Episode 5: Why the Israel-Palestine Peace Process Failed

Diplomatic advances gave way to bitter disappointment

The 1990s witnessed a turning point in one of the world’s most intractable disputes. After four decades of conflict, the 1991 Madrid Conference opened the door for peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. A flurry of negotiations and agreements followed. The Camp David Summit in 2000 was the Clinton administration’s last-ditch attempt to produce a final deal but it failed to deliver on that goal.

In this episode of None Of The Above’s ‘90s Rewind miniseries, the Institute for Global Affairs’ Mark Hannah remembers how America launched a peace process and explores why its objectives ultimately failed. He is joined by former diplomat Aaron David Miller. NPR’s Deborah Amos and retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering return to provide insights and commentary.

Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where he hosts the podcast Carnegie Connects. He was an advisor on Arab-Israeli negotiations under four US administrations. He is the author of five books, including The End of Greatness: Why America Can’t Have (and Doesn’t Want) Another Great President and The Much Too Promised Land: America’s Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace.

Deborah Amos is a Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence at Princeton University. Over the course of her award-winning career, she served as an international correspondent for NPR, ABC, and PBS. Her reporting has largely focused on the Middle East and refugees. She was awarded the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

Thomas Pickering is a retired diplomat who served as US ambassador to the United Nations, India, and Russia throughout the 1990s. He also served as Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs under President Clinton from 1997 to 2000. He achieved the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest in American diplomacy.

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