Diplomatic Dialogues: U.S. Diplomacy in the Israel-Palestine Conflict: Lessons from Past Engagements

Join us for a Diplomatic Dialogue on U.S. Diplomacy in the Israel-Palestine Conflict: Lessons from Past Engagements featuring Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and the Syrian Arab Republic, Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian, and Former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway, Ambassador Barry B. White.

About Ambassador Edward P. Djerejian

The Honorable Edward P. Djerejian’s Foreign Service career spanned eight U.S. administrations, from John F. Kennedy to William J. Clinton. Prior to his nomination as U.S. ambassador to Israel, he was assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs in both the George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. He was previously the U.S. ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic. He also served as special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and as deputy press secretary for foreign affairs in the White House. Following his retirement from government service, Djerejian became the founding director of Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

He is the author of “Danger and Opportunity: An American Ambassador’s Journey Through 
the Middle East.” He has been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award; the Department of State’s Distinguished Honor Award; the Ellis Island Medal of Honor; the Anti-Defamation League’s Moral Statesman Award; the Award for Humanitarian Diplomacy from Netanya Academic College in Israel; the National Order of the Cedar, bestowed by President Émile Lahoud of Lebanon; the Order of Ouissam Alaouite, bestowed by King Mohammed VI of Morocco; and the Order of Honor, bestowed by President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia. He is also a recipient of the Association of Rice Alumni’s Gold Medal for his service to Rice University.

Djerejian is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a member of the board of trustees of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

About Ambassador Barry B. White

Ambassador Barry B. White is an experienced and very successful senior leader and manager in both the public and private sectors. He served with distinction as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway/ Chief of Mission of the Embassy in Oslo from October 2009 until September 2013. He placed emphasis on increasing bilateral relationships between Norwegian and U.S. business, commercial and educational leaders and institutions with commercial, business and educational interests in Norway and the Nordic region. In particular, he worked with the oil and gas, health care, environmental, shipping and fisheries industries and numerous institutions of higher education in the U.S. and Norway and, following his service, continues to maintain business relationships with Norwegian entities.

Prior to his service as Ambassador, he was an associate (5 years) and partner (35 years) for a total of 40 years at Foley Hoag LLP, a major law firm in Boston; he served for over 13 years as the Chairman and Managing Partner. As the elected leader of the firm, he demonstrated particular skills in organizational management, structuring, entrepreneurship, and mergers and acquisitions of law firms and lawyers, with overall responsibility for bottom-line profit and interpersonal relations. He was the primary architect of a major reorganization/restructuring of the firm that led to significant growth and profitability and had the foresight to relocate the firm’s offices to a new and untested area of Boston that is now a thriving business and commercial part of the city.

Ambassador White has been involved in numerous community and political activities. He currently is the Chair of the Massachusetts Association for Mental Health, the Vice Chair and Treasurer of the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, the President of the Harvard Law School Association of Massachusetts and on the Advisory Boards of Foreign Policy for America and Pathfinder International. He has served as the Secretary, General Counsel and on the Executive Committee of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and as a director of Massachusetts Alliance for International Business and the Boston Municipal Research Bureau. He was on the Board of the Northeastern University School of Public Policy, and the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine, and Edgewater Technologies, Inc. He also served as a board member and Chair of Lex Mundi, the world’s largest association of independent law firms, with members in more than 150 US states and countries in the world.

Ambassador White served as the Chair of the Presidential Election Campaign of Senator Paul Tsongas in 1991-1992 and on the national finance committees for, and as chair or co-chair of New England Lawyers for, Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Barack Obama. He served on the finance committee for Hillary Clinton for President.

Ambassador White is currently active in political fundraising and strategy for several candidates in the 2024 election cycle. He provides expert strategic business consulting to both domestic and international businesses, serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards of directors, and speaks on a variety of topics relating to international business, entrepreneurship, innovation, and diplomacy.

He is a graduate of Harvard College, magna cum laude, and Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. He served as a Commissioned Officer in the US Public Health Service from 1967-69.

He has been married to Eleanor White, an expert in affordable housing, since 1967; they have three sons, 2 granddaughters, and a grandson.

Co-sponsor: Harvard Law School Association of Massachusetts