I am moderating a session tomorrow from 12 noon until 2 p.m. at the new America Foundation in Washington with Daniel Levy, who is the Israeli version of a “Texas Twister” on the Israel-Palestine debate. When it comes to getting Israelis and the Palestinians talking together, Levy is omnipresent — and is respected by personalities across both the Israeli and Palestinian political spectrum.
I have been to Israel twice and have been extremely impressed with Levy’s vision of the possible there. He’s really inspiring but still rooted in practical and pragmatic political realities.
Tomorrow, he will be giving a talk titled “After Both Elections: Assessing the Israel/Palestine Negotiations Dynamic and the “Gap” Between Israel and its Diaspora.”
Daniel Levy was previously the lead Israeli Drafter of the Geneva Initiative and was former Advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office in Israel and was a member of the official Israel negotiating team at the Oslo B and Taba Talks.
When I spent my hour with Amir Peretz last December, Daniel Levy was my facilitator, and my hunch — completely unconfirmed — is that if Amir Peretz does become Israel’s next Minister of Defense (which looks increasingly to be the case as of the latest leaks pour out of cabinet negotiations now underway in Israel), Levy may very will be an influential voice with Defense Minister Peretz.
If you’d like to join us, zap my colleague Sameer Lalwani an email at lalwani@newamerica.net.
Daniel Levy also wrote this balanced, thoughtful critique of the Walt/Mearsheimer paper on “The Israel Lobby“. Levy’s piece first appeared in Haaretz and then the International Herald Tribune.
For those interested in listening to Levy’s views, you can listen to him (and me) on Open Source with Christopher Lydon in a program that aired this week.
There is also a link to a video clip of Daniel Levy’s presentation in the major Terrorism conference I organized last September titled “Terrorism, Security and America’s Purpose: Strategic Choices for the 21st Century.”
More later.
— Steve Clemons
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