Tag Archives: peace

24May/09

The End of Innocence

By Nir Boms

The Obama administration should learn the lessons of Bill Clinton’s experience in the Middle East, as expounded in Martin Indyk’s new book.

Innocent or not?  Indyk’s lessons to a new American Administration

Thoughts about Martin Indyk’s new book,  Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East ( Simon & Schuster. 494 pp)

Peace in the Middle East appears to be advancing, at least in popularity. The past few years have seen a flurry of published personal accounts on the troubled Middle East and with the long and winding road for peace and stability in the region.  The headlines of most of them gives an unfortunate  good indication to our current state of affairs:  Dennis Ross, Middle East envoy under President Clinton, wrote about the “Missing Peace;” Charles Enderlin, Israel’s correspondent for French II television,  wrote about “Shattered Dreams: The Failure of the Peace Process in the Middle East .” Aaron David Miller, an advisor to six Secretaries of State and a current peace activists wrote about ” The Much Too Promised Land; and Daniel C. Kurtzer, US former Ambassador to Israel and another future key player in the Obama team titled his account “Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace.” This list of former negotiators and experts is now joined by Indyk’s account, “Innocent Abroad”

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01Jun/08

“Hammapolis”

Ahmed Yussuf, political adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh: Abbas did not have a mandate to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people

Nir Boms and Elliot Chodoff (11/28/2007)

Leaders from around the world are converging on Annapolis, but the parties are still busy debating both format and content. However, when the wagon appears to be ready, the horses seem to be more willing to step forward as well. Syria is now willing to attend and  even Hamas – until recently busy combating Fatah forces – would have liked to add its horse to the cart. Ahmed Yussuf, political adviser to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, announced last week that if Hamas was invited to the Annapolis conference, “it would think about joining and it can detour around its constitution.” Continue reading

12May/08

Syrian Peace Overtures: Timing is Everything

1/9/2005

Nir Boms and Elliot Chodoff

Since he abruptly returned from Britain to Syria five years ago to inherit the regime from his ailing father, thirty-six year old Syrian strongman Basher al-Assad has rarely smiled in public. After all – running Syria is a serious business. But lately, it seems that Assad is showing the world a different face. While visiting Cairo last week to discuss the situation in the Middle East he actually cracked a half-smile.

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