Rami G. Khouri at PostGlobal

Rami G Khouri

Beirut, Lebanon

Rami George Khouri is a Palestinian-Jordanian and U.S. citizen whose family resides in Beirut, Amman, and Nazareth. He is editor at large, and former executive editor, of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper, published throughout the Middle East with the International Herald Tribune. An internationally syndicated political columnist and book author, he is also the first director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut, and also serves as a nonresident senior fellow at the Kennedy School of Harvard University and the Dubai School of Government. He was awarded the Pax Christi International Peace Prize for 2006. He teaches annually at American University of Beirut, University of Chicago and Northeastern University. He has been a fellow and visiting scholar at Harvard University, Mount Holyoke College, Syracuse University and Stanford University, and is a member of the Brookings Institution Task Force on US Relations with the Islamic World. He is a Fellow of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (Jerusalem), and a member of the Leadership Council of the Harvard University Divinity School. He also serves on the board of the East-West Institute, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University (USA), and the Jordan National Museum. He was editor-in-chief of the Jordan Times for seven years and for 18 years he was general manager of Al Kutba, Publishers, in Amman, Jordan, where he also served as a consultant to the Jordanian tourism ministry on biblical archaeological sites. He has hosted programs on archeology, history and current public affairs on Jordan Television and Radio Jordan, and often comments on Mideast issues in the international media. He has BA and MSc degrees respectively in political science and mass communications from Syracuse University, NY, USA. Close.

Rami G Khouri

Beirut, Lebanon

Rami George Khouri is a Palestinian-Jordanian and U.S. citizen whose family resides in Beirut, Amman, and Nazareth. He is editor at large, and former executive editor, of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper. more »

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April 2008 Archives



April 4, 2008 9:00 AM

Give Politics a Chance to Counter Violence

The US and Israel absolutely should engage and negotiate with Hamas, just as the US, UK and Irish engaged with the IRA, which was viewed by them all as a terrorist group. The terror in northern Ireland ended when political talks resolved the conflict. The same is likely to happen with Israel and Palestine. Hamas is a major and legitimate player and was also democratically elected. It cannot be avoided.

Its unsavory behavior, such as suicide bombings, must be addressed in a wider context that comprises two crucial elements: 1) Hamas and the Palestinian people must see that they can achieve their legitimate goals (i.e., the goals that are universally accepted) via diplomacy rather than military resistance and attacks, and, 2) the criminal acts of Hamas must be judged alongside the criminal acts of the state of Israel or Israeli rogue terrorists among the settlers. It is hypocritical to shun Hamas because of its military actions when the US negotiated with the Viet Cong, the IRA and others who were equally violent or killed Americans.

Hamas' offer of a long-term truce seems like a no-brainer for Israelis, who should jump on it and call Hamas' bluff.


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