The future of the Mideast peace process

The Brookline Tab Online

February 19, 2008
 
BROOKLINE - Gershon Baskin and Hanna Siniora of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information will speak Monday, March 3, 7:30 p.m., at Temple Israel, 477 Longwood Ave., on the Brookline/Boston line. They will discuss whether the peace process is at a dead end, or headed toward success.

Baskin, the Israeli co-director and founder of IPCRI, initiated its founding in 1988, following 10 years of work in Jewish-Arab relations within Israel, in Interns for Peace, the Ministry of Education, and as executive director of the Institute for Education for Jewish-Arab Coexistence. Baskin has published books and hundreds of articles in the Hebrew, English and Arabic press about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including “A Model Interim Agreement,” “Aspects of Internal Security during the Interim Period,” “The Future of Jerusalem,” “How to Conduct Business in the Palestinian Territories,” “The Future of Israeli Settlements in Final Status Negotiation” and more. He meets regularly with Israeli and Palestinian policy makers, as well as people from the international diplomatic community and international organizations.

Siniora, the Palestinian co-director of IPCRI, is a long-time Palestinian peace activist. His long career includes editing and publishing the Palestinian daily Arabic newspaper Al Fajr from 1973 to 1993. Under his leadership, Al Fajr also published a weekly English newspaper — the first Palestinian weekly newspaper in English. In 1994 he initiated the Jerusalem Times as a continuation of Al Fajr English, as a weekly Palestinian newspaper. Today, the Jerusalem Times is published online. He was the first official Palestinian to meet U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz, as representative from the occupied territories, to help the process of recognition of the PLO at the end of the Reagan administration. From 1985-1987, he served as a member of the joint Palestinian-Jordanian delegation.

The evening is co-sponsored by Temple Israel, the Boston chapter of Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston. For more information, e-mail boston@btvshalom.org, or call 617-230-6439.