February 26, 2024
A talk by Rami George Khouri, Distinguished Public Policy Fellow at the American University of Beirut and Op-ed Columnist, Al Jazeera Online; Free and Open to the Public
This talk will identify the key reasons for the continuing Palestine-Israel and wider Arab-Israeli conflict; discuss the key elements over the past 120 years that are critical for understanding it completely; show the many linkages with the wider ME region and global powers and their impacts; assess the new factors resulting from the Gaza situation, and suggest how a serious and credible negotiating process might emerge from it and point the way to a better future for all. The last point will be based on Khouri's 55 years of engagement with Arabs, Israelis and western actors on the issue, participation in track-2 unofficial negotiating sessions with Israelis, review of the many proposals for a permanent and fair peace accord, and his research a decade ago with Israelis and Palestinians on their bottom-line issues about what they need from the other side, and what they are prepared to give the other side. In Khouri's view, "the conflict is man-made, reflecting decisions made by many sides during the past century, and thus has man-made solutions that will require better decision-making in the years ahead." Sponsored by Dickinson's Dialogues Across Differences program, which is supported by a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, and by the Program in Middle East Studies.