Professor Kenneth W. Stein of Emory University delivered the 2017 Feinberg Lecture, Arab-Israeli Negotiations: Why they worked in the ’70s but not now. His expertise focuses on American foreign policy to the Middle East, Arab politics, the origins of modern Israel, and Arab-Israeli negotiations.
Taking place in the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts, Stein’s lectured painted a picture of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the 1970s and what role the U.S. played. He pointed to specific examples and key players such as Presidents Richard Nixon ’34, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter. He drew comparison between those negotiations and the current situation in the Middle East, which illustrates how the struggle has evolved, with embedded struggles remaining unchanged.
“The lecture gave me a lot to think about regarding politics,” said Psychology Major KamRon Perry ’18. “It was amazing to learn about the past and see how it continues to shape our present.”
Stein has been at Emory since 1977 and teaches contemporary Middle Eastern history, political science, and Israeli studies. He has authored four books, including the 1999 publication, Heroic Diplomacy, which remains one of several key books on the Egyptian-Israeli negotiations of the 1970’s. He is also the founder and current director of the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel and president of the Center for Israel Education. Founded in 2007, the Center holds seminars, learning workshops, and curriculum writing and has enriched knowledge and learning related to Israel for more than 2,300 Jewish teachers and rabbis.
Stein directed the Carter Center from 1983 through 1986, where he advised President Carter on the Middle East. He remained Middle East Fellow at the Carter Center for many years and resigned in 2006.
The Feinberg Lecture Series is made possible through an endowment established by the late Sheldon Feinberg, a former trustee of Whittier College, and his wife, Betty, in order to invite major scholars to the College to discuss broad historic, religious, and political issues encompassed by Judaism and its role in a changing world.
