Beyond Escalation: Redefining Security and Peacemaking in the Post-October 7 Middle East
Friday, November 6 | 8:30am - 4:00pm
Rapaporte Treasure Hall and Online
Register for Attendance
The Middle East is undergoing a profound reconfiguration. The October 7, 2023 attacks and the wars that followed have not only devastated lives and communities; they have unsettled regional alliances, challenged established security arrangements, exposed limits to American influence, and transformed attitudes toward Israel, Palestine, and the prospects for peace. Nothing in the region appears sustainable as before.
Beyond Escalation brings together leading scholars and former policymakers to ask what comes next. Can a more stable regional order emerge from today’s upheaval? What international, regional, and domestic forces will shape its trajectory? What kind of security and economic architecture could support cooperation rather than recurring conflict? And, above all, can any lasting regional order be built without resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at its core?
Conference Schedule
8:30 AM — Opening Remarks
Gary Samore, Professor of the Practice of Politics and Crown Family Director at Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies
9:00-11:00 AM — Setting the Scene for Peacebuilding: Today’s International and Regional Conditions
Chair: Nathan Brown, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University
The US, NATO, China, and Russia and the Evolving Global Balance of Power: Steven Simon, Senior Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and Distinguished Fellow and Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College
American and Global Public Opinion on the Arab-Israeli Conflict and the War with Iran: Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development, Distinguished Scholar-Teacher, and Director of the University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll
The Regional Arab Environment and the Regional Balance of Power: Abdel Monem Said Aly, CEO of Al Masry Al Youm Publishing House and Senior Fellow at Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies
Iran and the Axis of Resistance: Marsin Alshamary, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Boston College
11:15 AM - 1:15 PM — Domestic Conditions in the Relevant Regional Powers
Chair: Shai Feldman, the Raymond Frankel Chair on Israeli Politics and Society at Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies
The Israeli Domestic Scene: Dahlia Scheindlin, Fellow at The Century Foundation, Tel Aviv
The Palestinian Domestic Scene: Khalil Shikaki, Professor of Political Science and director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and Senior Fellow at Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies
The Domestic Scene in Iran: Naghmeh Sohrabi, the Charles (Corky) Goodman Professor of Middle East History and the Director for Research at Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies
The Domestic Scene in the US and its Impact on the ME and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: William Galston, Senior Fellow and Ezra K. Zilkha Chair in the Governance Studies Program at the Brookings Institution
2:00-4:00 PM — The Peacebuilding Architecture in the Middle East and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Chair: Tarik Yousef, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs
An Optimal Regional Security Architecture: Paul Salem, Senior Non-Resident Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Optimal Regional Economic Integration: Nader Habibi, the Henry J. Leir Professor of Practice in the Economics of the Middle East at Brandeis University’s Crown Center for Middle East Studies
Integrating Israel in a Regional Security Architecture: Daniel Sobelman, Professor of International Relations at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel and Faculty Affiliate with the Middle East Initiative at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Political Integration-Arab-Israeli Normalization: Danny Citrinovich, Senior Researcher in the Iran and the Shi'ite Axis Program at the Institute for National Security Studies
