Institute for Middle East Understanding

A Briefing on the Latest Developments As the death toll in Gaza climbs over 65 since the start of Israel's current military operation and fears of an Israeli ground invasion loom, we will speak to Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, a member of the PLO’s Central Council, about the Palestinian national strategy, the impact of the current violence on the reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas, and where we go from here vis-a-vis Palestinian-Israeli relations. We will also hear from Brad Parker of Defence for Children International (DCI) about the latest humanitarian developments in Gaza, as well as in Jerusalem and the West Bank, where Palestinian children have been swept up in rising levels of Israeli violence. During the briefing we will also discuss the beating of 15-year-old American citizen Tariq Khdeir, as well as the murder of his cousin, 16-year-old Mohammad Abu Khdeir. The call will be moderated by Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the Jerusalem Fund and Palestine Center in Washington, DC.

The nine-month window for US-brokered negotiations between Israel and the PLO has expired and the two sides are no closer to reaching an agreement. This past Friday, a frustrated Secretary of State John Kerry reportedly said at a private meeting that if Israel doesn’t make peace soon, it could become “an apartheid state” like the old South Africa. During this briefing we will discuss how we arrived at this point and what comes next with Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, a member of the PLO’s Central Council who played a leading role in the PLO-Hamas reconciliation deal brokered last week. Dr. Barghouthi will offer an insider’s perspective on negotiations as well as a look at the Palestinian national strategy going forward.

Briefing on the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, as well as the Israeli decision to cancel the meeting between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators as a consequence of the effort to end internal Palestinian strife. Guest: Dr. Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, former advisor to Palestinian negotiators, and author of Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East (2013) and The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (2006) ______________________ Hosted by Institute for Middle East Understanding

Next Wednesday, President Barack Obama will arrive in Israel for his first visit since taking office. With a new Israeli coalition government that is even more pro-settlement than the previous one about to be sworn in, the prospects of the two-state solution to the conflict, officially advocated by the US, grow dimmer each day. Despite complaints from Republicans and others that President Obama hasn’t been sufficiently supportive of Israel, his administration’s policies towards Israel and the Palestinians during his first term differed little from those of his predecessors. Critics say that these policies of massive, almost unconditional military, economic, and diplomatic support to Israel have only encouraged successive Israeli governments to believe they can continue swallowing up occupied Palestinian land for settlement construction with impunity, thereby leading to a situation today where fewer and fewer serious observers believe a viable and independent Palestinian state can be created alongside Israel. Please join us on Monday as we discuss the relationship between the US, Israel, and the Palestinians, and the prospects for peace in the Middle East, with Professor Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, former advisor to Palestinian negotiators, and author of Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East, which was published last week by Beacon Press. (See here for Professor Khalidi’s op-ed in The New York Times, published earlier this week, “Is Any Hope Left for Mideast Peace?”)

If the majority of polls are correct, on Tuesday Israelis will elect the most right-wing parliament in the country’s history. Palestinian officials have warned that another right-wing government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will kill any remaining chance of realizing the two-state solution. Whatever the results of Tuesday’s vote, they will likely have major implications for the future of the two-state solution and the moribund peace process, Israel’s relations with the United States, and for the lives of millions of Palestinians living under Israeli military rule in the occupied territories. Please join us as we discuss these and related matters with our guests Diana Buttu, Ramallah-based political analyst, former advisor to Palestinian negotiators, and Palestinian citizen of Israel, and Professor Yoram Meital, Chairman of the Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy at Israel's Ben Gurion University.