Saban Forum 2010—U.S.-Israeli Relations: Facing Hard Choices

President Bill Clinton, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad—among other leading officials and policymakers—participated in the Seventh Annual Saban Forum, which took place in Washington, DC from Friday, December 10 to Sunday, December 12, 2010.

Entitled, “U.S.-Israeli Relations: Facing Hard Choices,” the 2010 forum focused on the critical decisions that American and Israeli leaders must address to move the Israeli-Palestinian peace process forward. Forum sessions focused on other common challenges facing the United States and Israel, including the changing leadership on Capitol Hill following the U.S. midterm elections, shifting balances of power in the Middle East, and global efforts to stem nuclear proliferation.

The forum opened with keynote addresses by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, on the current state of U.S.-Israel relations and efforts to move the peace process forward.

Read a transcript of the Secretary Clinton speech » (state.gov)
Read Defense Minister Barak’s speech » (PDF)

Other distinguished Saban Forum speakers and panelists included: Israeli Leader of the Opposition Tzipi Livni; the two Middle East Peace Envoys George Mitchell and Tony Blair; Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor; Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Jeffrey Feltman; Israeli National Security Adviser Uzi Arad; NSC Senior Director for the Central Region Dennis Ross; and Turkish Ambassador to the United States Namik Tan; among many other American, Israeli, and international personalities.

Leading into the forum, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy hosted a public event on December 9 at Brookings to release a new public opinion poll by Nonresident Senior Fellow Shibley Telhami gauging attitudes toward the peace process among Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel, as well citizens of the United States.