April 23, 2002
Contact:
Sarah Ray
802-443-5794
sray@middlebury.edu
Posted: April 23, 2002
MIDDLEBURY,
VT - Middlebury College will host a symposium titled
“Any Hope Left for Peace in the Middle East?” at 4:30 p.m.
on Tuesday, May 7. The event, the fifth Silberman Symposium
in Jewish Studies, will bring together academic experts and
a former ambassador to offer and exchange views on the
situation in the Middle East and the prospects for peace.
The symposium will consist of a keynote address and a
subsequent discussion, which are free and open to the
public. It will take place in Mead Chapel on Hepburn Road
off College Street (Route 125).
“What is
happening in the Middle East is a terrible tragedy that
seems to make the wish for peace more remote day by day.
What we hope to accomplish is to deepen our understanding of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and learn from Ambassador
Ross, who has had a central role in United States efforts to
advance a diplomatic solution to the conflict,” said Robert
Schine, symposium organizer, Middlebury College dean of the
faculty, and Curt C. and Else Silberman Professor in Jewish
Studies
The
symposium will begin with a lecture by Dennis Ross, director
of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former
ambassador and special Middle East coordinator during the
Clinton administration. For more than 12 years, during both
the Clinton and first Bush administrations, Ross played a
leading role in shaping the United States involvement
in the Middle East peace process and in dealing directly
with the parties in negotiations. He was instrumental in
assisting Israelis and Palestinians in reaching the 1995
Interim Agreement; he also successfully brokered the Hebron
Accord in 1997, facilitated the Israeli-Jordan peace treaty,
and intensively worked to bring Israel and Syria
together.
Former
President Clinton awarded Ross the Presidential Medal for
Distinguished Federal Civilian Service, and former
Secretaries of State Baker and Albright presented him with
the State Departments highest award. At the institute,
he is working on a book about his experiences in the pursuit
of peace.
Immediately
following Ross talk, a group of experts will respond
to and discuss his comments. Participants in the discussion
will be Walid Saleh, Middlebury College assistant professor
of religion; Robert Schine; Gregory Gause, Middlebury
College visiting associate professor of political science
and University of Vermont associate professor of political
science and director of the Middle East studies program; and
panel moderator Frank Sesno, university professor of public
policy and communication at George Mason University, former
CNN
Washington
bureau chief, Middlebury College trustee, and member of the
Middlebury College class of 1977.
Silberman
Symposium
The
Silberman Symposium is supported by the fund for the Curt C.
and Else Silberman Chair in Jewish Studies. Establishing the
fund in 1994, Curt Silberman said, “Our intention is not to
sponsor a chair for Jewish students and Jewish studies per
se. What is intended is the creation of a forum for students
of all creeds and religions and even non-believers, which
would become at the same time a kind of community forum with
scholars, professors, lecturers, and citizens at large as
participants.” Its goal is universal: to contribute “toward
better understanding of each other.”
For more
information, contact Martha Baldwin of the Middlebury
College Center for International Affairs, at 802-443-5324 or
baldwin@middlebury.edu.
To follow is
an events calendar listing:
Events
Calendar Listing:
Middlebury
College Silberman Symposium in Jewish Studies: “Any Hope
Left for Peace in the Middle East?”
Tuesday,
May 7
4:30
p.m.
Keynote
Address: Dennis Ross, director of the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy and former ambassador and
special Middle East coordinator during the Clinton
administration.
Response
and Discussion: Participants are Walid Saleh,
Middlebury College assistant professor of religion; Robert
Schine, Middlebury College dean of the faculty and Curt C.
and Else Silberman Professor in Jewish Studies; Gregory
Gause, Middlebury College visiting associate professor of
political science, University of Vermont associate professor
of political science and director of the Middle East studies
program; and panel moderator Frank Sesno, university
professor of public policy and communication at George Mason
University, former CNN Washington bureau chief, Middlebury
College trustee, and member of the Middlebury College class
of 1977.
Admission is
free.
Mead Chapel,
Hepburn Road off College Street (Route 125)
For more
information, contact Martha Baldwin of the Middlebury
College Center for International Affairs, at 802-443-5324 or
baldwin@middlebury.edu.