Dennis Ross
Dennis Ross (born 16 November 1948) is a veteran Israel lobbyist who has served in the Obama Administration as a Special assistant to the president and senior director of the Central Region at the National Security Council since June 2009. He formerly served as a Sspecial Middle East Coordinator in the Clinton Administration, responsible for mediating the peace negotiations between the Israelis as Palestinians. According to Aaron David Miller, one of his subordinates, he and his team frequently served as 'Israel's lawyers.'[1] While serving at the Pentagon in the Carter administration, he also co-authored a study with Paul Wolfowitz which debuted the idea of Iraq as a military threat to the United States.[2]
Scuttling the Peace Process
According to multiple sources Ross acted as a staunch advocate for Israel during the Oslo peace process, at times sabotaging the negotiations. Yet, in an interview with the New York Times Magazine at the end of his tenure with the Clinton Administration, he laid all the blame on Yasir Arafat. The interview also occassioned this frank admission:
- 'My Jewishness has added to my sense of mission,' he says. And he is an ardent supporter of Israel, where he has vacationed with his family. 'I don't believe you'll ever produce peace in the Middle East, he says, if Israel isn't strong and if there isn't a strong relationship between the United States and Israel.'[3]
Affiliations
- Washington Institute for Near East Policy - Ziegler fellow
- Project for the New American Century - Signatory
- Jewish People Policy Planning Institute - Board member
Publications
- Myths, Illusions, and Peace—Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East - co-authored with David Makovsky, the former executive editor of Jerusalem Post, who took up Israeli citizenship before joining WINEP as a senior fellow. (Makovsky's brother Michael Makovsky served in Douglas Feith's notorious Office of Special Plans).
Resources
- Rightweb Dennis Ross
- Clyde Haberman, Dennis Ross's Exit Interview, New York Times Magazine, 25 March 2001
Notes
- ↑ Aaron David Miller, Israel's Lawyer, Washington Post, 23 May 2005
- ↑ James Mann, The Rise of the Vulcans (Penguin 2004), pp.77-82
- ↑ Clyde Haberman, Dennis Ross's Exit Interview, New York Times Magazine, 25 March 2001
