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In the closing session of the Twenty Years After Madrid conference, former National Security Advisors Zbigniew Brzezinski and Stephen Hadley discussed the current foreign policy challenges the United States faces in addressing the Arab-Israeli conflict and their views of the road ahead.

The question of Syria’s future looms large for policymakers and analysts concerned with the outlook of Arab-Israeli peacemaking. This panel of experts addressed the current uncertainty in Syria, potential outcomes and the implications for the regional environment.

The popular uprisings that began sweeping through the Arab world earlier this year will have significant implications for peacemaking between Arab countries and Israel. This panel explored the challenges and opportunities the parties are now faced with, as well as whether the shifting regional climate will make peace agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors more or less likely.

At the Twenty Years After Madrid conference on November 2, 2011, the below former diplomats and experts participated in Panel IV, titled "U.S. Diplomacy Since Madrid." The panelists discussed the effectiveness of U.S. diplomacy since the Madrid Conference. Topics included the question of whether the conditions are "ripe" for progress and whether that is necessary; the expectations Arab countries have of both the United States and Israel and how the Arab Spring will impact these expectations; and the current dynamics of the relationship between the United States and Israel.

This panel, composed of veteran Middle East diplomats and negotiators discussed the major contributions of Madrid to Arab-Israeli peacemaking; highlighted lessons to be learned from the model of direct face-to-face negotiations reinforced by a multilateral track; and proposed structures and avenues for future negotiations.

An audio recording of the opening remarks and The Hon. James A. Baker III's keynote address at Twenty Years After Madrid.

On September 23, President Mahmoud Abbas submitted an application to the U.N. Secretary-General for Palestine's admission as a full state member of the United Nations. What is needed to move the peace process forward? Is the diplomatic track in sync with the Palestinian state-building effort? What are the options for U.S. policy? On October 7, 2011, the United States Institute of Peace hosted a distinguished panel of discussants to explore these questions.

In a unique opportunity exploring how music and the media serve as platforms to speak out against injustice and for peace, Arab hip hop artists the Narcicyst and Omar Offendum and Iranian hip hop artist Mana performed their latest works and participated in a discussion at USIP with Manal Omar, director of Iraq Programs and Theo Dolan, senior program officer at the Center of Innovation for Media, Conflict, and Peacebuilding.

This event examined the complex nexus between democratic change and U.S. security interests, with a principal focus on Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Yemen.

Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Samuel W. Lewis moderates a panel discussion on the themes of Landrum Bolling's new short film "New Hope for Peace: What America Must Do to End the Israel-Palestine Conflict."