Israel and Palestine: Getting to Two States

Jun 23 2015

Tuesday
9:30AM – 11:30AM EST

Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, District of Columbia 20515

Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was re-elected after walking back his support for a Palestinian state, the viability of the two-state solution has yet again been called into question. As the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza nears its fiftieth year, there is a complete lack of trust between the Palestinian and Israeli leadership. The goal of “two states for two peoples” has never seemed more distant, despite decades of U.S. support.

What are the main impediments to a two-state solution, and what can the U.S. do to address them? What can Congress do to help? Is there a constructive role that multilateral organizations such as the UN can play?

Light refreshments will be served from 9:30-10 AM.

Panelists:

Matthew Duss is the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. Previously he was a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, where his work focused on the Middle East and U.S. national security, and director of the Center’s Middle East Progress program. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, the Nation, Foreign Policy, Politico, the American Prospect, and Democracy. He appears regularly as a commentator on radio and television.

Lara Friedman is Director of Policy and Government Relations for Americans for Peace Now. As a leading authority on US foreign policy in the Middle East, Israeli settlements policy, and Jerusalem, Ms. Friedman frequently meets and briefs Members of Congress, US Administration officials, foreign diplomats, and other members of the foreign policy community. She is a frequent resource for journalists and policymakers, and regularly publishes opinion and analysis pieces in the US and Israeli press.

Khaled Elgindy is a fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings. He is a founding board member of the Egyptian American Rule of Law Association. He previously served as an adviser to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah on permanent status negotiations with Israel from 2004 to 2009, and was a key participant in the Annapolis negotiations held throughout 2008. Prior to that, Elgindy spent nine years in various political and policy-related positions in Washington, D.C., both inside and outside the federal government.

Nizar Farsakh (moderator) is Program Director for Civil Society Partnerships at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED). Before joining POMED, he served for two years as the General Director of the General Delegation of the PLO to the U.S. Nizar has ten years of experience working in Palestine first as a research assistant in a Bethlehem-based NGO and then as the policy advisor to Palestinian negotiators on border-related issues from 2003 to 2008. In his last year in Ramallah, he was seconded to the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.