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United States Institute of Peace

Robert Barron

Senior Program Officer, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Egypt and the Levant

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Robert Barron is a senior program officer for the Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Egypt and the Levant program at USIP. In this role, he manages a portfolio of policy research, track II dialogue and peacebuilding projects.

Prior to joining USIP, Barron served as policy assistant to the director of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, where he managed and contributed to the institute’s research on the Middle East and served on the institute’s executive leadership team. Before that, he worked as journalist and editor in Cairo, Egypt, and also spent time working on economic development there.

Barron holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas A&M University.

Publications By Robert

Robert Barron on the Next Phase of the Israel-Hamas Cease-fire

Robert Barron on the Next Phase of the Israel-Hamas Cease-fire

Wednesday, January 22, 2025

By: Robert Barron

With phase one of the cease-fire underway, the next major question to be answered is: “What would fill [the] governance void in Gaza going forward,” says USIP’s Robert Barron, adding that the Trump administration might consider “a new version of the Abraham Accords that has a Gaza component.”

Type: Podcast

Israel, Hamas Reach Gaza Cease-fire Deal: What Happens Now?

Israel, Hamas Reach Gaza Cease-fire Deal: What Happens Now?

Thursday, January 16, 2025

By: Robert Barron

On January 15, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani announced that a cease-fire agreement — mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States — had been reached between Hamas and Israel to pause fighting in Gaza and begin a series of steps to end of the war. The agreement — the text of which has yet to be released, and which is expected to begin Sunday — details three phases toward immediate humanitarian relief, hostage and prisoner exchange, redeployment of Israeli forces, and negotiations toward a longer-term end-of-hostilities and reconstruction of Gaza.

Type: Question and Answer

Jimmy Carter and the Unfinished Business of the Camp David Accords

Jimmy Carter and the Unfinished Business of the Camp David Accords

Monday, January 6, 2025

By: Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen;  Ambassador Hesham Youssef;  Robert Barron

President Jimmy Carter’s passing has prompted many reflections on his life and legacy. Few of Carter’s achievements have had as lasting an impact as the 1978 Camp David Accords. Between 1948 and 1978, Egypt and Israel had known nothing but waves of violence and stalemate. After Camp David, the Israeli-Egyptian relationship that was once a key threat to Middle East security became a resilient cornerstone of regional stability.

Type: Analysis

What’s Next for Israel, Iran and Prospects for a Wider Middle East War?

What’s Next for Israel, Iran and Prospects for a Wider Middle East War?

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

By: Garrett Nada;  Robert Barron

Early Saturday morning in Tehran, Israel carried out what it called a series of “precise and targeted” airstrikes on Iranian military targets. This was the latest in a series of direct exchanges between Isarel and Iran in recent months. Israel Defense Forces struck 20 sites, including air defense batteries and radar, factories for missile and drone production, and weapons and aircraft launch sites. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the attack had "severely damaged Iran’s defense capability and its ability to produce missiles.” The Iranian government announced the deaths of four military personnel and one civilian, but otherwise took a more measured response than might be expected.

Type: Question and Answer

A Year After October 7, the Middle East Crisis Has No End in Sight

A Year After October 7, the Middle East Crisis Has No End in Sight

Thursday, October 10, 2024

By: Robert Barron;  Caroline Dibble;  Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen

The grim anniversary of Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel and the ensuing war brought little respite for memorialization and healing from the enormity of loss with which Israeli and Palestinian societies have been grappling. More than 100 of the over 250 Israeli and foreign hostages abducted that day into Gaza are estimated to remain in captivity, with only 64 presumed still alive; upward of 42,000 Gazans have been killed in the ongoing war, most of the enclave’s population has been repeatedly displaced, and damage and humanitarian devastation is widespread. A multi-front war that has simmered since that day is now poised to boil over with catastrophic potential for the region.

Type: Question and Answer

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