Senator George Mitchell and Alon Sachar: How the Next U.S. President Should Handle Israel and Palestine

Summary: George Mitchell knows how to bring peace to troubled regions. The New York Times has called him “a diplomatic heavyweight." He was the primary architect of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement for peace in Northern Ireland. But when he served as U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace under President Obama from 2009 to 2011—working to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—diplomacy did not prevail. For the first time, George Mitchell will offer his insider account of how the Israelis and the Palestinians have progressed (and regressed) in their negotiations through the years and the new steps the United States and international community can take to encourage a peace agreement. Alan Sachar served as an advisor to the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Daniel B. Shapiro, in Tel Aviv from 2011 to 2012 and to President Obama’s special envoys for Middle East peace, George J. Mitchell and David Hale, from 2009 to 2011. From 2006 to 2009, he served in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, focusing on the U.S. bilateral relationships with Israel and the Palestinians as well as Arab-Israeli relations. As a new U.S. administration is about to take power, hear from one of the world’s most astute statesmen and a top diplomatic advisor.