Israeli Ambassador Rabinovich to Discuss Peace Process

CONTACT: Michael Cinelli
PHONE: (713) 831-4794

ISRAELI AMBASSADOR RABINOVICH TO DISCUSS PEACE PROCESS

Israel’s ambassador to the United States,
Itamar Rabinovich, will discuss the Arab-Israeli peace process on
June 12 at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at
Rice University. This event is part of the institute’s Shell
Foundation lecture series.
Rabinovich’s presentation on campus will come after the Israeli
elections on May 29, which many political observers view as a
crucial referendum on the peace process in the Middle East.
The program will be held in the Kyle Morrow Room of Fondren
Library starting at 7 p.m. and is by invitation only.

“Ambassador Rabinovich represents the very model of the Baker
Institute-the scholar and practitioner who has spanned the worlds of
ideas and actions,” said Edward P. Djerejian, director of the
institute and former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Syria. “He is
uniquely qualified to assess the status of the Arab-Israeli peace
process at this crucial period in Israel and the region.”

Rabinovich has been Israel’s ambassador to the United States
since February 1993. He joined the Israeli government in July 1992
when Prime Minister Rabin appointed him to head the Israeli
delegation to the peace talks with Syria. In both capacities, as
ambassador and peace negotiator, he has played a key role in this
important period in American-Israeli relations and in the Israeli-Arab peace process.

Rabinovich came to diplomacy from academic life. He spent 20
years at Tel Aviv University where he was a professor of
contemporary Middle Eastern history. He was founding director of the
Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern Studies, dean of humanities
and rector of the university.
He has served as a visiting professor at several American and
Canadian universities, including the University of Pennsylvania and
Cornell and Toronto universities. He is the author of several books,
the last of which, “The Road Not Taken,” was awarded the Jewish Book
Prize in 1991.

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