OHIO

Shifting Sands in the Middle East: Implications for U.S. Policy

Featuring Ambassador Dr. Daniel C. Kurtzer, former US Ambassador to Israel and Egypt

Presented by the Columbus Council on World Affairs

June 11, 2015 | 12:00 PM- 1:00 PM

Ambassador Kurtzer will speak on four regional issues of particular importance to U.S. interests: Iran, the peace process, Syria/ISIS, and the question of democracy and human rights.

About the Speaker:

Daniel C. Kurtzer is the S. Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. During a 29-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, Ambassador Kurtzer served as the United States Ambassador to Egypt (1997-2001) and Israel (2001-2005). He was also a speechwriter and member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff; and served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intelligence and Research. He retired in 2005 with the rank of Career Minister.

Ambassador Kurtzer received a B.A. from Yeshiva University and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is co-author of Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East, co-author of The Peace Puzzle: America’s Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace, 1989-2011, and editor of Pathways to Peace: America and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Ambassador Kurtzer currently serves as a member of the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board. He served as an advisor to the Iraq Study Group, and currently is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American University in Cairo, member of the Board of The Middle East Institute and the National Library of Israel; and a member of the New Jersey-Israel Commission. In 2007, he was named the first Commissioner of the professional Israel Baseball League.