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Setting the Record Straight

United States Can and Should Help Both Sides

posted on 03/26/08

“If there is ever to be a viable Palestinian state, a new paradigm is needed. Instead of one powerful so-called ‘honest broker,’ each side in the conflict should have its own powerful advocate.”
–Linda Heard, Arab News, March 25, 2008

VS.

“Even with a robust and more skillful U.S. role, there is no guarantee of success in the peace process, for such success depends first and foremost on the will of the parties to address problems through negotiations, not violence, and to reach agreement on the core issues still in dispute. But without a robust U.S. role, a peace process conducted solely by the parties themselves is unlikely to succeed. The U.S. can help the parties identify creative bridging solutions on substantive issues, and can help deal with the issues outside the negotiations that help or hurt the atmosphere for the negotiations.”
–Daniel C. Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt, “Rosner’s Guest,” Haaretz, discussing lessons learned from research for the book, Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East. March 24, 2008