Join us for a live webcast Monday, February 1, at noon EST as officials, business leaders, and scholars explore how the Biden administration can build on recent Arab-Israeli normalization to reinvigorate Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
Media www.rajawalisiber.com – Senior Biden administration officials have committed the new team to building on the success of normalization agreements recently reached between Israel and four Arab states, reengaging with the Palestinians, and navigating mutual distrust between Israelis and Palestinians — all as Israelis prepare for their March elections. In fact, as David Makovsky suggests in a just-published Washington Institute Presidential Transition Memo Building Bridges for Peace U.S. Policy Toward Arab States, Palestinians, and Israel, investing in Arab-Israel normalization could be an especially effective tool to reinvigorate Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
To mark the release of this special report and discuss policy on Israel, Palestinians, and the broader Arab world, the Institute is pleased to announce a virtual Policy Forum with Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, Samer Khoury, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, and David Makovsky.
Yousef Al Otaiba has served since 2008 as the UAE’s ambassador to the United States and minister of state in the Emirati government. Previously, he served as director of international affairs for the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces.
Samer Khoury, a Palestinian originally from the Safed area in the Galilee, is chairman of Consolidated Contractors Company, the largest construction company in the Middle East. He is deeply involved in business, social, and educational activities in the United States, the Middle East, and Europe, focusing on engineering, sustainability, economic collaborative development, conflict resolution dialogues, and more.
Fleur Hassan-Nahoum serves as deputy mayor of Jerusalem in charge of foreign relations, international economic development, and tourism. She is a cofounder of the UAE-Israel Business Council, an association of Emirati and Israeli business and government leaders fostering bilateral trade, innovation, and cooperation. Fleur was born in London, grew up in Gibraltar, and immigrated to Israel in 2001.
David Makovsky is the Ziegler Distinguished Fellow and director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations at The Washington Institute. During the Obama administration, he served as a senior advisor to the State Department’s special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. He hosts the podcast Decision Points, focused on Israeli-Arab-American politics and history, and coauthored the 2019 book Be Strong and of Good Courage with Dennis Ross.
The Policy Forum series is made possible through the generosity of the Florence and Robert Kaufman Family.
