US Foreign Policy and Chaotic Middle East

Event Date: 

Wednesday, February 25, 2015 - 8:00pm

Event Date Details: 

Location TBA.

Event Location: 

  • tba

Event Contact: 

Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies at UCSB
 "US Foreign Policy and the Chaotic Middle East"
 Ambassador Marc Ginsberg (Chief Executive Officer, OneVoice) and Ghaith al-Omari (Executive Director, American Task Force on Palestine)
 Wednesday, February 25 / 8:00 p.m. / Free
 UCSB (Location To Be Announced)

Ambassador Marc Ginsberg (Chief Executive Officer, OneVoice) and Ghaith al-Omari (Executive Director, American Task Force on Palestine) will discuss "US Foreign Policy and the Chaotic Middle East" at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at UCSB (location to be determined).  This free, public event is presented by the Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Foundation Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies at UCSB.

Ambassador Ginsberg spent his formative years in the Middle East, particularly in Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon from 1960-1968 and spent his early legal career in Saudi Arabia and Egypt working for a U.S. law firm in the Middle East. He began his foreign policy career as a foreign affairs advisor during his freshman year in college to Senator Edward M. Kennedy (1971-1977). He was appointed by Secretary of State Vance as his White House Liaison in 1977, and then served as Deputy Senior Advisor to President Carter for Middle East Policy on his White House staff from 1979-1981, working on the Camp David Accords and Palestinian negotiations. In 1994, he was appointed by President Clinton as U.S. Ambassador to Morocco, making him the first American of Jewish heritage to be appointed to an Arab nation. Currently he serves as Chief Executive Officer, OneVoice, an international grassroots movement that amplifies the voice of mainstream Israelis and Palestinians, empowering them to propel their elected representatives toward the two-state solution.

Ghaith Al-Omari is Executive Director at the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP). Prior to that, he served in various positions within the Palestinian Authority, including Director of the International Relations Department in the Office of the Palestinian President, and advisor to former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. In these capacities, he provided advice on foreign policy -- especially vis-à-vis the United States and Israel -- and security. He has extensive experience in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, having been an advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team throughout the permanent status negotiations (1999--2001). In that capacity, he participated in various negotiating rounds, most notably the Camp David summit and the Taba talks. After the breakdown of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, he was the lead Palestinian drafter of the Geneva Initiative, an unofficial model peace agreement negotiated between leading Palestinian and Israeli public figures. Mr. al-Omari is a lawyer by training and a graduate of Georgetown and Oxford universities. Prior to his involvement in the Middle East peace process, he taught international law in Jordan and was active in human rights advocacy.

Co-sponsored by the Global & International Studies Program at UC Santa Barbara.