Conflict in the "Holy Land” between Jews and Palestinian Arabs escalated with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. That’s when Great Britain announced its commitment to the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.  In the decades that followed, and having been the colonial power appointed the Palestine Mandate by the League of Nations, the British government facilitated the transfer of Jews from Europe and the establishment of their institutions in Palestine.

The founding in 1948 of the state of Israel resulted in the Palestinian Nakba — the destruction of Palestinian society and dispossession of its people.  Seventy-five years later, we can see the remains of several failed peace processes, partition plans and other attempts to divide the land of historic Palestine between its Palestinian Arab and Jewish inhabitants.  And conflict (occupation, oppression, suffering, “apartheid") continues.

Where do we go from here?

Our panel of distinguished experts will look at the landscape today from both historical and contemporary perspectives and explore what the future may hold.  Considering the non-solutions to date, what untried options could be considered today or in the future for bringing peaceful coexistence to the land?  And if the land couldn’t be divided, how else might it be shared?

Panelists:

Rami George Khouri Rami Khouri Co-Director of Global Engagement at the American University of Beirut (AUB), professor of journalism and Journalist-in-Residence at AUB, and a non-resident senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Derek Penslar is the William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History at Harvard University and the Samuel Zacks Professor of Jewish History Emeritus at the University of Toronto.

Shibley Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development and the Director of the University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll, and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Mira Sucharov is Professor and Associate Chair at the Department of Political Science at Carleton University, and the author or editor of five books, including, most recently, Borders and Belonging: A Memoir