This week, Alpher discusses why he has had so little discussion on issues related directly to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and prospects for new negotiations recently; whether, even if that’s the case
regarding the PLO in the West Bank, we can ignore assessments regarding Hamas and Hezbollah activity there,
alongside predictions regarding violence emanating from Gaza, extremist inclinations among the Israeli Arab
community, and even a high-level forecast of ISIS activity against Israel; the angry Israeli reaction to US
Ambassador Dan Shapiro's statement that Israel exercises a legal double standard in its approach to Israeli
settlers as opposed to Palestinians in the West Bank; and whether Israeli-Turkish negotiations regarding
normalization of bilateral relations hold out any hope for a better situation in Gaza.