Former United States Ambassador David Kurtzer paid a visit to the University on March 5 in Wilson Auditorium to discuss political situations in the Middle East and his experiences as a United States Ambassador. The event was attended by approximately 50 people including community members and students.
Kurtzer served as United States Ambassdor to Egypt from 1997 to 2001 then served as the ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005 before becoming a professor at Princeton University and co-authoring the book, “Negotiating Arab Peace.”
Before Kurtzer spoke, President Paul Gaffney II was given the Jewish Heritage Award for his significant contributions to Jewish culture and life. Gaffney said, “I was honored. We started the program and received outside funding for it because there are several Jewish communities in our neighborhood. We took the initiative to be good neighbors.”
The event started with opening comments from Professor Amy Handlin, associate professor of marketing and international business who also works with the Jewish Cultural Studies program.
A theme throughout the event was how Arabs and Jewish people could co-exist in the Middle East. Kurtzer believes it is up to the United States to help in diplomacy but that everyone needs to be willing to work together.
Kurtzer did criticize the United States for their lack of incentives recently. “U.S. has been an instrumental player in doing the hard work to bring Arabs and Israelis together but somehow has lost the capacity or will to have the diplomacy that will bring this peace,” said Kurtzer.
However, as Kurtzer continued, he did explain that the United States may be “tired.” He said, “Political Islam is now in charge. The ideology that is very different in a region where not just the U.S. is tired, but all outside players are tired. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers, countless billions of dollars have been spent on the Middle East.”
The ambassador also recommended that the United States focus on other areas of the world. He also suggested that the US should pivot away from the region and not invest the diplomatic resources.
Kurtzer said that there are reasons that the United States is still involved in the Middle East, some that the public does not know about. “We cannot sustain another failure, but by not trying, the situation would not freeze in time. If you’re not constantly operating on it then it is always changing for the worst.”
Another topic addressed by the ambassador was the Israeli Palestinian conflict over land in the Middle East. “The narratives of Israelis and Palestine’s mirror each other – injustice, exile, etc. both has suffered the same – classic mutually hurting stale mate.”
According to Kurtzer, in 2008 there were negotiations to settle tensions between Palestine and Israel in which the United States was involed in broking the deal. However, the negotiations fell through once it was made public and the Obama administration has not picked up the negotiations since he took office.
Kurzter claimed that in order to have peace in the Middle East, three criteria must be set: Urgency, Demography and Democracy, and a Pathway to Peace.
In discussing urgency, Kurzter said, “Israel has not suffered a single death due to an act of terror so to them, the need for negotiations with Palestine is not an immediate problem.”
Demography and democracy are two areas in which Kurzter discussed Israel in detail. Israel has a large population of land in which non-citizens live and cannot vote. Kurzter believes this will end in the next 15 years while some scholars believe it won’t end until 2040 or 2050. Kurzter said that equal voting should be provided to all and Israel should look to remove “Jewish state” title.
Pathway to peace, Kurzter believes, is a job for the United States. “You cannot leave it up to the parties to bridge their differences. It is not our conflict but it is in our national self-interest to fix these issues and we cannot rely on these parties to fix these issues. It’s time for the U.S. to get serious and develop a policy strategy that will lead a serious process of peace making,” said Kurzter.
Following his discussion, Krutzer took questions from the audience. One University student, Alexandria Fitzgerald, a senior communication major asked the question, “If U.S. is fatigued, wouldn’t we seem weak to the rest of the world?”
Kurzter responded that the United States does look weak. “They [The Middle East] believe we are weak when we don’t act in their peace process,” said Kurzter.
Fitzgerald said that getting to ask the Ambassador a question was an honor. “I definitely felt a sense of pride and accomplishment being able to apply what I learned in class, into the seminar.”
Aside from being able to ask a question of the Ambassador, Fitzgerald took a lot away from the event. “Overall, I was able to take away a better understanding of the United States’ presence in Middle Eastern foreign affairs, especially in the peace-making process, and how imperative it is for our leaders to use their influence to their advantage,” said Fitzgerald.
Gaffney was impressed by Kurzter. “I knew he was accomplished but I was very impressed by the depth of his knowledge. He spoke un-haltingly for 40 minutes about a very complicated issue without one note,” said Gaffney.
Fitzgerald was also impressed. “I thought the ambassador’s presentation was so informative and was presented in such a unique style. His lecture spoke about some extremely deep issues but he effectively organized them in a way for the audience to follow along,” said Fitzgerald.
Dr. Saliba Sarsar, Associate Vice President for Jewish Cultural Studies Initiatives, said that he enjoyed Kurzter’s presentation for its well-balanced approach.
“I was impressed by his candor, depth of knowledge, and empathy with both Israelis and Palestinians. The approach he followed and the sentiment he expressed in his lecture are most needed for advancing the peace process,” said Sarsar.
Sarsar believed that Kurzter offered a chance for the University and surrounding community to interact.
“Bringing Ambassador Kurzter to campus makes possible the interaction of our students, faculty, administration, and staff with public servants and public intellectuals and such events enables the campus community to interact with attendees from outside the University,” said Sarsar.
Gaffney said that students should take away a sense of awareness. “I think students should be generally aware of major global issues – maybe not expert on any particular issue, but generally know what the big and lingering issues are and understand that U.S. positions on those issues are important to the rest of the world.”
Sarsar recommends that all interested in global events attend the Global Understanding Convention on April 8-12 on the University campus.
PHOTO TAKEN by Christopher Orlando
