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A year after the United Nations upgraded its peacekeeping force in Lebanon after Israel's war with a Hezbollah armed through Syria, nine months after the Iraq Study Group called for direct U.S. dialogue with Syria and other Middle East countries, and three months after Security Council establishment of a special tribunal to handle the Syria-linked case of Rafik Hariri's assassination, the role of Syria in the region and its relations with others are significant and anomalous. On Sept. 6, 2007, The Century Foundation hosted a luncheon discussion on The Syria-U.S.-Israel Triangle and the Prospects for Middle East Peace.
Leading off the discussion were two exceptional policy experts, David Lesch (biographer of Bashar al-Assad from Trinity University) and Moshe Ma’oz (leading Israeli expert on Syria. at Harvard and Hebrew University), and one policy practitioner, Álvaro DeSoto, until recently the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process and envoy to the Quartet. Rita Hauser, chair of the International Peace Academy, moderated the discussion.
Lesch and Ma'oz have written new policy papers for The Century Foundation’s Prospects for Peace initiative, on U.S.-Syrian and Israeli-Syrian issues respectively, which will be released at the event and made available to participants beforehand. View David Lesch's “Missed Opportunities: Cooperation Confrontation in the U.S. – Syrian Relationship” (PDF) and Moshe Ma'oz's “Syria’s Role in the Region: Media, Peace Maker or Aggressor"(PDF.)
Video Highlight Reel:
View this video's transcript here (PDF).
Video of the Event Sessions:
David Lesch, Trinity University, San Antonio:
View this video's transcript here (PDF).
Moshe Ma’oz, Hebrew University, Jerusalem:
View this video's transcript here (PDF).
Alvaro De Soto, Former U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process:
View this video's transcript here (PDF).
TCF's Daniel Levy, Senior Fellow and Director of Prospects for Peace Initiative and Jeffrey Laurenti, Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign Policy Programs: 
View this video's transcript here (PDF).
Group Discussion:
View this video's transcript here (PDF).
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Taking Note
