| "What Works in Arab-Israeli Negotiations:
Is the Window for an Agreement Still Open?"
What can we learn from the history of
past Arab-Israeli negotiations that give us a glimpse of what might be
possible now and in the future? Since Israel's establishment in 1948,
numerous diplomatic undertakings have dotted Arab-Israeli peace-seeking,
peace-making, and peace-keeping. Many lessons can be learned about
process, substance, guarantees, and accountability. The geo-political
context of the Arab-Israeli conflict has changed significantly and is
now characterized by two Arab states that have peace treaties with
Israel, more than half a dozen Arab states that have informal political,
economic, or other contacts with Israel, and several Arab and Middle
Eastern states and organizations that would be happiest if Israel simply
disappeared.
Since late spring 2007, moribund Arab-Israeli negotiations
have been spiced by fits and starts, hopes, and realities that indicate
a series of intensive rounds of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations might
be unfolding. What are the lessons learned from earlier negotiating
experiences that inform the contemporary efforts? What obstacles are not
present in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations today that were there in
1948-49, 1967, 1973-79, 1991, and 2000? Professor Stein's lecture will
examine whether a window for an additional agreement or series of
agreement is still open, one that could include Lebanon, Syria, and
other Arab states as well.
Prof. Stein is Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History,
Political Science, and Israel Studies at Emory University. Professor
Stein is the author, co-author or editor of several books including
Heroic Diplomacy: Sadat, Kissinger, Carter, Begin and the Quest for
Arab-Israeli Peace, (Routledge:1999) and with Ambassador Samuel W.
Lewis, Making Peace Between Arabs and Israelis: Fifty Years of
Negotiating Experiences (United States Institute of Peace:1991). He
has taught at Emory University for thirty years and since 1998 has
directed the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel. |
