DAVID MAKOVSKY JOINS THE RAT PACK
D.C. think tank’s David Makovsky joins State Dept. peace team
David Makovsky, a scholar at a think tank with close ties
to the U.S. and Israeli governments, was named to the U.S. State Department’s
burgeoning Israeli-Palestinian peace-brokering team.
The news of Makovsky’s appointment was broken Monday by Al-Monitor, a Middle
East news website, and then confirmed by his employer, the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy, and a State Department official.
Makovsky will be a senior adviser to Martin Indyk, who leads the team.
He will be on leave from the Washington Institute, an influential outfit
that employs as experts top officials from past Republican and Democratic
administrations. The institute also has hosted an array of top Israelis as
guest scholars, as well as some from other Middle Eastern countries.
Indyk has expanded his team from two, when he assumed the post of top Middle
East negotiator in July, to eight.
The expansion is seen as a sign of Secretary of State John Kerry’s
determination to bring about a final status agreement. Kerry was behind the
push that renewed talks in July following a three-year lull.
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