A Secretive Convention About The Center East’s Future Featured No Palestinians

WASHINGTON — As Monday evening introduced information of one other devastating episode in Israel’s U.S.-backed offensive in Gaza — a strike on a tent camp sheltering determined Palestinians — key gamers in Center East coverage in Washington and past had been sipping cocktails on the Waldorf Astoria, toasting the tip of a secretive convention in regards to the area’s future.

The night marked the conclusion of the inaugural Center East-America Dialogue summit — a first-of-its-kind occasion that some members say virtually completely ignored the Palestinian perspective regardless of the group’s central relevance to developments within the area.

One attendee famous that solely three Arab voices had been featured on the convention’s stage: These of the ambassadors to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Morocco. There have been no Palestinians.

Nor did anybody meaningfully handle their considerations. Whereas MEAD says it “aims to solidify the United States’ critical role in promoting stability across the Middle East,” the gathering didn’t embrace a speaker who highlighted the expertise of the group dwelling by its deadliest battle in a long time, and, mentioned one attendee, had “very few words about the plight of the Palestinians.”

The multiday confab was invite-only, and the content material of the discussions was largely stored non-public (HuffPost was not invited). However by acquiring MEAD’s agenda, marked “confidential,” and discussing it with a number of members, HuffPost received a view right into a gathering that targeted closely on nearer U.S.-Israel ties and battle with Iran whereas being dominated by longtime overseas coverage hawks.

The convention agenda “runs the gamut of views from conservative to settler — the whole point is to erase the Palestinians,” mentioned Matt Duss, the manager vice chairman on the Heart for Worldwide Coverage suppose tank, who reviewed the doc.

The convention didn’t commit policymakers to any explicit strikes, and it’s simply one in every of a number of annual gatherings amongst nationwide safety officers and analysts from the U.S. and its allies. Nonetheless, it presents a snapshot into how some necessary figures in Center East coverage are maneuvering at a major second.

Combating in Gaza is coming into its twelfth month and not using a deal for a cease-fire and the discharge of hostages in sight, and a change in president looms within the U.S. — which is essential to the area, given its tens of 1000’s of troops and deep relationships there.

“It was Israel-America dialogue more than anything else,” one attendee informed HuffPost. A “through line” of the dialogue “was that the United States needed to do something about Iran, although exactly what, how, and to what effect was left vague,” one other mentioned. (HuffPost offered anonymity to permit the attendees to talk freely.)

MEAD drew a number of prime aides to President Joe Biden. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas every provided remarks. So did Brett McGurk, the president’s prime Center East adviser, and Amos Hochstein, who leads the administration’s try to handle tensions in Lebanon. Panels on digital issues, management and better protection cooperation among the many U.S. and its companions featured, respectively, senior White Home official Anne Neuberger; former U.S. ambassador to Israel and present Pentagon official Dan Shapiro; and Mira Resnick, the State Division’s new chief official for Israeli-Palestinian affairs. (HuffPost broke the information of Resnick’s appointment final month.)

Some potential main gamers in a future U.S. administration weighed in, too.

Michèle Flournoy, a candidate for the primary feminine secretary of protection if Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris wins in November, was on a panel on Gaza’s future. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a potential chief in a second Trump presidency, spoke, as did Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump’s former CIA director and secretary of state, and Trump-era Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who, like the previous president and his household, has cultivated enterprise ties within the Center East.

The involvement of figures with ties to each the Republican and Democratic events was by design. MEAD’s 4 cochairs embrace Tom Nides, Biden’s former U.S. ambassador to Israel who’s rumored to be within the working for a senior Harris administration job, and David Friedman, who was Trump’s ambassador to Israel. The choice of cochairs exhibits “our commitment to a nonpartisan approach to advancing U.S.-Middle East dialogue,” MEAD’s web site reads.

But the seeming range of political ties belies a unifying theme: ardent assist for U.S.-Israel ties.

Friedman is a longtime advocate for Israeli settlements within the occupied West Financial institution, that are unlawful beneath worldwide legislation and which the U.S. and human rights teams say gasoline violence within the area. He’s now pushing the concept of Israel taking up the world utilizing U.S. funding — a transfer specialists say would spark large tensions and torpedo the concept of a future Palestinian state current alongside Israel.

The 2 different cochairs are Dennis Ross and Elliott Abrams. Abrams is a hard-liner who has downplayed Israeli assaults on civilians and restrictions on humanitarian support through the Gaza battle. Ross, who has labored on Israeli-Palestinian mediation beneath Democratic and Republican administrations, was described by his longtime aide Aaron David Miller as having “an inherent tendency to see the world of Arab-Israeli politics first from Israel’s vantage point rather than that of the Palestinians.”

The summit held itself out as a wide-ranging technique dialogue. “Diversification of opinion isn’t just encouraged; but pivotal,” the web site for the summit reads. “Our policy fosters a rich tapestry of perspectives, welcoming voices from across the spectrum of political, social, and economic thought.”

However within the midst of historic upheaval for Palestinians and throughout the area because of the battle in Gaza, the break up of voices was hanging to a variety of members. “Israelis in the audience told me they were surprised there were so many Israelis there,” the second attendee mentioned.

The transfer displays a bent that many officers consider helped drive the Palestinian militant group Hamas to launch its lethal Oct. 7 assault on Israel: the selection by the U.S., beneath each Trump and Biden, to low cost Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy and as a substitute deal with constructing relationships between Israel and different Arab nations.

MEAD offered remark by an official on the public relations agency SKDK. Cofounded by shut Biden adviser Anita Dunn, SKDK has, amid the Gaza battle, helped launch a challenge from Jewish teams concentrating on “misinformation” on the battle, and within the course of focused journalists it perceives as unfair to Israel.

“The goal of the MEAD summit is to bring together leaders in the United States and across the Middle East to have in-depth and honest conversations about the future of the region,” the MEAD spokesperson wrote in an e-mail. “All parties in the region are important to this dialogue, and we are proud to have diverse perspectives represented at the Summit, ranging from Israeli leadership to ambassadors from the region like Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the U.S. HRH Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud, Morocco’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Amrani, and Bahrain’s Ambassador to the U.S. Abdulla bin Rashid Al Khalifa.”

“We look forward to building upon our progress and continuing to engage a diverse set of voices in the Middle East and the U.S. at future gatherings,” the spokesperson continued.

Spokespeople for the White Home didn’t reply to HuffPost’s inquiries in regards to the Biden administration’s view of whether or not there ought to have been better Palestinian illustration.

Past that includes members of Israel’s present authorities, the summit did embrace Israelis from the opposition, together with politician Benny Gantz. In line with an attendee, the conversations emphasised “the necessity of a ceasefire deal” in Gaza that entails Hamas releasing Israeli hostages — an strategy that present Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly undermined.

But Gantz used his look to promote the concept of the Israeli army refocusing its consideration to the Hamas ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. U.S. officers fear a battle there could be much more devastating than the Gaza offensive. Gantz’s suggestion mirrored the temper music: As Hochstein, the Biden aide attempting to cease escalation in Lebanon past the present cycle of tit-for-tat Israel-Hezbollah assaults, “did try to humanize the Lebanese and made a strong case against war,” he did so “in front of a particularly cynical moderator,” an attendee mentioned.

Different prime Israeli politicians who spoke embrace former minister Ayelet Shaked, a right-wing proponent of settlements within the West Financial institution.