Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa discusses his hope that the Obama administration is committed to solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Moussa advocates for pressuring Israel to halt settlements in the Palestinian territories and to formally back a two-state solution.
Bio
David R. Ignatius
Washington Post columnist associate editor David Ignatius has had a distinguished and wide-ranging career in the news business, serving at various times as a reporter, foreign correspondent, editor and columnist. He has written widely for magazines and published several novels.
Ignatius' twice-weekly column on global politics, economics and international affairs debuted on the Washington Post op-ed page in January 1999. He continued to write weekly after becoming executive editor of the Paris-based International Herald Tribune in September 2000. When the Post sold its interest in the IHT in January 2003, Ignatius resumed writing twice a week for the op-ed page and was syndicated worldwide by the Washington Post Writers Group. His column won the 2000 Gerald Loeb Award for Commentary and a 2004 Edward Weintal Prize.
Prior to becoming a columnist, Ignatius served as the Post's assistant managing editor in charge of business news, foreign editor, and editor of the "Outlook" section. Before joining the Post in 1986, Ignatius spent 10 years as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and was an editor at The Washington Monthly. He has published articles in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Talk Magazine and The Washington Monthly. Ignatius has written seven novels, including 2007's Body of Lies, which was adapted into a Warner Bros. film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.
Raised in Washington, D.C., Ignatius attended Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1973. He received a Frank Knox Fellowship from Harvard and studied at King’s College, Cambridge University, where he received a diploma in economics.
Amr Moussa
Amr Moussa has been the current Secretary-General of the League of Arab States since his election to the position in May 2001. He is a former Egyptian Foreign Minister and diplomat.
He served as Cairo's ambassador to India in 1967 and as Egypt's ambassador to the United Nations in 1990. He was appointed Foreign Minister in the cabinet of then-Prime Minister Atef Sedki in 1991 and remained in this position until 2001.
During his tenure as Foreign Minister, Moussa was critical of the United States foreign policy and its relationship with Israel.
Amr Moussa of the Arab League argues that Israel is only refraining from the peace process because Israel relies on "total protection" by American diplomacy.
Moussa cites the Arab Initiative as proof that "we are ready for peace."
Amr Moussa's argument could be a valid one if there was evidence to support his allegation that Israel has a nuclear weapon. Let the IAEA work along with Mr. Moussa to provide some hard facts about what he alleged.
This is a damn good argument, whether or not it's true. It really does seem like Israel could keep saying "Yeah, uh huh..." while they continue to encroach into Palestinian territory without anyone trying to stop them (except the Palestinians). And yet, obviously Israel can't continue this forever. There's no way they can continue to exist while surrounded by hostile states.