The Case for Talking with Hamas and Hizbullah
Featuring:
In its campaign for democracy in the Middle East, the US often views political Islam as an adversarial. How will it deal with Islamic parties participating in the democratic process? The Middle East Institute welcomes Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry to report on their discussions with Hamas and Hizbullah leaders. Crooke and Perry are directors of Conflicts Forum, a UK and US non-profit organization that seeks to bring about a new engagement between the West and political Islam. In March and July, Crooke and Perry led a delegation comprised of prominent former senior U.S. foreign policy officials to Beirut to meet with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Hizbullah to gauge their future political views.
Mr. Crooke served as Security Advisor to Javier Solana, the European Union’s Head of Foreign and Security Policy. He played a key role in the negotiations to end the Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in 2002 and helped facilitate the Palestinian ceasefires of 2002 and 2003. Mr. Perry is a military, intelligence and foreign affairs analyst and writer. He has written six books and many newspaper articles and is considered a leading expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A senior fellow at the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, he is currently Washington correspondent for The Palestine Report.
