27. Januar 2014: Roundtable-Dinner und Hintergrundgespräch

Dr. David Pollock, Kaufman Fellow am Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Senior Advisor for the Broader Middle East des US-Außenministeriums (2002 - 2007)

US-Außenminister John Kerry legte Anfang des Jahres 2014 den Entwurf eines Rahmenabkommen  zwischen Israelis und Palästinensern vor. Seit Sommer 2013 wird auf Kerrys Initiative wieder direkt zwischen den Parteien verhandelt.

Der nicht-öffentliche Entwurf fordert angeblich von den Israelis die 67er-Grenze mit einem abgestimmten Gebietsaustausch anzuerkennen und von der Palästinensischen Autonomiebehörde, Israel als Jüdischen Staat und eine 10-jährige israelische Sicherheitspräsenz im Jordantal zu akzeptieren.

Damit befindet sich die Kerry-Initiative in der entscheidenden Phase.

Die Parteien sind aber in allen wesentlichen Punkten weit voneinander entfernt. Als ein wichtiges Hindernis bezeichnet Dr. David Pollock vom Washington Institute for Near East Policy die palästinensische Aufwiegelung, zum Beispiel in Schulbüchern und in palästinensischen Staatsmedien.

Als ausgewiesener Fachmann mit jahrelanger Erfahrung im US State Department wird Dr. Pollock Fragen zur Nahost-Friedensinitiative von Kerry beantworten.

Dr. David Pollock

is the Kaufman Fellow at The Washington Institute, focusing on the political dynamics of Middle East countries. He is also director of Fikra Forum, an online community that aims to generate ideas to support Arab democrats in their struggle with authoritarians and extremists. He is the author of a new study entitled “Beyond Words: Causes, Consequences, and Cures for Palestinian Authority Hate Speech.”Other recent major publications include “Actions, Not Just Attitudes:  A New Paradigm for U.S.-Arab Relations” (2010) and “Slippery Polls: Uses and Abuses of Opinion Surveys from Arab States” (2008).

His most recent articles and op-eds focus on the ongoing Syrian and Egyptian crises, including “After CW Deal, U.S. Must Keep Its Pledge to Aid the Syrian Opposition” and “Helping the Dust Settle: Why Washington Cannot Cut Aid to Egypt.”

Dr. Pollock served previously as senior advisor for the Broader Middle East at the State Department, a post he assumed in 2002. In that capacity, he provided policy advice on issues of democracy and reform in the region, with a focus on women's rights. He also helped launch the department's $15 million Iraqi Women's Democracy Initiative and the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council, working directly with advocates across the Middle East.   

From 1996 to 2001, Dr. Pollock served in several other State Department policy advisory positions covering South Asia and the Middle East, including four years as regional expert on the secretary of state's Policy Planning Staff. Previously, he was chief of Near East/South Asia/Africa research at the U.S. Information Agency, where he supervised the government's study of public opinion, elite attitudes, and media content across the three regions. In 1995-1996, he was a scholar-in-residence at The Washington Institute, where he authored the widely read Policy Paper “The 'Arab Street'? Public Opinion in the Arab World”.   

Dr. Pollock holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University, where he has served as a visiting lecturer, and was an assistant professor at George Washington University. He has traveled widely in the Middle East, including visits to Azerbaijan and Iraqi Kurdistan in November 2013, speaks fluent Arabic, French, and Hebrew, and maintains a large network of contacts in government, academia, and business throughout the region.