Historic Visits

July 30, 2007

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)

November 19, 1977: Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel. His meeting with Prime Minister Menachem Begin led to a series of Egyptian-Israeli diplomatic efforts, culminating in the 1978 Camp David Peace Accords.

July 18-19, 1994: Jordanian and Israeli delegations meet at Ein Avrona for the first of a series of bi-lateral talks which result in the signing of the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty on October 26, 1994.

November 6, 1995: King Hussein of Jordan and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt deliver eulogies at the funeral of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. High level representatives of Oman, Morrocco, Qatar, Tunisia and Mauritania were also present.

March 12, 1998: Suleyman Demirel becomes the first president of Turkey to visit Israel, leading a 108-member delegation. Visit marks a "new morning" for Turkish-Israeli economic cooperation.

In-Depth Coverage

Original Commentaries

12/02/11: Discussion With Tunisia’s Rachid Ghannouchi —
12/02/11: Debating Military Action Against Iran —
12/02/11: Terms Of Disengagement —

Setting the Record Straight

Determined to Reach a Common Objective

“We knew at the outset that the task would be difficult. We acknowledged that publicly and privately. We knew this would be a road with many bumps— and there have been many bumps—and that continues to this day. But we are not deterred. We are, to the contrary, determined more than ever to proceed to realize the common objective, which we all share, of a Middle East that is at peace with security and prosperity for the people of Israel, for Palestinians, and for all the people in the region. We will continue our efforts in that regard, undeterred and undaunted by the difficulties, the complexities or the bumps in the road.”—George Mitchell, special envoy for Middle East peace, remarks with Prime Minister Netanyahu, September 29, 2010

Middle East Analysis

Don’t Panic. Yet —Issandr El Amrani (The Arabist)
The Islamists vs. The Markets: Egypt’s Election Analyzed —Haroon Moghul (Religion Dispatches)
What the Libya Intervention Achieved —Marc Lynch (Foreign Policy)

Upcoming Events

The U.S. Agency for International Development and Conflict: Hard Lessons from the Field

May 17, 2011, 12:00pm – 1:15pm

From Afghanistan and Iraq to Pakistan, Somalia, and South Sudan, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is engaged daily in trying to help some of the most troubled nations on the planet make a lasting transition to stability, open markets, and democracy. Few areas of the agency’s work are more challenging or more controversial.

Join us for remarks by, and a roundtable with, the deputy administrator of USAID, Ambassador

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