Yossi Beilin (right) & Mahmoud Abbas (left)
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Organized by the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies.
About the Talk
What prospect, if any, is there for peace between Israel and the Palestinians? In this lecture, veteran Israeli politician and peace negotiator Dr. Yossi Beilin will discuss whether a peaceful resolution to the century-old conflict is possible in the near future, especially after the horrific Hamas-led attack on October 7 and the ensuing war in Gaza.
About the Speaker
Dr. Yossi Beilin is a former Israeli politician, veteran peace negotiator, and scholar. He served in the Knesset from 1988–2008 as a member of the Labor Party and later as leader of the Meretz party, holding ministerial positions in the governments of Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Ehud Barak.
In 1992, as Deputy Foreign Minister under Shimon Peres, Beilin initiated the secret back-channel negotiations that resulted in the Oslo Accords. He also led the Israeli delegation to the historic diplomatic agreement with the Holy See. In 1995, he was appointed as Israel's Minister of Economy by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. During that time, Beilin negotiated with Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) —who would later become President of the Palestinian Authority—on a plan for a comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, which became known as the “Beilin–Abu Mazen understandings.” After Rabin's assassination, Beilin served in the government of Shimon Peres as Minister in the Prime Minister's Office. In 2001, he participated in the Israeli–Palestinian peace talks at Taba in Egypt. In 2003, he negotiated and signed, with Palestinian minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, the Geneva Initiative for a model of an Israeli–Palestinian peace agreement. More recently, he developed a plan with former PLO negotiator Hiba Husseini for an Israeli-Palestinian confederation plan called “the Holy Land Confederation.”
Dr. Beilin received his Ph.D in Political Science from Tel Aviv University, where he taught for many years prior to his political career. He is the author of several books, including His Brother's Keeper: Israel and Diaspora Jewry in the Twenty-first Century (2000) The Path to Geneva: The Quest for a Permanent Agreement, 1996-2004 (2004), Birthright: The True Story (2011), and a new memoir, Secrets I Won’t Take with Me: Home, War, and the Struggle for Peace in Israel (forthcoming, March 2025).
About the Harry C. Sigman Distinguished Lecture in Israel Studies
The lecture series is named for the late Harry C. Sigman, a longtime Los Angeles attorney, UCLA alumnus, and generous supporter of the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. The series was created through a major endowment gift from Mr. Sigman's estate and supports public presentations by leading experts on a range of Israel-related topics, as part of the program of the Nazarian Center.
Sigman specialized in U.S. and international commercial law. He worked as a consultant to governments and NGOs all over the world and had represented the United States at the United Nations, The Hague and Unidroit (the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) in multilateral commercial law treaty negotiations. He also taught law at the University of Southern California, UCLA and universities around the world, including in Israel.
Sigman earned his undergraduate degree from UCLA and completed his law degree at Harvard University. He was a member of the State Bar of California for more than 50 years.
DISCLAIMER: The views or opinions of our guest speakers and the content of their presentations do not necessarily reflect the views of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Hosting speakers does not constitute an endorsement of the speaker's views or opinions.
Sponsor(s): Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies