Nine hours. That’s all the time it takes to travel from Beirut to Gaza, with stops for lunch in Damascus, Syria, afternoon tea in Amman, Jordan, and dinner in Jerusalem.

It’s important, particularly for Americans, to understand this geography, in which “the proximity of populations, of states and of conflict is in everyone’s backyard,” according to Ryan Crocker, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon.

Credit: Ryan Young/Cornell University

Crocker served as moderator for “Pathways to Peace,” a panel conversation, held March 10 in Bailey Hall before an audience of several hundred students, faculty, staff and local community members, that explored the complex politics, power dynamics and the historical and ethnic conflicts that have shaped the Mideast. Some audience members were asked to leave or escorted out of the auditorium after shouting over some of the speakers, which Interim President Michael I. Kotlikoff had warned might happen in his introduction, saying that actions preventing a speaker’s ability to be heard or the right of others to listen violate university policy.

“Learning to tackle complex problems means learning to hear different voices, assimilate different perspectives and build an evidence-based understanding,” Kotlikoff said, “putting in the hard work of understanding new information that might not fit with our previous understanding.”

Crocker was joined by panelists Salam Fayyad, former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority; Tzipi Livni, former vice prime minister and former foreign minister of Israel; and Daniel B. Shapiro, former U.S. ambassador to Israel. 

“I appreciated the initiative by Interim President Kotlikoff and the Cornell University leadership to arrange a forum for Israeli, Palestinian and American leaders to discuss the war in Gaza following the brutal Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, and possible pathways to peace,” Shapiro said after the event. “They should be commended for doing so. They expected protests from those who deny Israel’s right to exist, and were well-prepared to handle them. When protesters chose to disrupt the event, they were removed by security officers and, I gather, subject to disciplinary consequences. That is entirely appropriate. 

“Despite the disruptions, which petered out after the early minutes, my fellow speakers and I were able to proceed with the event and had a full and thoughtful exchange over nearly two hours for the large audience that was there to listen,” Shapiro said. “Again, I appreciate Cornell University’s leadership for giving us a chance to share our views with their community.”

Livni recounted growing up in Israel in the decade following its founding and how the struggle for peace spurred her entry into politics, eventually leading to her role as Israel’s chief negotiator for peace with Palestine.

“I’m not here to open the kind of blame game, who is to blame, because I do believe, even now, after Oct. 7, that the only way forward, if we want to live in peace, is to acknowledge both sides, the legitimate aspiration of both sides, to a state of their own, Israel and the Palestinians,” she said. 

The right strategy for the region, Livni said, should be based on two pillars: to act against terror and those who obstruct peace, and to work with moderates on the Palestinian side and throughout the region.

“Hamas is an obstacle to peace and should be taken aside; and toppling this regime in Gaza is a necessity now, not as a punishment, but because there is no hope for peace with them,” she said. “After the horrors of Oct. 7, while many on the Israeli side believe that there is no hope of peace, that all the Palestinians are the same, when on the other side they see that some parts of the world are going to the extreme, while delegitimatizing the mere existence of the State of Israel, I do believe that there is an opportunity here.”

Livni and Fayyad agreed that a major failure of the last year and a half was that neither side planned for what a post-war government in Gaza might look like. 

The reality is that Hamas is present and reconstituting its prewar government structures in Gaza, Fayyad said.

“You can’t, by wishing it away, make it disappear from the Palestinian body politic. It’s there. It represents a significant point of view among Palestinians. … People ultimately have to decide and make up their own minds as to what works best for them,” he said. “The only way you can beat an ideology that is not compatible with the higher interest of the people you represent is by offering people a competitive ideology, something that really actually can deliver.”

Moving forward, the Palestinians need to collectively define their objectives, Fayyad said.

Credit: Ryan Young/Cornell University

“We have failed, as a matter of fact, to put together a mechanism by which these views, no matter how different they are, can be voiced,” Fayyad said. “But the way can be found in order to make sense out of the collective Palestinian position that can actually pave the way for a government in the way we believe is needed for the benefit of everybody, Israel, Palestinians alike, but also for regional and international security.”

When it comes to finding a peaceful path forward, “leaders matter,” according to Shapiro, who cited the peace agreements between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (the Camp David Accords) in 1978, and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan’s King Hussein (the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty) in 1994.

While a two-state solution once seemed inevitable, it no longer seems so certain and alternatives need to be considered, he said.

“I say that with concern, because I think all of those alternatives are worse,” he said. “But again, in international affairs, you sometimes have to choose the least bad alternative to your preferred option.”

One of the bright spots, he noted, despite the current dark reality, is the prospect of a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. 

“Saudi Arabia would bring a different level of legitimacy and recognition and openness to Israel across much of the Arab and much of the Muslim world,” he said. “It might be the one incentive that could get many Israelis who really, I think, for all the understandable reasons, are not able to have the conversation yet about a two-state solution post-Oct. 7, while hostages are still being held in tunnels in Gaza, while Hamas still is allowed in Gaza, something that really cannot be allowed to persist.”

Likewise, Palestinians who have endured Israel’s military actions in Gaza may not be ready for a quick pivot for peaceful relations, he said. 

Organizers are considering a follow-up event that would give students the chance to learn, discuss and develop strategies for constructive grassroots peacebuilding and community engagement more globally.

A video of the event can be viewed here.