Next Luncheon Meeting: Monday Mar 3,
2014
BOGARTS, 3200 AIRPORT ROAD, BOCA RATON
Gershon Baskin, Ph.D., Author of The Secret
Negotiations
Gershon Baskin, Ph.D., was the initiator and the person
responsible for the secret back channel between Israel and the Hamas that
successfully negotiated the release of Israeli abducted soldier Gilead Schalit.
His book on the secret negotiations was published in Hebrew in June 2013
(לשחרר את גלעד) and in English in October 2013 (The Negotiator – Freeing Gilad
Schalit from Hamas – Toby Press)
From 1988 –
2011, Dr. Baskin was the Israeli Co-Director and founder of the
Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) – a joint
Israeli-Palestinian public policy think and “do”-tank located in
Jerusalem. Since January 2012 he is the Co-Chairman of IPCRI’s
Board of Directors. He initiated the founding of IPCRI in 1988 following ten
years of work in the field of Jewish-Arab relations within Israel, in Interns
for Peace where he lived for two years in the Israeli-Palestinian village of
Kufr Qara, the Ministry of Education and as Executive Director of the Institute
for Education for Jewish-Arab Coexistence (established by the Israeli Ministry
of Education and the Prime Minister’s Office at Baskin’s
initiative).
During the Premiership
of the late Yitzhak Rabin, he served as an advisor on the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process to a secret team of intelligence officers established by Mr.
Rabin. Dr. Baskin was a member of the Jerusalem Experts Committee established
by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office during the Final Status Negotiations in
2000-2001.
Dr. Baskin holds a
Ph.D. in International Affairs from University of Greenwich. His
dissertation was on Sovereignty and Territory in the Future of Jerusalem, parts
of which were published as a bookJerusalem of Peace.
He is a member of the
steering committee of the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum, a member of the
Board of ALLMEP – the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a member of the Editorial
Board of the Palestinian Israeli Journal, and a member of the Board of One
Voice. Dr. Baskin is also a member of the Israeli Council for Peace and
Security. He was a founding chairman of the progressive Synagogue Kehilat Kol
Haneshama in Jerusalem where he served as Chairman for three years.
He has a regular
column in the Jerusalem Post Newspaper and was for two years a radio host on
All for Peace Radio. Dr. Baskin has now also begun writing a bi-weekly
opinion piece on the Palestinian new web site Ma’an News. Dr. Baskin has
been awarded the Histadrut Prize for Peace in 1996, the Turkish Foreign Policy
Institute Peace Prize in 2004, the Tribute of Honor and Courage from the World
Movement for Democracy in 2004 and the Search for Common Ground Journalist
Award for Middle East Journalism in 2005 and 2007 as well as the Ordine Della
Stella Della Solidarieta Italiana. Dr. Baskin speaks Hebrew, English and
Arabic.
Since January 2012 Dr.
Baskin is working to develop renewable energy projects around the Middle East
focusing on Palestine and Egypt. He is also a consultant to the USAID
supported TRADE PROJECT run by Deloitte Consulting aimed at reducing the costs
of Palestinian trade in the West Bank and Gaza.
MEMBERS: $25 in advance; $35 at door
GUESTS: $35 in advance; $45 at door
To reserve register at www.goldcoasttigerbayclub.com
