Western policymakers have devoted more attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than perhaps any other conflict in modern history. Yet discourse on the conflict consistently overlooks one of its key causes and catalysts: violations of fundamental human rights.
Project Engage is a new and independent initiative based in Washington D.C. that seeks to inject human rights perspectives into policy and popular American discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Project Engage believes that an opportune moment to rewrite United States foreign policy regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict now exists. Shifts in power in the region and abroad create a moment for change. A new and interested US administration, changes in perception within the Jewish Diaspora and a broad consensus that the international community’s policies toward the region have succeeded in making the situation worse, not better, suggest that basic policy assumptions regarding the conflict will be revisited.
Unless human rights perspectives and approaches form the foundation of any future reassessment of policy toward the conflict, however, any new Western policy on Israel-Palestine will likely fail to improve the situation on the ground.
Project Engage does not seek to duplicate or replace any current outreach by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups. Rather, it aims to both complement current efforts and supplement existing resources. This concept note presents a basis for engagement with various organizations and individuals in the region on how Project Engage can best help them effectively communicate and address their needs and concerns to American policymakers and opinion shapers. |
