Registration & Networking: 6:00 PM
Program: 6:30 PM
Wine Reception: 7:30 – 8:30 PM
For Palestinians, now is perhaps the most uncertain and unsettled time in 40 years and maybe more. On October 7th 2023, HAMAS’s massive terrorist strikes into southern Israel brutally murdered over 1,200 Israelis – the largest mass killing of Jews since Hitler and the Holocaust.
Israel’s response and the IDF’s devastating efforts to destroy HAMAS have resulted in estimates of over 46,000 Palestinians being killed in Gaza – of which over half are women, children or older people. About 70% of all homes and apartments have been completely destroyed or significantly damaged. And almost all of the over 2 million residents of Gaza have been displaced from their homes, many more than once.
In February, President Trump shocked the world and key U.S. Arab allies in the region, when he said ‘The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip . . . I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza’. The last 2 years have also seen rising violence in the West Bank with over 1,000 Palestinians being killed. In late February, the IDF deployed tanks into the West Bank for the first time in over 20 years and over 40,000 Palestinians of the West Bank have been forced from their homes – the largest number of Palestinians displaced in the West Bank since 1967.
Palestinians are in dire need of new, effective and capable leadership. HAMAS has brutally ruled the West Bank since 2007, not only terrorizing and murdering Israelis, but also killing any Palestinians who dare to challenge their power. The West Bank has been dominated by the corrupt and inept leadership of 89-year-old President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah Party – and has not held an election for new leadership in the West Bank for almost 19 years.
Having previously served from 2004 to 2009, as an adviser to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah on permanent status negotiations with Israel, Khaled Elgindy has first-hand knowledge of the peace process and the realities faced by both Palestinians and Israelis. Additionally, as a key participant in the Annapolis Negotiations of 2007-08, he is familiar with the former approaches made by the U.S and also the positions of key players in the region.
What might the next few years hold for Palestinians, Israelis and the region? Will the failed status quo remain? Or with many seeing a Two-State solution or a One-State solution as unrealistic, what options and outcomes might be possible in the years to come?
