Yossi Alpher: Rethinking Israel-Palestine

June 23, 2016

7:30 PM

Intercontinental Hotel

2151 Avenue of the Stars

Los Angeles, CA 90067

Please visit http://www.lawac.org/EventDetail/eventid/30387 for ticketing information.

As political positions harden among Israelis and Palestinians, and fears grow that the chances for a two state solution may be ebbing away, the question of what the future holds for Israel-Palestine absent a peace settlement has become urgent. Yossi Alpher, a former Israeli military intelligence officer and Mossad operative, will speak at a Los Angeles World Affairs Council dinner on Thursday, June 23rd about what a binational Israeli state might look like, with "rule by Israeli Jews over a nearly equivalent number of Palestinian Arabs who enjoy varying degrees of personal rights..."

Alpher, who also served as Special Adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, argues in his new book No End of Conflict: Rethinking Israel-Palestine that many western views on the region are "delusional", and argues a sober reassessment of the stalemate in Israeli-Palestinian relationship is long overdue. He notes that "the ultranationalist and messianist course the country has chosen to follow" has alarmed moderate Israelis and their friends, and astonished their enemies. He is equally critical of Israeli politicians, Palestinian leaders and "the international do-gooders". Alpher does not offer an overarching solution but rather he points to what he thinks are the best ways to moderate the ongoing problems that Israel will likely face in the coming years. He outlines five possible future scenarios, from a continuation of the current low-level conflict to outright Palestinian revolt to game-changing changes of heart by either the Israeli electorate, the Palestinians or the surrounding Arab states, and ranks the likelihood of each scenario.

Yossi Alpher is an Israel security expert who is a consultant and writer on Israel-related strategic issues. Alpher served in the Israel Defense Forces as an intelligence officer, followed by 12 years' service in the Israeli National Intelligence Agency (Mossad). From 1981 to 1995 he was associated with, and ended up directing the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University (JCSS). While at the Jaffee Center, Alpher coordinated and co-edited the JCSS research project on options for a Palestinian settlement, and produced the Alpher Plan for an Israeli-Palestinian Territorial Settlement.