JERUSALEM, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Israel is facing a number of challenges and threats ranging from Iran to Hamas that cannot be completely solved in the near future, and the Jewish state can only hope to reach interim solutions that will temporarily stabilize the Middle East, local daily The Jerusalem Post reported Thursday.

    The report cited the 2009 Strategic Assessment for Israel, which was released for publication on Wednesday by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), a Tel Aviv-based think tank.

    "The most we can hope for are interim temporary solutions that will partially stabilize the situation and leave hope that conditions will exist in the future to progress towards comprehensive long-term solutions," according to a section of the strategic assessment written by Oded Eran, director of INSS.

    Countries in the region are continuing to procure advanced weaponry at a startling pace, said the INSS, noting that between 2004 and 2007, Middle Eastern countries spent over 65 billion U.S. dollars on advanced weaponry in comparison to 33 billion U.S. dollars between 2000 and 2003.

    Israel and Egypt could face cuts to the foreign military aid they receive from the United States due to the global financial crisis, warned the strategic assessment.

    The think tank also played down the current disagreements between the U.S. and Israel with regards to settlement construction.

    "For the past 50 years there have always been disagreements between Israel and the U.S. except maybe during the Lyndon Johnson administration," Eran said, "this is part of the relationship between the two countries."

Special Report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts