This ongoing roundtable series will focus on two main issues: war with Iraq and the American “Two-State” for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. A set of meetings will be held examining each issue.

War with Iraq: Implications for the Arab-Israeli peace process: the 1990-91 Gulf Crisis had a profound impact on the Arab-Israeli peace process and American peacemaking efforts. Today, as Israeli-Palestinian violence eludes measures to contain it, and the larger Arab-Israeli peace process is under greater stress, the United States is again preparing for war against Iraq. What are the likely consequences of a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq for Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy? Will a war again create new opportunities for peacemaking? Should the United States seek to impose its new “road-map” for Israeli-Palestinian peace following a successful war against Iraq? Can the United States take certain measures even today, in advance of a war with Iraq, to prepare for post-Iraq diplomacy in the Middle East? This series of two to threes meetings will address U.S. policy options. Each session will feature an American keynote speaker, and an Israeli and Palestinian responder.

This series of two to threes meetings will address U.S. policy options. Each session will feature an American keynote speaker, and an Israeli and Palestinian responder.

The U.S. “Road-map” for a Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: four months after re-defining American objectives and priorities in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Bush 6/24/02 speech), the Bush administration has developed a detailed “road-map” for ending violence, re-starting negotiations, and establishing a viable Palestinian state. The United States is currently discussing the plan with Israel, the Palestinians, and Arab countries in the region. This set of meetings will examine whether or not this “road-map” will avoid the mistakes of previous initiatives, which remain stillborn; the role that the Quartet will play in this plan; will the “road-map” be performance or time based; what other mechanisms will it rely on; what the kinds of incentives and sanctions, if any, should the United States employ.