FMEP President Lara Friedman spoke about the Trump Administration’s unilateral actions vis a vis the peace process at an event convened by the Center for American Progress.

During his first year in office, President Donald Trump signaled a desire to secure the “ultimate deal” on peace in the Middle East and appointed his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to lead a team to prepare a peace plan. But as the Trump administration nears the end of its second year, its Middle East peace efforts have yet to result in progress. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has taken steps to shift the terms that had guided decades of bipartisan U.S. efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These measures include broad cuts to U.S. development assistance going to Palestinians such as support to Palestinian refugees, the decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and the recent closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization office in Washington, D.C.

Welcome: Gordon Gray, Chief Operating Officer, Center for American Progress; former U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia

Remarks: Rep. David Cicilline, (D-RI)

A perspective from Gaza: Bassam Nasser, Field Manager, Catholic Relief Services

Panelists:

Khaled Elgindy, Fellow, Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution

Lara Friedman, President, Foundation for Middle East Peace

Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland; Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution

Moderator:

Brian Katulis, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress