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Conflict Resolution

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PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Through the Conflict Resolution Forum, chaired by Baker Institute founding director Edward P. Djerejian, the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy is actively involved in the formulation of policy analysis, proposals and consultations with decision-makers. The program seeks to advance conflict resolution efforts with a special focus on the broader Middle East.

  • For links to interviews and news stories about U.S. policy in the Middle East that feature Ambassador Djerejian and Baker Institute fellows and scholars, please click here.

Scroll down for more information about Conflict Resolution Forum publications and events.

Armenia and Azerbaijan

In 1999, the Baker Institute was involved in the Caucasus on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. Representatives from the institute and the United States Institute of Peace collaborated on a second-track diplomacy mission on which they met with the top leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, and provided specific recommendations on how negotiations on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue could move forward. The institute has remained engaged also on efforts aimed at Armenian-Turkish reconciliation.

Israeli-Palestinian Peace

In February 2010, the Baker Institute published PDF icon“Getting to the Territorial Endgame of an Israeli-Palestinian Peace Settlement,” which offers concrete recommendations to U.S. negotiators on the territorial component of an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement. The report draws on nearly two years of discussions held by a working group of Israelis and Palestinians chaired by Djerejian, who previously served as the U.S. ambassador to Israel and to Syria, as well as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. Specifically, the report determined that a United States territorial bridging proposal — based on the line of June 4, 1967, with agreed-upon swaps and modifications — could enable gradual progress. The contours of such a proposal are outlined in the report, as well as the need to prepare the necessary planning tools to achieve a successful outcome.

The report’s findings provide policymakers in Washington, Jerusalem and Ramallah with the results of a “bottom-up” approach highlighting differences and areas of possible agreement between the Israeli and Palestinian positions on the key territorial issues. A primary assumption underlying this report is that the territorial component of peace cannot be negotiated and addressed in isolation of other final status issues, including Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and security.

Previous workshops have been held in Houston at the Baker Institute; in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt; in Athens, Greece; and in Jerusalem.

In addition, the PDF icon“Trilateral Action Plan for Roadmap Phase I Implementation” policy report, published by the Baker Institute in December 2005, is based on recommendations made by the Israeli-Palestinian working group and follows an initial policy report that the institute published, PDF icon“Creating a Roadmap Implementation Process Under United States Leadership,” in February 2005. Ambassador Djerejian chaired post-disengagement working sessions in the region in August and November 2005. An additional workshop was held in Houston in February 2006, following the Palestinian elections that took place the previous month.

Iraq

The Baker Institute is one of several think tanks that were an integral part of the Iraq Study Group, a congressionally mandated, bipartisan effort to take a fresh look at the current and prospective situation on the ground in Iraq, its impact on the surrounding region and the consequences for United States interests. The group was led by James A. Baker, III, 61st secretary of state and honorary chair of the Baker Institute, and former U.S. Congressman Lee H. Hamilton, director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The PDF iconIraq Study Group Report was released to the public on Dec. 6, 2006.

Prior to the Iraq War in 2003, the Baker Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations jointly published the report PDF icon“Guiding Principles for U.S. Post-Conflict Policy in Iraq.”

Syria

From 2002 to 2005, Ambassador Djerejian convened a U.S.-Syria dialogue under the auspices of the Conflict Resolution Forum. The dialogue brought together current and former officials representing the United States and Syria, as well as academics and private and public sector representatives. Meetings were held both in Houston and in Damascus. Participants included the then-Syrian deputy foreign minister and the then-assistant U.S. secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs.

As the Baker Institute’s first Isaac and Mildred Brochstein Fellow in Middle East Peace and Security in Honor of Yitzhak Rabin, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Uri Sagie authored the study PDF icon“The Israeli-Syrian Dialogue: A One-Way Ticket to Peace?”

U.S. Policy in the Middle East

Baker Institute fellows and scholars are often asked to provide their views on pertinent global issues, including U.S. policy in the Middle East. For links to interviews and news stories that feature Ambassador Djerejian and Baker Institute fellows and scholars, please click here.

PUBLICATIONS
2011
The Honorable James A. Baker, III, on Reducing Nuclear Arms
Nov 06 2011
James A. Baker, III
Remarks by The Honorable James A. Baker, III, at "Twenty Years After Madrid: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward for Arab-Israeli Peacemaking"
Nov 02 2011
James A. Baker, III
U.S. must live up to role as Mideast honest broker
Sep 21 2011
Edward P. Djerejian
Science, diplomacy and international collaboration
Mar 20 2011
Edward P. Djerejian, Neal F. Lane, Kirstin R.W. Matthews
2010
Borders Key to Peace Talks
May 23 2010
Edward P. Djerejian
Getting to the Territorial Endgame of an Israeli-Palestinian Peace Settlement
Feb 02 2010
Edward P. Djerejian
The Radical Legacy of 1979
Jan 01 2010
Edward P. Djerejian
2009
A Letter to the Incoming President
Jan 13 2009
Edward P. Djerejian
2008
Danger and Opportunity: An American Ambassador's Journey Through the Middle East
Sep 09 2008
Edward P. Djerejian
Video Briefing Transcript: Prospects for Peace in the Middle East
Feb 25 2008
Edward P. Djerejian
2007
Final Status: Jerusalem and Refugees
Dec 19 2007
Sari Nusseibeh
Final Status: Jerusalem and Return
Oct 24 2007
Sari Nusseibeh
Preemptive and Preventive War: A Preliminary Taxonomy
Feb 28 2007
Joe Barnes, Richard Stoll
When You Have Not Decided Where to Go, No Wind Can Take You There: A Strategy to Achieve a Comprehensive Israeli-Arab Peace
Jan 31 2007
Yair Hirschfeld
Statement of the Co-Chairs of the Iraq Study Group
Jan 10 2007
James A. Baker, III, Lee H. Hamilton
EVENTS