Monday, April 25, 2005Today at the National Press Club
Today, I attended an event at the National Press Club organized by the Middle East Institute. The topic of discussion was: "Lessons of Arab-Israeli Peacemaking: Four Negotiators Look Back and Ahead". The speakers at this event were:
Martin Indyk, former US Ambassador to Israel and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs
Dennis Ross, former US Ambassador and Special Middle East Coordinator
Robert Malley, former NSC Advisor for Arab-Israeli Affairs to President Clinton
Aaron David Miller, former Deputy Special Middle East Coordinator
I will write about the perspectives presented by each of the speakers when I get them all straight in my head later on in the evening. But, first, I would like to share a short essay written by the moderator of this event, Edward S. Walker, who is a former US Ambassador to Israel and Egypt and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs. You decide whether he and I agree or disagree (see my previous post, "It's the Policy Stupid", which I just posted yesterday).
Ambassador Walker writes:
"Our Arab friends said, 'It's the policy, stupid.' There is no doubt that our way was complicated by our active policy in Iraq and our passive policy on the Palestinian issue. But while policies play a part in the estrangement, they are only a part of the problem and not really the most important part." Read more
Posted By Jawad at 4:11 PM
3 Comments:
I'd say that you're probably more similar in outlook than not, although you probably would give a bit more emphasis to public diplomacy.
April 26, 2005
Irina: I'd say so :) By the way, this was one of those events made for a prolific reporter like you. I will try to do my best summing up what was said in one of my next posts but I know I will not do as good of a job as you would have done.
WC: He's got things to say that's for sure :)
April 26, 2005
Interesting... but I wonder whether his plan would really go as smoothly as he makes it sound.
April 26, 2005
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