Expert Background Talk with Danny Seidemann on Middle East Peace Process

The ECFR Berlin office had the pleasure to host Israel’s key expert on the “Jerusalem question”, Danny Seidemann, founder and director of Terrestrial Jerusalem (TJ), an Israeli NGO that promotes an Israeli- Palestinian permanent peace agreement by working to ensure that an agreement is possible on the issue of Jerusalem.

Mr. Seidemann shared his insights in the current peace negotiations and expressed his surprise at the fact how well they are going when no one thought that Kerry would get the two sides to convene at the table in the first place. Meanwhile, he warned that if settlements continue to be built at the same speed that they are now, what is referred to in Israel as “spatial shaping” might destroy the mere possibility of a two state solution. On the role of the EU, Mr. Seidemann thinks the EU could put more pressure on Netanyahu’s government in order to increase the prize of failed negotiations.