Dr. Gershon Baskin, founder and board member of the Israel Palestine Center for Research and Information, will speak at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, in the Whitfield Center at Avila University, 11901 Wornall Road, Kansas City, Mo. His topic will be “Peace in the Midst of Conflict.”
Baskin is widely credited as the person responsible for initiating the secret back channel between Israel and Hamas that successfully negotiated the 2011 release of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas in Gaza from 2006 to 2011, and the prisoner exchange of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. He is expected to discuss the details of that prisoner exchange, as well as the importance of peace in the Middle East to the United States and the world; essentials of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement; and the impact of the Arab Spring in Egypt and Syria on prospects for Middle East peace.
The 56-year-old Baskin lives in Jerusalem and was born in Long Island, N.Y. He moved to Israel from the United States in the late 1970s and speaks Hebrew, English and Arabic. He worked with Jews and Arabs within Israel until the first intifada, when he began promoting dialogue and opportunities for cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. He is the founder of IPCRI, a jointly-run Israeli and Palestinian think tank that works with hundreds of Israelis and Palestinians in government and the private sector. IPCRI was first based in Jerusalem and in the late 1990s moved its offices to Bethlehem. Because of current travel restrictions, IPCRI has relocated to Tantur, near Jerusalem and next to the main Bethlehem checkpoint, in an effort to find an accessible and comfortable meeting place for Israelis and Palestinians.
Baskin initiated the founding of IPCRI in 1988 following 10 years of work in the field of Jewish-Arab relations within Israel working for Interns for Peace, the Ministry of Education and as executive director of the Institute for Education for Jewish-Arab Coexistence (established by the Israeli Ministry of Education and the Prime Minister’s Office).
Following last month’s election is Israel, Baskin proposes re-starting peace talks with the Palestinians in his blog published Jan. 28 on jpost.com.
“The people of Israel voted for a moderate government, not for a government that will refuse to negotiate with the Palestinians for another four years. The most extreme right-wing party did not cross the threshold and Netanyahu’s Likud party lost seats apparently because of its extreme right-wing representatives,” he wrote.
“The Israeli public is not as right-wing as many thought before the elections,” he continued.
During the premiership of the late Yitzhak Rabin, Baskin served as an adviser on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to a secret team of intelligence officers established by Rabin. Baskin was a member of the Jerusalem Experts Committee established by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office during the Final Status Negotiations in 2000-2001.
Baskin holds a doctorate in International Affairs from the University of Greenwich. His dissertation was on “Sovereignty and Territory in the Future of Jerusalem,” parts of which were published as a book, “Jerusalem of Peace.” He is a member of the steering committee of the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum, a member of the Board of ALLMEP — the Alliance for Middle East Peace and a member of the editorial board of the Palestinian Israeli Journal. Baskin is also a member of the Israeli Council for Peace and Security.
The event is free; however donations of $10 to $20 are welcome. For more information or to pose a question to Baskin, contact Jim Fleming at 816-213-1885 or .