Middle East Task Force: Recent and Upcoming Events

On October 13, John Ging, the director of operations in Gaza for the United Nations Relief and Works, had a public discussion with Amjad Atallah, co-director of the New America Foundation's Middle East Task Force. This year UNRWA commemorates six decades of service to the Palestinian refugees, and Mr. Ging spoke about the current and prospective challenges facing UNRWA and Gaza as a whole.

On September 16, General Danny Rothschild (Ret.) of the Israeli Defense Forces and Major General Peal D. Eaton (Ret.) of the US army discussed Israel and the United States' shared strategic interests with an emphasis on how the two-state solution has become a matter of both Israeli and US national security. The topics discussed ranged from the potential for settlement evacuation to Israel's incursion into Gaza during December 2008 and January 2009. The event was moderated by Daniel Levy, Director… more

Please join the New American Foundation and our co-sponsor, Americans for Peace Now, for a briefing by Michael Sfard, followed by an end of day wine reception.  Mr. Sfard is Israel's pre-eminent legal expert on settlements and the challenges posed by the broader infrastructure of Israeli occupation to the daily life of Palestinians, to the two-state solution, to American policy and to Israel's democracy.

As President Obama sits down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, beginning an intense two week engagement with Middle East leaders, the new release of a Zogby Interactive survey helps clarify the political landscape here in the United States.

On the eve of the trips to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the Obama administration will begin to articulate and get into the weeds on a new Middle East peace policy. Next Monday, May 11th at 11:45am, the New America Foundation will preview these visits--what might happen, what should happen, and what it all means.

With a weak and divided leadership amongst the Palestinians, a new right wing government in Israel, and recurring political instability throughout the broader Middle East, the salience of different types of Islamist groups on regional and international politics is not likely to be on the wane anytime soon. Policy wonks and diplomats in Europe and the United States continue to debate how to respond to the continued successes of such groups.

On March 5th, the New America Foundation hosted an event featuring Congressmen Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Brian Baird (D-WA), who discussed their recent trip to Gaza.

The discussion about Lebanon was focused on a soon to be published essay by Nicholas Noe entitled “Re-Imagining the Lebanon Track: Toward a New US Policy.” Noe, founder and editor-in-chief of the Beirut-based translation news service www.mideastwire.com, argued that a major fault in U.S. policy toward Lebanon has been the lack of nuanced and strategic understanding of Hezbollah and the

Naomi Chazan, President of the New Israel Fund, spoke with emotional sincerity and occasional humor about the future of the peace process. Her main focus and argument was that the current domestic political situation within Israel works against an eventual peace agreement between either the Israelis and the Palestinians or the Israelis and the broader Arab world. Citing the potential election of Benyamin Netanyahu as Israeli Prime Minister and the politically divisive nature of Israeli elections, Ms. Chazan believed that even if peace

Jessica Montell, the executive director of B’Tselem, an Israeli NGO dedicated to rectifying what it recognizes as human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, spoke at the New America Foundation in conjunction with the opening of a satellite office in Washington. The organization seeks to provide credible information on claims of abuse in the Palestinian territories, in part by distributing cameras in the West Bank and Gaza. The group was awarded the Carter-Menil Award for… more

Panelists will discuss the challenges the next president will face in building a new equilibrium in the Middle East.

The dialogue will moderated by Steve Clemons and will be advanced by four short provocations delivered by foreign policy experts.

Light breakfast fare and coffee will be served beforehand.

Panelists will discuss the challenges the next president will face in building a new equilibrium in the Middle East.

The dialogue will be moderated by Steve Clemons and will be advanced by five short provocations delivered by foreign policy experts.

Light breakfast fare and coffee will be served beforehand.

On June 27th, the New America Foundation and the Century Foundation co-hosted “Making Sense of the Arab-Israel Nightmare”, an event which aimed to investigate the status quo, the future available to the Bush Administration, and a measure of “crystal ball gazing” into what one can hope for from the next Administration Special Assistant to Ambassador Morton Abramowitz at the Century Foundation, Jonathan Kolieb, hosted a Q&A-style session with three former practitioners in a lively discussion that explored the lessons to… more

On June 16th, the New America Foundation co-sponsored an event with The Century Foundation examining the status quo of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the future it portends. The event hosted was hosted by Patrick Doherty, Deputy Director of the American Strategy Program, featuring three speakers representing the Palestinian, Israeli, and American perspectives on the conflict. An MP3 audio recording can be downloaded below, while video is available at right. Palestinian activist and former presidential candidate, Mustafa Barghouti offered the… more

On May 13th the American Strategy Program brought together five leading experts on Middle East and Foreign Policy to discuss the current crisis in Lebanon: a political standoff between the prominent militia Hezbollah and Lebanon’s government. Those participating in the discussion were Rami Khouri, the Editor-at-large of the Daily Star, Hisham Melhem, the DC Bureau Chief of Al Arabiyah, Nir Rosen, a fellow at NYU’s Center on Law and Security and New America, Daniel Levy, the Director of New America’s… more

On April 14, the New America Foundation’s Middle East Policy Initiative and the Foundation for Middle East Peace came together to discuss the continued construction of Israeli settlements and its impact on the peace process. Daniel Levy, Director of the Middle East Policy Initiative moderated the event. Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project presented her findings on Israeli settlement activity. Ambassador Phil Wilcox, president of the foundation for Middle East Peace was on hand to participate in… more

The results of last month's parliamentary elections in Iran are now in. For anyone interested in Iran, these polls provide an essential indicator for the presidential elections next year as well as an important insight into the next year of Iran's internal politics and foreign policy. Joining us to assess the results will be Ali Ansari, professor of Middle Eastern Studies at St. Andrews College in Scotland and author of Iran, Islam & Democracy - The Politics of Managing… more

With the Annapolis peace summit approaching, this event featured three former peace negotiators from the Israeli, Palestinian, and American sides, offering their views on the likely process, outcomes and implications of the Annapolis summit. The former negotiators recently co-authored “Ten Commandments for Mideast Peace.”

The New America Foundation/American Strategy Program has been hosting a series of briefings to examine and discuss the expectations, opportunities and risks of renewed U.S. peace efforts within the current political context.

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