Despite President Barack Obama's rhetoric, most Arabs still see America through the prism of pain of the Arab-Israeli conflict, says Shibley Telhami, and a majority of Arabs and Israelis no longer believe peace is possible. Both the Arabs and the Israelis need to put public opinion aside and build an agreement. Shibley Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and non-resident senior fellow at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution.
Shibley Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, College Park, and non-resident senior fellow at the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution. Before coming to the University of Maryland, he taught at several universities, including Cornell University, and Princeton University. Telhami has served as advisor to the U.S. Mission to the UN (1990-91), advisor to former Congressman Lee Hamilton, and as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Trilateral U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian Anti-Incitement Committee, which was mandated by the Wye River Agreements. He also served on the Iraq Study Group as a member of the Strategic Environment Working Group. He has contributed to The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times and regularly appears on national and international radio and television. He has served on the U.S. Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World, which was appointed by the Department of State at the request of Congress, and he co-drafted the report of their findings, Changing Minds, Winning Peace. His publications include The Stakes: America and the Middle East and Power and Leadership in International Bargaining: The Path to the Camp David Accords.