The Middle East and Russia: American attitudes on Trump’s foreign policy

Throughout his campaign and first year in office, President Donald Trump has continuously pledged his commitment to reach the “ultimate deal,” a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Territories. In May, President Trump met with both Presidents Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas to personally renew his commitment to Middle East peace. Yet as the sun sets on his first year in office, President Trump’s plans remain elusive. With increasing instability in the Middle East and a multitude of challenges facing in the White House, it remains unclear if President Trump will fulfill this promise.

On December 1, the Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings released the results of a new public opinion poll by Shibley Telhami, nonresident senior fellow at the Center, and Director of the University of Maryland’s Critical Issues Poll. The poll focuses on American attitudes toward the Middle East, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran, and Russia’s role in the region.

Telhami presented the findings of the poll and then discussed their implications. He was joined by Suzanne Maloney, the deputy director of Brookings’s Foreign Policy program and a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy and Daniel B. Shapiro, former Ambassador of the United States to the State of Israel. Tamara Cofman Wittes, a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy, moderated the discussion. Following the conversation, the panelists took questions from the audience.

This event launched the Center for Middle East Policy’s 14th annual Saban Forum, a U.S-Israeli strategic dialogue, which ran from Friday, December 1 through Sunday, December 3, 2017.

Join the conversation on Twitter at #Saban17.