Tuesday, February 18
7:00 PM
Light Hall Theatre
FREE
Palestinian Conflict and US Policy: Reflections and Aspirations
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict for more than a century has been one of the most vexing and complicated issues in the Middle East. Palestinian Arabs and Jews have fought over traditional Palestine—the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea—for control, resources, religious legitimacy, governance, and civil and human rights—without any resolution. The conflict has been shaped, and ultimately will be settled, by several factors including geography, power preponderance, resources, regional powers, and foreign powers, including the United States. The current bloody war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel is a microcosm of the wider conflict. The US remains a pivotal actor in effecting any resolution of this intractable conflict.
Dr. Emile Nakhleh author of A Necessary Engagement: Reinventing America’s Relations with the Muslim World, is a research professor and director of National Security Programs at UNM. He is a retired Senior Intelligence Service Officer, a National Intelligence Council Associate and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Since his retirement from the US Government, Nakhleh has been consulting with different US government entities on national security issues, particularly Islamic radicalization, terrorism, and the Arab states of the Middle East. Nakhleh was a senior analyst and director of the Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program and of regional analysis in the Middle East. He was awarded several senior commendations and distinguished medals for his service, including the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal and the Director’s Medal. His research and publications have focused on political Islam and Muslim world engagement, Islamic radicalization and terrorism in the Middle East and the rest of the Muslim world; state formation in the Middle East; and US policy toward the Middle East and the Muslim world. and has lectured in this country and overseas for many years. He recieved his Ph.D. from the American University, Washington, D.C., in International Relations, an M.A. from Georgetown University in Political Science, and a B.A. from Saint John’s University, Minnesota, in Political Science.
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