Ambassador to speak at Virginia Tech on the issue of Palestine/Israel and a "new way forward"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 2, 2007 -- News Advisory:

WHAT: Palestinian Awareness @ Virginia Tech (PAVT) and the Initiative for Middle East Policy Dialogue (IMEPD) www.imepd.org present: "Palestine: Forging Peace, Resisting Apartheid"

WHEN: Monday, February 5th, 7PM to 9PM.

WHERE: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA � Squires Colonial Hall

Featuring:

Ambassador Robert V. Keeley, U.S. Ambassador (ret.) and 34-year Foreign Service Officer
Dr Basel Saleh, Assistant Professor of Economics, Radford University

Dr Steve Salaita, Assistant Professor of English, Virginia Tech and author of Anti-Arab Racism in the USA: Where it Comes From and What It Means for Politics Today
In President Jimmy Carter's NY Times best seller, Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid, the former President and Nobel Laureate describes the colonization of Palestinian lands as the chief impediment toward a comprehensive and sustainable solution in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Recently the Iraq Study Group concluded in the Baker-Hamilton report that a renewed U.S. commitment to the Palestinian-Israeli issue is of cardinal importance to the stability of Iraq and the region as a whole.

The common thread among policy experts on the Middle East is that a just and permanent solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the foundation toward securing stability for the Middle East.

On Monday February 5th, Ambassador Robert V. Keeley will be outlining a new agenda for achieving this comprehensive solution, in the form of a new policy approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the wider region. With a 34-year career in the Foreign Service of the United States, Ambassador Keeley has a keen understanding of the importance of dialogue and strategic adaptation in policymaking.

Ambassador Keeley recently traveled to the Middle East to meet with officials from the democratically-elected Palestinian government along with other Arab leaders. Ambassador Keeley returned with calls to the Bush Administration for increased diplomacy of the isolated Arab governments and states, and urged the Administration to engage Palestinian and Israeli leaders in necessary dialogue. At Virginia Tech Ambassador Keeley will discuss these experiences and other policy proposals toward achieving stability in the region.


Also speaking will be Dr Steve Salaita, author of Anti-Arab Racism in the U.S., who will be outlining causes for American misconceptions about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and Dr Basel Saleh, Assistant Professor Economics at Radford University, who will give an analysis of the economic impact of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

This event is of symbolic importance to this newly revealed importance of the necessary dialogue needed in bringing about a viable solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. While this issue has been long-standing, unrest has manifested as a result of the troubled foreign policies which have beleaguered the region for decades, this event will outline a "new way forward" for Palestine, and the region as a whole.