An Obama Administration Priority

Amjad Atallah and Daniel Levy have both served as senior advisers to the respective Palestinian and Israeli official peace negotiating teams, and are now co-directing the New America Foundation's Middle East Task Force. They analyzed the fall out and repercussions from the three-week Gaza conflict -- what happens next in the peace process, how best to manage Palestinian and Israeli internal divisions and the challenges these pose to implementing a two-state agreement, and how this conflict impacts the balance of power in the Middle East.

In particular, they discussed what it means for President Obama's administration that on its second day in office it appointed George Mitchell as a special Middle East peace envoy and established Arab-Israeli peacemaking as a priority. What are the options open to the new US administration -- what are they likely to do and what should they do? Finally, with Israeli elections just days away (the ballot is on February 10th), they offered their opinions on where things stand with Israeli politics and discussed the likely political scenarios.

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Participants

Daniel Levy
Co-Director, Middle East Task Force
New America Foundation

Amjad Atallah
Co-Director, Middle East Task Force
New America Foundation

Moderator:
Steve Coll
President & CEO
New America Foundation