Ross joins CIJA conference

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

Among the many high-level speakers being featured at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs’ first annual Western Regional Policy Conference on May 5 is Ambassador Dennis Ross.

Currently with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Ross has become a household name for observers of successive Middle East peace processes. His countless accomplishments include serving two years as special assistant to President Barack Obama and a year as special advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. He was instrumental in the U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process during both the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. Going back further, he served as director during the Reagan administration of Near East and South Asian affairs on the National Security Council staff and advised the Department of Defence.

In addition to all that, and much more, Ross has published extensively: books, articles and chapters in anthologies. Last month, the Washington Institute published Obama II and the Middle East: Strategic Objectives for U.S. Policy, co-written by Ross and James F. Jeffrey. The main points of the report’s “Israeli-Palestinian Peace” section were summarized by Ross in the New York Times article “To achieve Mideast peace, suspend disbelief.”

Ross’ proposed agenda for discussions comprises six unilateral steps for each side and two mutual steps. Israelis, he writes, need to show that they do not have expansionist intentions and that they honestly want to relinquish control over the Palestinians. Meanwhile, the Palestinians need to show that they’re serious both about accepting two states and being good neighbors. The mutual efforts involve student exchanges and public acknowledgement when the other side does anything positive.

In a phone interview with the Jewish Independent, Ross explained how he arrived at the conclusion that disbelief was the main problem and whether his 14-point plan is feasible.

“Well, I come to that conclusion because, obviously, I spend a lot of time speaking to Israelis and Palestinians, and ... the polling as well. On the one hand, you see majorities, although they are smaller majorities than they used to be, [with] a belief in the two-state outcome, but the majorities who believe in it, at the same time, also believe it will never happen.... By the way, it’s true on both sides. What I tried to say in both the report and what I wrote in the New York Times was that each side looks at the other and sees reasons to convince themselves that the other isn’t serious about two states. What I was trying to suggest is that, here, why not address the sources of disbelief. That’s what I was trying to get at....

“I do think something along these lines is possible and what I was trying to suggest is, it’s necessary. Secretary [of State John] Kerry is trying to create conditions to resume negotiations ... unless you prepare the ground, those negotiations are not going to go anyplace, and that’ll just feed further disbelief. That’s why I think, if negotiations are to resume, you need something to be happening at the same time to show that something is different this time, to show that something is changing this time ... it’s not just that I’m trying to get each side to take steps, or to be prepared to take steps, to address the source of disbelief of the other so that there will be at least a readiness to take a second look [at resolving the conflict] ... but it is also that I think this is a very practical way of showing that if we have negotiations, something different is now happening, and [it’s] also a way to wrestle with negotiations with some momentum so that we can actually achieve something with them.”

And, of course, Ross knows of which he speaks. He has been interested in foreign affairs since his college days. Coming of age during the Vietnam War, he told the Independent that he was against that war, not because he’s a pacifist, but because he “thought it was the wrong war and the wrong place and it confused American interests.” Also contributing to his career decision was the Six Day War, which, he said, “highlighted for me where our real interests [lay] at the time and it just struck me that we were hamstrung in an area where we had real interest because of our being absorbed in Vietnam.”

Since then, the United States has become even more polarized politically. “I was a political appointee of two Republican presidents and two Democratic presidents, and it’s pretty hard to find someone like that these days,” said Ross. “There was a time when it was not so unusual and because of that I [developed] relations with Republicans and Democrats alike. I still think you can quietly, not so much under the glare of the TV lights ... have serious conversations across the aisle and I’m still hopeful that something can be created because I think it’s in our interest. We used to have a saying in this country that ‘politics stops at the water’s edge.’ That was not only the focal point for suggesting that when it came to foreign policy and national security you should be non-partisan, but it was also kind of a mantra that many people embraced. So, I still think that it’s part of the American ethos at least at one level, the question is can we recreate that in foreign policy more generally.”

He commented on the perception that exists that Obama is less sensitive to Israeli concerns than other presidents.

“In a lot of ways, his trip to Israel may have changed that perception.... What I find ironic is that on security issues, on the course of security and cooperation, he’s done more than any previous president with Israel and I say that from the perspective of someone who ... has been in it a long time ... [and] having served as a political appointee for President Obama ... because I can’t [comment] from the perspective of all Jews.” He said that Obama has brought security cooperation between the two allies to an unprecedented level, a fact that has been acknowledged, Ross said, by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

Ross acknowledged that “Israel has probably never been as strong as it is today. On the other hand, I don’t know that it’s ever faced a situation as uncertain and, in many ways, as perilous as it is today, at least not since the War of Independence of 1948.” He allowed for some optimism when asked about the potential role of economics in the region. By way of example, he said, while the Muslim Brotherhood doesn’t necessarily believe in the peace treaty with Israel, it realizes the consequences for Egypt of breaking it. “Now, the main consequence would be, at a time when Egypt is facing an economy that is literally on the brink of collapsing, you need help from the outside.... What’s interesting in the midst of all this, the Egyptians have shown an interest in the qualified industrial zones with Israel. Qualified industrial zones are zones that can export with no duties to the United States if they have a ... certain capital content in the zone coming from Israel. So, here’s something that the Egyptians see has an economic benefit to them, and show an interest in, notwithstanding what the ideology is, and that seems to be an interesting reminder that, sometimes, economic interests can offer not just incentives but a vehicle to do something that otherwise wouldn’t take place.

“It’s true with the Palestinians as well,” he continued, “although the Palestinians always fear that somehow if Israel just addresses them economically, they don’t have to address them politically, so it’s always important for the Palestinians to show that the economic approaches are not an alternative to political approaches, but they can make the political approaches more likely to succeed.”

The May 5 CIJA Western Regional Policy Conference takes place at the Segal School of Business in downtown Vancouver. The $125 fee includes three kosher meals and all programming. To register, visit regonline.com/cijapolicy-conference.

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