Mideast Ambassador Remains Hopeful Ross Engages Captive Audience in Silberman Symposium Keynote Address

Author: Chesley Thurber

Before a fiery and often critical crowd yesterday evening at Mead Chapel, former ambassador to the Middle East Dennis Ross gave the keynote address at the fifth annual Silberman Symposium. His topic was "Any Hope Left for Peace In the Middle East?"

Ross served under both presidents Bush senior and Clinton and played key roles in negotiating the 1995 Interim Agreement and the 1997 Hebron Accord. Clinton honored Ross for his service with the medal for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service.

Ross began his lecture stating, "You have to believe that there is hope for peace," but acknowledged that he is not optimistic nor does he see an obvious strategy for peace.

Citing a conceptual difference between Palestinians and Israelis over their expectations for peace, he asserted, "The very idea of peaceful coexistence no longer has the legitimacy that it had over the past decade."

In the course of the lecture, Ross outlined several possible approaches that could be taken in an effort to manage the conflict. The first would be an imposed peace agreement where third party intervention would mandate concessions from both sides.

He doubted whether a forced agreement could create sustainable cooperation.

Ross' more ideal solution would be a timeline-based agreement that would first acknowledge Palestine as a state and then continue to negotiate territory boundaries and regulations. This method was attempted in the Oslo Accords but failed to create prolonged peace.

According to Ross, the Oslo Accords laid out too long of a time frame and failed to make parties accountable for their infractions. He proposes a timeline that advances over a much shorter period of time and creates a system of responsibilities, obligations and consequences for both states. The guiding idea behind such a proposal was to send a message to Palestine that "if you want to be a state you have to act like a state," said Ross.

After the lecture, the Symposium turned to a roundtable discussion moderated by Middlebury trustee and former Cable News Network (CNN) Washington Bureau Chief Frank Sesno '77. During his tenure at the network, Sesno spent a great deal of time covering Ross and the Middle East peace negotiations.

Joining Ross and Sesno at the table were three Middlebury professors with specialties relating to the Middle East: Assistant Professor of Religion Walid Saleh, Curt C. and Else Silberman Professor in Jewish Studies, Dean of the Faculty and Symposium organizer Robert Schine and Visiting Associate Professor of Political Science Greg Gause.

The attention still focused, however, on Ross, who fielded questions first from the other panelists and then from members of the audience.

While Sesno did his best to maintain an ethos of informed, academic conversation, at one point requesting that the audience "keep applause to a non-existent minimum," many chose to use their time at the microphone to express their own personal convictions and grievances in front of the large public audience.

Many who spoke were intensely critical of the United States' continued support of Israel. While correcting several factual errors made Symposium audience members, Ross said, "Leaning hard on Israel will not increase the odds of peace." Instead, it could create "a siege mentality" causing Israel to be more reluctant to negotiate and possible even publicize their nuclear capabilities.

Ross adamantly defended the Clinton peace proposal that he said granted an autonomous Palestinian state with a capital in East Jerusalem as well as the promise of an international security force and a $30 billion fund to help in the relocation of refugees. His review of President George W. Bush's policy was mixed.

"I'm afraid the fundamental center of gravity in the administration is still being determined," he said.

A question about the role of the media in Middle Eastern affairs caused Sesno to passionately break from his tempered and objective role as moderator, calling the media "spineless and gutless." "We were not properly covering international issues" before Sept. 11, stated Sesno. Assuming that such issues would not attract an audience, Sesno claimed that producers "underestimated American viewers."

As the symposium drew to a close, Ross expressed more emotion while speaking about the human sacrifices involved in the Middle East conflict. "I think one of the biggest tragedies is that both sides have become insensitive to the other side's tragedies," said Ross. "You're not going any place until you start to sensitize each side to the other's grievances."

Although the high intensity of the current conflict makes peace seem distant and improbable, Ross asserted that it is during this time, when the two sides "can't do anything on their own," that assistance from the United States is most crucial. "Ultimately," said Ross, "I am still hopeful."