Talking With the Enemy

Alastair Crooke is considered the foremost international expert on Hamas. As EU Security Envoy under Javier Solana during the Second Intifada Crooke mediated with all the Palestinian political and armed factions, including ending the Bethlehem Church of the Nativity siege. Crooke worked for more than two decades in the broader Middle East region, including as a member of the Senator Mitchell Fact Finding Committee and a negotiator between Israeli security forces and Palestinian factions such as Hamas. Today, Alastair Crooke is a co-director of the Conflicts Forum, an organization which seeks to engage the West with political Islam, and is currently conducting an intensive dialogue with the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, Jamaat e-Islami (of Pakistan), and the Muslim Brotherhood.

As the term "Islamo-fascist" invades the political lexicon, as Hezbollah rallies a quarter of the Lebanese population, and as the question of a Hamas-led Palestinian National Unity Government hangs in the balance, you are invited to a unique opportunity to discuss these issues with a practitioner and expert unrivaled in his experience in dealing with those considered beyond the pale. Can the West deal with political Islam? Are there still negotiated political solutions to be made?

Participants

• Alastair Crooke
  Former EU Middle East Security Envoy
  Co-Director of Conflicts Forum

Moderator:

• Daniel Levy
  Director, Middle East Policy Initiative
  Senior Fellow, New America Foundation