Ropescast

In this episode of ROPESCAST, ROPES CEO Ksenia Svetlova sits down with Dr. Marwan Muasher - former Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Jordan and current Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment - for a wide-ranging and candid conversation.

Dr. Muasher draws on decades of diplomatic experience, including opening Jordan's first embassy in Israel and helping shape the Middle East roadmap, to reflect on the current state and future of Israeli-Jordanian relations. The conversation covers the enduring relevance - and limitations - of the Arab Peace Initiative, whether a two-state solution remains viable today, and how the recent war with Iran has reshaped Jordan's strategic calculations and regional security concerns.

This extraordinary episode offers a rare, ground-level perspective from one of the region's most experienced diplomatic minds.

Listen now on ROPESCAST — the independent voice of the Middle East.

Chapters:

00:47 Meet Dr. Marwan Muasher

03:00 What Was the Arab Peace Initiative?

05:24 Why Israel Rejected the Initiative

07:27 Why the U.S. Looked Away

09:42 The Road Map to Peace

14:49 Did Israel Lose Its Peace Camp?

21:48 Why Isn’t the Arab Peace Initiative Moving?

27:03 Is a Two-State Solution Still Possible?

37:23 A New Regional Security Architecture

43:38 Does Geography Still Protect Israel?

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In this episode of ROPESCAST, Ksenia Svetlova sits down with Professor Sari Nusseibeh — Palestinian philosopher, former president of Al-Quds University, and one of the most consistent voices for a political settlement.

They look at why previous peace initiatives collapsed, the reasons those efforts never took hold, and the worrying slide toward radicalization on both sides. Nusseibeh also asks a harder question: why the academic world has produced so few bold voices, and so little leadership, capable of offering a real perspective for change.

A co-author of the 2002 People’s Voice initiative with ex-Shinbet chief Ami Ayalon, Nusseibeh speaks from decades of trying to make compromise thinkable — and from watching that space shrink.

Tune in for a candid conversation about the peace that failed, the polarization that followed, and the work that is yet to be done.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:39 Representing Arafat in Jerusalem

03:59 When Israelis and Palestinians Still Had Hope

06:37 Why Talk About Peace During War?

08:35 The People, Not the Leaders, Hold the Key

10:49 What Happened to Academic Cooperation?

14:44 Is the Two-State Solution Still Possible?

18:28 How Israel and Palestine Lost Hope

23:29 Why Hamas Gained Strength

34:54 The Mistakes That Destroyed the Peace Process

43:04 From Enemy of Israel to Peace Advocate

45:59 “It’s Crazy Not to Do It”

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What happens to one of Israel’s most important regional relationships when the Middle East is being reshaped by war, new alliances and shifting interests?

In this episode of ROPESCAST, Ksenia Svetlova speaks with Amira Oron, former Israeli Ambassador to Egypt, a senior diplomat with deep expertise in the Arab world.

They discuss the increasingly tense Israeli-Egyptian relationship, Egypt’s role in a rapidly changing Middle East, and how new regional alliances are affecting Cairo and Jerusalem. They also look at the consequences of the war with Iran for Egypt and its economy—from regional security to trade, energy and the Suez Canal.

And, because no conversation about Egypt is complete without talking about Cairo itself, Ksenia asks Amira the ultimate tough question: What is her favorite place in Cairo?

🎧 Tune in for an inside look at Egypt, Israel and a Middle East in transformation.

Chapters:

00:00 — Israel–Egypt Relations Today

01:47 — Why Ties Are Failing

05:13 — The Somaliland Divide

09:38 — Can Arab States Unite?

11:33 — Israel’s Regional Hegemony

17:53 — Iran’s Impact on Egypt

24:22 — Egypt’s New Alliances

30:47 — Egypt, Gaza & Trump’s Plan

35:44 — Rebuilding Ties with Egypt

40:07 — Amira’s Cairo

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Weeks before the war broke out, Danny Citrinowicz was already warning that Israel's read on Iran was heading somewhere dangerous. In this episode of ROPESCAST, he walks through what he saw coming — and why.

We cover the full landscape of options on the table for Iran, the US, Israel, and the wider region, and what each side actually stood to gain or lose from escalation. Citrinowicz also critically asseses the almost unbelievable inside story of how Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — a figure many assumed was a natural extremist — was in fact recruited by the Mossad and propped up as a possible replacement to the current Iranian regime.

The conversation closes on Citrinowicz's central argument: that no strategy toward Iran can succeed in isolation. He makes the case that Israel must confront the Palestinian conflict head-on — not as a separate issue, but as the very lever Iran uses to extend its reach across the Middle East. Without addressing that core wound, he argues, Israel will keep fighting Iran's proxies while leaving Iran's actual playbook untouched.

Chapters:

00:00 – The Warning Before the War

01:35 – Was This War a Mistake?

07:16 – Why Iran Won't Fold

09:55 – The Gulf's Impossible Position

13:55 – Saudi Arabia's Nuclear Future

19:22 – A New Middle East?

21:53 – The Ahmadinejad Bombshell

27:58 – Winning Battles, Losing Strategy?

30:32 – What Israel Must Do Next

35:02 – The Key to Countering Iran

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Elizabeth Tsurkov has spent years doing what most researchers only read about — traveling into conflict zones, sitting with militia commanders, and listening to the people living inside the stories we think we understand.

A doctoral candidate at Princeton and fellow at both the Middle East Policy Council in Washington and the Forum for Regional Thinking in Jerusalem, she is one of the sharpest independent voices on the Arab world today. In 2023, while conducting field research in Iraq, she was abducted by an Iranian-backed militia and held for 903 days before being released in 2025.

In this conversation, she reflects on that heartbreaking experience — and on what Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the wider Middle East actually look like up close, beyond the headlines and the misconceptions that keep getting in the way.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:45 Surviving 903 Days in Captivity

03:43 The Dissertation That Kept Her Going

12:04 Inside Iraq's Corruption Machine

15:49 What Iraq Is Really Like

30:29 Was It Worth Going to Iraq?

34:26 How Captivity Changed Elizabeth Tsurkov

40:00 What's Really Happening in Syria?

51:03 Is Syria's New Leader Still a Jihadist?

56:08 Is Peace Between Israel and Syria Possible?

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