A Healthy World is a Common Goal

February 29, 2008

“Despite many challenges, health initiatives can bring individuals together in cross-border collaboration under conditions of major conflict. These initiatives can help build mutual respect and understanding, while providing benefits to all the parties involved. According to one of our study participant, these programs bring 'kindred spirits working together' to find solutions to common problems…The close personal network that evolved proved to be a source of professional, emotional and social support. An equally powerful attractor was an appreciation by participants that [the] Project was part of a broader goal for building cooperation in the region.”
--Harvey A. Skinner, Dean of the Faculty of Health, York University and Abi Sriharan, Deputy Director, Peter A. Silverman Centre for International Health, Mount Sinai Hospital in Canada (Conflict and Health), “Building Cooperation through Health Initiatives: an Arab and Israeli Case Study,” Conflict and Health, July 2007:

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