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Last update - 13:25 26/03/2008 Rosner's Guest: Daniel Kurtzer By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Daniel Kurtzer, peace process  Former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and Israel and current advisor to Senator Obama will discuss his new book. Readers can send questions. The former U.S. ambassador to Israel and to Egypt, and current advisor to Senator Obama will discuss his new book. Readers can send questions. Daniel C. Kurtzer holds the S. Daniel Abraham Chair in Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Kurtzer retired from the United States Foreign Service at the end of 2005 with the rank of Career-Minister in the Senior Foreign Service. During 29 years of public service, Kurtzer held a number of senior policy and diplomatic positions, including the U.S. Ambassador to Israel (2001-2005) and the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt (1997-2001), speechwriter for Secretary of State George P. Shultz and a member of the Secretary's Policy Planning Staff, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. Advertisement Kurtzer is the co-author, with Scott Lasensky, of the new Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East. He also served on the Iraq Study Group's expert subcommittee, and is now advising presidential candidate Barack Obama. Readers can send questions to rosnersdomain@haaretz.co.il. According to the poll by Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, reported in the New York Times, March 19, of 1,270 Palestinians in face-to-face interviews, 84 percent supported the March 6 attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva. How do you envisage a peace process with a population, 84 percent of which support the deliberate murder of teenage Israeli yeshiva students? What meaning does this percentage have for you? Sincerely, Mladen Andrijasevic Be'er Sheva This is very serious and discouraging news. Palestinians must reverse this attitudinal shift and decide forthrightly to conduct negotiations with Israel in an atmosphere of peace. Palestinian media must stop fostering an atmosphere of hatred. Palestinian schools must teach reconciliation, not exalt martyrdom. Israel cannot be expected to negotiate away strategic assets to a partner whose population supports the murder of students in a school and whose government does not reject and act against such heinous terrorism. Do you think, as I do, that the pro-Israeli lobby in the US is more an obstacle to peace than it is a partner for peace? I am not one of those believing that the Israel-lobby is to blame for Iraq and such, as the two professors wrote in their book, but I do see that the lobby has taken mostly hawkish views and was never instrumental in nudging both Israel and the Arabs toward peace. Do you agree? Respectfully, J. Birenbaum, NY I do not agree that the pro-Israel lobby is more an obstacle than a partner for peace. The pro-Israel groups that lobby the Administration and the Congress act within the rules of American politics and seek to enhance Israel's security and well-being. During the interviews we conducted for our book, we were told repeatedly that the pro-Israel groups do not have a significant impact on Israeli or U.S. policies with respect to peace, such policies remaining within the responsibility of policymakers in each country. Our book - Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East - points out the importance for the U.S. Administration to build a strong domestic basis of support for peace and peace making. The views of the American Jewish and American Arab communities, as well as the views of the wider communities that support one side or the other in the Middle East conflict, are important in creating at atmosphere of support for the peace process as Administrations try to cement their policies on a strong domestic foundation. Do you only talk about peace with the Palestinians or also with Syria? And should we start with one and later more to the other, or do them all together? Thank you for your comments. Gal, Ra'anana, Israel The goal of the peace process must be a comprehensive, conclusive settlement, and thus it is as important to involve Syria in peacemaking as it is to involve the Palestinians. Until Israel reaches signed treaties with each of its neighbors, the goal of a comprehensive peace settlement will not yet be fulfilled. Too often in the past, the peace process with Syria and the Palestinians has been seen as competitive. I do not believe this needs be the case. It is reasonable for an Israeli government to prefer to focus on a single set of negotiations at a time, provided this does not mean perpetual neglect of the other track. Dear Ambassador, Let me now ask about something more specific. Here is what you write in the book: "U.S. policy must never be defined anywhere but in Washington". You also say that "It is particularly important to avoid becoming diplomatically gun-shy in the face of politics in the region" and you blame President Clinton for "often allowing Israeli domestic politics effectively to veto critical issues" and President Bush (43) for being "overly deferential to the stated political problems of the Israeli government". Here's how one might read these comments: The U.S. should be less attentive to Israel's grievances, and more attentive to the Arab side. Will this be a fair reading of your beliefs? Should Israelis expect more "pressure" from the U.S. if your advice becomes the policy of the US government? No, that would be the wrong conclusion to draw from the book. Throughout the interviews for our book - Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East - we heard two recurring themes from current and former U.S. policymakers. First, we were told that the U.S., as the third party requested by Israelis and Arabs to play the role of 'honest broker' and mediator, needed to do a better job in addressing key asymmetries in the negotiations. On the one hand, Israel is an established state with strong, democratic institutions and a strong army and national infrastructure. On the other hand, Palestinians do not have a state and yet are expected, while under occupation, to negotiate themselves out of occupation while building the infrastructure of a future, viable state. In this respect, the United States must help both sides deal with this problematic situation. A second issue that was addressed by our interlocutors - including by several who have published their views on the period since 1992 - was the propensity of American diplomats not only to coordinate policies and approaches in advance with Israel, but even to look to Israel for guidance on what U.S. policymakers should do. Indeed, in the book we quote an Israeli official who expressed surprise to us how often U.S. officials would call him to ask not what Israel should do, but what the U.S. should do. This makes no sense, even in a relationship as close and deep as that which exists between the United States and Israel. Recommending that U.S. policy be made in Washington - with the advice, counsel and input from the parties, which our book emphasizes - is not at all a call for 'pressure' on Israel or an indication of less interest in Israeli views. The U.S.-Israeli relationship is sufficiently mature and developed for each side to develop its own ideas, to talk them through and see how progress can be made, and sometimes to differ, for example regarding settlements and outposts. In this regard, we also note in the book the need to be attentive to the domestic problems that each side faces at home, but not to become a captive of those problems. We believe that Arab and Israeli leaders are serious enough to know when they can or cannot make moves in the peace process. Once they decide to engage in the process, the leaders are usually the best judges of how to act to build domestic support for their policies. They surely will turn to the U.S. for sympathy and understanding as they address their domestic audiences, but it is not the proper role of the United States or any outside power to play the internal politics in the region on behalf of regional leaders. Presidents need to shore up their own domestic base in the United States. Dear Ambassador, Before we delve into the specifics of your new book, I would like to take a look at what I thought is the most profound argument you're making in it - at least as an undertone - that American mediation is not just useful but rather crucial to the success of any Israeli-Arab peace process. It is somewhat striking that you seem to blame the American mediator more than the parties themselves for the failure to achieve an understanding. So my question is two-fold: 1. Why do you think it is the U.S. that needs to do the heavy lifting, and not the parties involved? 2. What makes you believe that the U.S. is capable of achieving success, when previous attempts proved futile? Thank you, Shmuel Resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict is and remains the primary responsibility of Israelis and Arabs themselves. No outside party, including the United States, should be seen as displacing the parties' central role. The U.S. has demonstrated in the past the diplomatic will, capacity and skills to help willing parties achieve peace process agreements. These successes included the step-by-step diplomacy of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in achieving Israeli-Egyptian and Israeli-Syrian disengagement agreements in 1974-75; the role of President Jimmy Carter in helping to broker the Camp David Accords in 1978 and the Egyptian-Israeli Peace treaty in 1979; and the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991, brought about through the diplomacy of Secretary of State James Baker. In other words, there is a track record of success for U.S. diplomacy on which to build. In 2006, the United States Institute of Peace asked me to direct a study group and prepare a report on the U.S. role in the peace process since the end of the Cold War. The book that resulted from this effort - Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East - offers a critical look at the policies and actions of three American administrations (Bush 41, Clinton and Bush 43) in carrying out U.S. policy in the peace process. The book emphasizes that U.S. involvement in the peace process is a vital American national security interest, not a favor the U.S. does for the parties. It offers a number of important recommendations for improving the style and substance of U.S. diplomatic activity in the peace process. Since 1993, U.S. diplomacy has not contributed to peace process successes. Our book identifies some serious weaknesses in the U.S. diplomatic approach, as well as ways to remedy these weaknesses. These include stronger Presidential leadership in defining the peace process as a priority; creating a more diverse and experienced peace team; ensuring the U.S. carries out the roles it must play, including monitoring and helping address key asymmetries; and the like. 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 Bookmark to del.icio.us   Terror online Israel posts clips on YouTube of J'lem yeshiva terror attack. Remembering Gaza Knesset approves bill to commemorate the Jewish settlements of Gush Katif.   1.   Thinking of Civil Society 18:38  |  H. Kollen 23/03/08   2.   Kurtzer Is a Jerk 20:17  |  Tod Zuckerman 23/03/08   3.   Tod Zuckerman`s Wisdom 14:28  |  Rich 24/03/08   4.   Nothing But The Truth. 15:21  |  Cool B 24/03/08   5.   kurtzer(shorter) 16:06  |  Shmuelshachor 24/03/08   6.   The U.S. Must Pressure Israel 16:59  |  Moshe 24/03/08   7.   ZUCKERMAN BELITTLES ONLY HIMSELF 17:00  |  JH 24/03/08   8.   Concesions bring wars 17:09  |  Gene 24/03/08   9.   Gene 18:23  |  An Arab American 24/03/08   10.   Kurtzer is right... 18:29  |  Realist 24/03/08   11.   #9 Arab American 19:07  |  Anne 24/03/08   12.   More flakey rhetoric... 19:14  |  Webster 24/03/08   13.   KURTZER AND OBAMA-TROUBLE FOR ISRAEL 20:15  |  Rich 24/03/08   14.   down to two candidates 20:43  |  hollingsworth 24/03/08   15.   hollingsworth 21:31  |  dan 24/03/08   16.   Obama will be the next president 22:07  |  And peace will come 24/03/08   17.   Even-handed water 22:22  |  jerry 24/03/08   18.   Read:I,Kurtz want to be in the limelight,just like Ross and Indyk 22:57  |  Absolute Sweden 24/03/08   19.   Obamamania, Kurtzer style 23:46  |  Dave from Chicago 24/03/08   20.   The US is part of the Occupation 00:16  |  El-Birawi 25/03/08   21.   so blinded in ideology... 00:30  |  william 25/03/08   22.   realist # 10,you might as well stay home,i`m going to cancel your 00:37  |  terrornator 25/03/08   23.   Kurtzer is Right 01:06  |  Mark of Lewiston 25/03/08   24.   Arab-American Activist Says Obama Hiding Anti-Israel Stance 01:06  |  PETER SM 25/03/08   25.   Arab-American Activist Says Obama Hiding Anti-Israel Stance 01:36  |  PETER SM 25/03/08   26.   All Jews should 01:37  |  Nechama 25/03/08   27.   Kurtzer in denial. 01:48  |  sechel 25/03/08   28.   Republicans voting for Obama 02:01  |  Harold 25/03/08   29.   To Mr Zuckerman (2) 02:10  |  Abe 25/03/08   30.   Arab-American Activist Says Obama Hiding Anti-Israel Stance 03:07  |  PETER SM 25/03/08   31.   reply to no 2 03:21  |  abe 25/03/08   32.   How to pressure Israel 03:27  |  betz55 25/03/08   33.   BETZ.how to pressure those whose charters allow no compromise 08:36  |  PETER SM 25/03/08   34.   Self Hating Jew just like Kissinger was 12:28  |  Shmuel 25/03/08   35.   BETZ #33 16:22  |  Louise Dotter 25/03/08   36.   Correction Previous Post 16:45  |  Louise Dotter 25/03/08   37.   nonsense 17:39  |  al 25/03/08   38.   Junky semantics 21:46  |  TimothyL 25/03/08   39.   Kurtzer should not run US policy 23:32  |  Secualr 25/03/08   40.   Kissinger was good for Jews 23:35  |  Secular 25/03/08   41.   peace process? in toto separated from 03:06  |  bozhidar bob balkas 26/03/08   42.   to #33 05:39  |  betz55 26/03/08   43.   Shmuel response 12:20  |  Alex 26/03/08   44.   The Biggest Obstacle 02:15  |  Jack Olson 27/03/08   45.   Kurtzer turned his back on his people 16:44  |  nkd 27/03/08   46.   Advice for Kurtzer 22:25  |  Rodney Dezarn 28/03/08

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