Former Israeli PM to debate Middle East peace at Yale Political Union
Yale University's debating society will host former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Qudwa.
Olmert and al-Qudwa's peace proposal is rooted in the land-for-peace principle and advocates for a return to pre-1967 borders.
Ehud Olmert, former prime minister of Israel, is scheduled to address the Yale Political Union on the afternoon of Wednesday Oct. 22. He will debate students on the Israel-Palestine conflict alongside former Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser al-Qudwa.
Yale University is Olmert’s latest stop in a string of appearances he has made with al-Qudwa at American colleges and universities. Olmert published a joint proposal for peace with al-Qudwa in 2024 and is undertaking a string of college appearances this semester at schools including the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and Georgetown University.
Olmert served as prime minister of Israel between 2006-2009, immediately preceding current the current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has served multiple non-consecutive terms since 1999.
Originally a member of Likud, Netanyahu’s conservative political party, Olmert became an early joiner of the centrist Kadima party which was newly-founded in 2005 by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. After Sharon’s incapacitation, Olmert became Kadima’s leader.
Nasser al-Qudwa, which is occassionally spelled al-Kidwa by Western media, is a former Palestinian Foreign Minister, longtime ambassador to the United Nations, and nephew of former Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat. In recent years, he has been an outspoken critic of corruption and mismanagement within the Palestinian Authority and Fatah, which governs the West Bank.
Olmert and al-Kudwa’s fall semester speaking engagements align with the 30th anniversary of the Oslo II Accords, which expanded the land-for-peace framework toward a proposed two-state solution. The accord’s progress was severely hindered following the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin later that year.
Olmert and al-Qudwa’s peace proposal is rooted in the land-for-peace principle and calls for creating a Palestinian state roughly along the 1967 borders, with possible land swaps to account for major Israeli settlements.
This provision has perhaps been the most controversial item in peace negotiations for the last 50+ years.
Israel gained significant portions of land after winning the Six-Day War in 1967 which was driven by border clashes, military mobilization, and Egypt’s blockade of the Straits of Tiran.
These lands included the Sinai peninsula, which Israel ceded to Eygpt in return for diplomatic recognition, and East Jerusalem, which still forms part of the Israeli capital.
Fatah has repeatedly called for East Jerusalem to serve as the capital of a future Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders as a core-demand for any peace agreement.
The Yale Political Union, “the oldest and largest collegiate debate society in America,” will host Olmert and al-Qudwa on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 5pm.
