10 December 2023

Expert Views: How do we restart the Middle East peace process?

Randa Slim, Moien Odeh, Nimrod Goren, Brian Katulis, Paul Salem, Emiliano Alessandri, Alex Vatanka

Introduction

The negotiated pause in hostilities in war-ravaged Gaza this past week raised restrained hopes in some capitals around the world that the temporary truce and associated hostage-prisoner exchanges might lay the groundwork for talks on a more enduring cease-fire. Yet many experts cautioned that such hopes were premature. When this truce expired on Friday morning and the fighting resumed, that caution proved astute and underscored that peace remains a distant prospect for now. Nevertheless, the renewed violence, continued humanitarian catastrophe, and the war’s threat to wider regional stability accentuate the pressing need for a political solution to not just the eight-week-old Israel-Hamas war but to the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It is time to start thinking now — even as the war rages on — about what a final peace settlement should look like and how to get there so that the right actors and elements are in place when a brief window for talks opens up. What would it take to start a new Israeli-Palestinian peace process that could actually have the prospect for enduring success? How and when will it be possible to bring the two sides to the negotiating table? Who should be involved? And what would be the proper sequencing and structure of such talks to ensure a fair, inclusive, and fruitful process? MEI has asked a group of regional and U.S. experts to weigh in on these and related questions. Read in PDF

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