Former United States Ambassador to Israel Dennis Ross addressed the history of the U.S. relationship with Israel and explored possible future trajectories in a lecture hosted by The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona on April 6.
Ross spoke at the Jeffrey Plevan Memorial Lecture, endowed by Betsy and Ken Plevan to honor the memory of their son. A graduate of the University of Arizona with a major in history and a minor in Judaic Studies, Jeff passed away in 2013 at the age of 38. Modern Israel was a very important topic to him, and each year the lecture is aimed at shedding light on areas of study that interested Jeff.
This year’s lecture “The Past, The Present and Future of U.S.-Israel Relations,” was presented by Ambassador Ross, one of the world’s leading experts on U.S. policy in the Middle East and U.S.-Israel relations.
Ross, the author of Doomed to Succeed: The U.S.-Israel Relationship from Truman to Obama, contextualized the relationship between the U.S. and Israel against the historical and political backdrop of the American administrations’ involvements in the Middle East. The Ambassador sought to predict where the U.S.-Israel relationship might go in the near future based on the policies and behaviors of regional and global actors.
The lecture took place in the UA’s new Environment and Natural Resources Phase 2 building. A free reception hosted by the Plevan family was held in Jeff’s honor in the courtyard of the building prior to the talk. Over 200 people attended.
Ed Wright, director of The Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, noted that it was a great honor to have Ambassador Ross as this year’s Plevan lecturer, as he brings three decades of experience as one of the people who was at the table when important negotiations were conducted regarding Middle East peace.
Ross served as the director of policy planning in the State Department under President George H.W. Bush, as the Middle East peace envoy to President Bill Clinton and as a special assistant to President Barack Obama. Ross is now the William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a distinguished professor in the practice of diplomacy at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.
