A Veteran Middle East Negotiator on the Gaza Peace Deal and Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan
We begin with the return of Israeli prisoners minus the remains of many hostages, the release of 1,700 Palestinian prisoners, Donald Trump’s address to the Israeli Knesset and the meeting of regional leaders in Egypt and speak with Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on U.S. Middle East foreign policy. He has been an advisor to six Secretaries of State. Under president Clinton he served as the Deputy Special Middle East Coordinator for Arab-Israeli Negotiations. His books include The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace and his latest The End of Greatness: Why America Can’t Have (and Doesn’t Want) Another Great President.
The Absence of Palestinian Representatives in the Peace Deal and Reconstruction Plans Underway
Then we look into the absence of Palestinians in the peace deal and the broader efforts of leaders hostile to democracy underway in Sharm El Sheik meeting with Trump for a regional peace deal and speak with Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now DAWN who was formerly the executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division, where she oversaw work in 19 countries. Her latest book with Michael Omer-Man just out is, From Apartheid to Democracy: A Blueprint for Peace in Israel-Palestine.
So Far So Good But Can All the Benchmarks Be Met?
Then finally we assess what might happen if all of the benchmarks in Trump’s Israel/Hamas peace and reconstruction plan aren’t met and speak with Paul Pillar, who served for 30 years as an analyst at the CIA, in which his last position was National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia. Previously, he served as chief of analytic units at the CIA covering portions of the Near East, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia. He has also headed the Assessments and Information Group of the DCI Counterterrorist Center. Paul Pillar is currently a nonresident senior fellow of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University and an Associate Fellow at the GenevaCenter for Security Policy and a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His latest book is Beyond the Water’s Edge How Partisanship Corrupts U.S. Foreign Policy.