian and a former lecturer at the University of Haifa. Since 1979, he has been involved in promoting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. During the 1980ies he organized the confidential dialogue between Shimon Peres with the Palestinian leadership on the West Bank and Gaza. In 1990 he founded together with Yossi Beilin the Economic Cooperation Foundation. He prepared a study that became the conceptual model for the Oslo negotiations. He led the non-official Israeli team in Norway and became then a member of the official Israeli negotiating team leading to the conclusion of the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles of September 1993. During the 1990ies Hirschfeld developed concepts and structures for People-to-People activities, as well as working concepts for an Israel-Palestine code of conduct aimed to move from the logic of war, to the logic of peace; a blueprint for Security Permanent Status, and Economic Permanent Status understandings. After the Second Intifada Hirschfeld was instrumental in preparing the way for Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation. He was involved in an Israel-Palestine backchannel preparing parameters for negotiations between PM Olmert and President Abbas, an effort that failed. Prof. Hirschfeld is presently involved in pursuing a track two dialogue with Palestinian counterparts on one hand, and with Israeli governmental authorities on the other hand, how best to pursue shared interests in the preparation of a hoped-for renewal of an envisaged political peace-building process. He is heading an Israeli team in a joint Israeli-Palestinian project aimed at promoting Palestinian economic growth. And he is working with a team of experts in order to propose policies aimed at upgrading Israel’s soft power capacities in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea area.
Christodoulos G. Pelaghias is the senior partner of Cyprus-based international law practice, with bar admissions in New York and Cyprus. Dr. Pelaghias serves on the Executive Committee of the International Section of the New York State Bar Association. He is president of the Cyprus Council of the European Movement International (EMI), and former member of the Board of Directors of EMI. He is chairman of the European Rim Policy and Investment Council (ERPIC), and has advised the President of the Republic of Cyprus. Dr. Pelaghias holds an M.A. in International Affairs, a Ph.D in Political Science, and a J.D. in Law, from Columbia University.
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US-Turkey Relations under the Biden Administration
Alan Makovsky
Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress
24 January 2022
Turkey continues to be a concern in the region, in particular with regard to its positions in Libya, Syria, Greece and Cyprus. But the Biden Administration has tried to “normalize” the way of handling relations with Turkey. Like previous administrations, it considers Turkey an important geostrategic asset and is concerned about the possibility that Turkey could drift into the Russian orbit. At the same time, Biden has been more willing than his predecessors to keep Erdogan off balance.
#EasternMediterranean #Turkey #Biden
Alan Makovsky is a senior fellow for National Security and International Policy at American Progress. From 2001 to 2013, he served as a senior professional staff member on the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he covered the Middle East, Turkey, and other related issues. At the Washington Institute for Near East Policy—a private think tank where he worked from 1994 to 2001—Makovsky wrote widely on various Middle Eastern and Turkish topics. He also founded and directed the Washington Institute’s Turkey Research Program. At the State Department where he worked from 1983 to 1994—Makovsky variously covered southern European affairs and Middle Eastern affairs for the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He also served as the political advisor to Operation Provide Comfort in 1992 and as the special advisor to the special Middle East coordinator from 1993 to 1994.
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Israel's Regional Alliances in the Eastern Mediterranean (Part 2)
Dr. Elai Rettig, Prof. Yair Hirschfeld and Dr. Christodoulos G. Pelaghias
9 December 2021
Any region-building process in the Eastern Mediterranean would require a significant level of commitment in terms of diplomatic capital and other resources. Israel, a major regional power, has traditionally shied away from a commitment to alliances. Dr. Elai Rettig, Prof. Yair Hirschfeld and Dr. Christodoulos Pelaghias discuss possible models of cooperation for the Eastern Mediterranean that Israel is seeking or would be willing to support.
#EasternMediterranean #Israel #EastMedCooperation
Elai Rettig is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Studies of Bar-Ilan University and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Haifa’s Maritime Policy and Strategy Research Center. Dr. Rettig specializes in energy security and energy geopolitics in Israel and the Middle East. He examines the use of energy resources as a foreign policy tool and their effect on regional cooperation and conflict.
Yair Hirschfeld is an Israeli historian and a former lecturer at the University of Haifa. Since 1979, he has been involved in promoting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. During the 1980ies he organized the confidential dialogue between Shimon Peres with the Palestinian leadership on the West Bank and Gaza. In 1990 he founded together with Yossi Beilin the Economic Cooperation Foundation. He prepared a study that became the conceptual model for the Oslo negotiations. He led the non-official Israeli team in Norway and became then a member of the official Israeli negotiating team leading to the conclusion of the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles of September 1993. During the 1990ies Hirschfeld developed concepts and structures for People-to-People activities, as well as working concepts for an Israel-Palestine code of conduct aimed to move from the logic of war, to the logic of peace; a blueprint for Security Permanent Status, and Economic Permanent Status understandings. After the Second Intifada Hirschfeld was instrumental in preparing the way for Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation. He was involved in an Israel-Palestine backchannel preparing parameters for negotiations between PM Olmert and President Abbas, an effort that failed. Prof. Hirschfeld is presently involved in pursuing a track two dialogue with Palestinian counterparts on one hand, and with Israeli governmental authorities on the other hand, how best to pursue shared interests in the preparation of a hoped-for renewal of an envisaged political peace-building process. He is heading an Israeli team in a joint Israeli-Palestinian project aimed at promoting Palestinian economic growth. And he is working with a team of experts in order to propose policies aimed at upgrading Israel’s soft power capacities in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea area.
Christodoulos G. Pelaghias is the senior partner of Cyprus-based international law practice, with bar admissions in New York and Cyprus. Dr. Pelaghias serves on the Executive Committee of the International Section of the New York State Bar Association. He is president of the Cyprus Council of the European Movement International (EMI), and former member of the Board of Directors of EMI. He is chairman of the European Rim Policy and Investment Council (ERPIC), and has advised the President of the Republic of Cyprus. Dr. Pelaghias holds an M.A. in International Affairs, a Ph.D in Political Science, and a J.D. in Law, from Columbia University.
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Israel's Regional Alliances in the Eastern Mediterranean (Part 1)
Dr. Elai Rettig
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Studies, Bar Ilan University
Senior Fellow, Maritime Policy & Strategy Research Center, University of Haifa
21 November 2021
Dr. Elai Rettig talks about Israel’s regional strategy, how it sees itself in the region, why it creates bilateral and multilateral connections in the region and how it uses gas to do so, as well as its future gas prospects to Europe and the creation of the new region called the Eastern Mediterranean.
#EasternMediterranean #Israel #EastMedGas
Elai Rettig is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Studies of Bar-Ilan University and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Haifa’s Maritime Policy and Strategy Research Center. Dr. Rettig specializes in energy security and energy geopolitics in Israel and the Middle East. He examines the use of energy resources as a foreign policy tool and their effect on regional cooperation and conflict.
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In Search of a Common Civilization in the Eastern Mediterranean (Part 4)
Henrique Cymerman, Prof. Yair Hirschfeld and Marta Murzanska
1 December 2021
In the fourth part of our discussions on the common culture in the Eastern Mediterranean, Henrique Cymerman, Prof. Yair Hirschfeld and Marta Murzanska continue the discussion on the fate of Christian and other religious minorities, the roots of radicalization and intolerance, and the prospects for religious dialogue in the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider Middle East.
#EasternMediterranean #ReligiousMinorities #ReligiousDialogue
Henrique Cymerman is an Israeli journalist of Portuguese and Spanish origin who works as a correspondent in the Middle East for SIC, La Vanguardia and Mediaset España, among others. He has been covering current affairs in the Middle East for 30 years and has established relationships of trust with chief regional political leaders in Israel, Palestine, the Middle East and the Arab world. He was nominated by Pope Francis as his "Angel of Peace" for the "Prayer for Peace" that he organized in the Vatican. Henrique is the author of the book "Voices from the center of the World" which includes interviews with key characters in the region with key personages: such as Yasser Arafat; Shimon Peres; Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin; Omar bin Laden, son of Osama bin Laden; Mahmoud Abbas; and Yitzhak Rabin's last interview. He also directed the TV documentary series "Jihad Now", in which he explores the roots of radical Islam, al-Qaeda and Islamic State. He works in five languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Hebrew.
Yair Hirschfeld is an Israeli historian and a former lecturer at the University of Haifa. Since 1979, he has been involved in promoting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. During the 1980ies he organized the confidential dialogue between Shimon Peres with the Palestinian leadership on the West Bank and Gaza. In 1990 he founded together with Yossi Beilin the Economic Cooperation Foundation. He prepared a study that became the conceptual model for the Oslo negotiations. He led the non-official Israeli team in Norway and became then a member of the official Israeli negotiating team leading to the conclusion of the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles of September 1993. During the 1990ies Hirschfeld developed concepts and structures for People-to-People activities, as well as working concepts for an Israel-Palestine code of conduct aimed to move from the logic of war, to the logic of peace; a blueprint for Security Permanent Status, and Economic Permanent Status understandings. After the Second Intifada Hirschfeld was instrumental in preparing the way for Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation. He was involved in an Israel-Palestine backchannel preparing parameters for negotiations between PM Olmert and President Abbas, an effort that failed. Prof. Hirschfeld is presently involved in pursuing a track two dialogue with Palestinian counterparts on one hand, and with Israeli governmental authorities on the other hand, how best to pursue shared interests in the preparation of a hoped-for renewal of an envisaged political peace-building process. He is heading an Israeli team in a joint Israeli-Palestinian project aimed at promoting Palestinian economic growth. And he is working with a team of experts in order to propose policies aimed at upgrading Israel’s soft power capacities in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea area. His recent publications include: Track Two Diplomacy toward an Israeli-Palestinian Solution, 1978-2014; (Woodrow Wilson Center Press, and John Hopkins University Press 2014), Developing an Israeli Grand Strategy toward a Peaceful Two-State Solution (A compilation of seven essays) Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and S. Daniel Abraham Center for Strategic Dialogue, Netanya Academic College, October 2016).
Marta Murzanska is a researcher, a project coordinator and the co-editor of the East Mediterranean Chronicles published by the European Rim Policy and Investment Council (ERPIC).
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In Search of a Common Civilization in the East Mediterranean and the Sources of Intolerance (Part 3)
Prof. Benny Morris, Prof. Yair Hirschfeld and Dr. Christodoulos G. Pelaghias
29 November 2021
In the third part of our discussions on the common culture in the Eastern Mediterranean, Prof. Yair Hirschfeld, Dr. Christodoulos Pelaghias and Prof. Benny Morris talk about the fate of Christianity in the region, the sources of religious intolerance, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the future of Israel.
#EasternMediterranean #ReligiousIntolerance #ReligiousMinorities
Benny Morris is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba, Israel. He is the author of several books on the Arab-Israeli and the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. His latest book, coauthored with Dror Ze’evi, is The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey’s Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894–1924 (Harvard University Press). In the book, the authors analyze the three waves of violence that swept across Anatolia between 1894 and 1924 targeting the region’s Christian minorities. The Thirty-Year Genocide is the first account to show that the three were actually part of a single, continuing, and intentional effort to wipe out Anatolia’s Christian population.
Yair Hirschfeld is an Israeli historian and a former lecturer at the University of Haifa. Since 1979, he has been involved in promoting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. During the 1980ies he organized the confidential dialogue between Shimon Peres with the Palestinian leadership on the West Bank and Gaza. In 1990 he founded together with Yossi Beilin the Economic Cooperation Foundation. He prepared a study that became the conceptual model for the Oslo negotiations. He led the non-official Israeli team in Norway and became then a member of the official Israeli negotiating team leading to the conclusion of the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles of September 1993. During the 1990ies Hirschfeld developed concepts and structures for People-to-People activities, as well as working concepts for an Israel-Palestine code of conduct aimed to move from the logic of war, to the logic of peace; a blueprint for Security Permanent Status, and Economic Permanent Status understandings. After the Second Intifada Hirschfeld was instrumental in preparing the way for Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation. He was involved in an Israel-Palestine backchannel preparing parameters for negotiations between PM Olmert and President Abbas, an effort that failed. Prof. Hirschfeld is presently involved in pursuing a track two dialogue with Palestinian counterparts on one hand, and with Israeli governmental authorities on the other hand, how best to pursue shared interests in the preparation of a hoped-for renewal of an envisaged political peace-building process. He is heading an Israeli team in a joint Israeli-Palestinian project aimed at promoting Palestinian economic growth. And he is working with a team of experts in order to propose policies aimed at upgrading Israel’s soft power capacities in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea area. His recent publications include: Track Two Diplomacy toward an Israeli-Palestinian Solution, 1978-2014; (Woodrow Wilson Center Press, and John Hopkins University Press 2014), Developing an Israeli Grand Strategy toward a Peaceful Two-State Solution (A compilation of seven essays) Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and S. Daniel Abraham Center for Strategic Dialogue, Netanya Academic College, October 2016).
Christodoulos G. Pelaghias is the senior partner of Cyprus-based international law practice, with bar admissions in New York and Cyprus. Dr. Pelaghias serves on the Executive Committee of the International Section of the New York State Bar Association. He is president of the Cyprus Council of the European Movement International (EMI), and former member of the Board of Directors of EMI. He is chairman of the European Rim Policy and Investment Council (ERPIC), and has advised the President of the Republic of Cyprus. Dr. Pelaghias holds an M.A. in International Affairs, a Ph.D in Political Science, and a J.D. in Law, from Columbia University.
Visit us at: www.erpic.org
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Erpic1
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