Gershon Baskin

Biography

In his youth, Baskin became involved in the civil rights movement and the anti–Vietnam War movement. In 1978, Baskin received his BA from New York University in the politics and history of the Middle East. In September 1978, he made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) under the auspices of the Interns for Peace program. From 1979 to 1981 he was a community worker in Kafr Qara, a Palestinian Arab village in Israel. In 1982, Baskin served in the Israeli Ministry of Education as coordinator of education for co-existence between the Jewish and Arab school systems. In 1983, under the auspices of the Prime Minister's office and the Ministry of Education, Baskin founded and directed the Institute for Education for Jewish Arab Coexistence, which was funded by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. In March 1988, Baskin founded IPCRI - Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information and served as its co-director until January 2012. In mid-1989, Baskin launched three Israeli-Palestinian working groups: Economics and Business, the Future of Jerusalem, and the water experts working group. In October 1992, Baskin initiated a series of secret meetings in London with former Israeli security officers and Palestinian officials from the PLO. These talks laid down the framework for subsequent security undertaking in the Oslo Accords of September 1993. In 1994, Baskin became an outside adviser on the peace process to a secret team of intelligence officers established by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Baskin, together with other Israelis and Arabs, had worked for years to secure peace between Israelis and Arabs and had many Arab contacts.

Baskin and Gilad Shalit

In July 2006, after Gilad Shalit was abducted in Gaza, Baskin unofficially opened a back channel with Hamas. He became the unofficial intermediary between senior Hamas officials and Israeli envoy David Meidan. Baskin's main interlocutor in Hamas was Deputy Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad. Baskin was involved in efforts to secure Shalit's release for more than five years. Baskin's efforts are detailed in his book The Negotiator: Freeing Gilad Schalit from Hamas.

Continued talks with Hamas

Immediately after Shalit's return, Baskin and Hamad began discussing the possibility of negotiating a long-term ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. On 1 May 2012, Baskin presented the fourth draft of the proposed agreement to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak formed a high level committee, composed of officials from the security establishment, to discuss the proposal. After two months, the committee decided against entering into a formal agreement with Hamas even if, as proposed, it were negotiated and formalized through the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate. In October 2012, Baskin initiated another round of talks to reach a ceasefire—this time with Ahmed Jabari, the head of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, through Hamad. In November 2012, Baskin and Hamad met in Cairo, where they spoke with Egyptian intelligence officers and discussed possible long-term ceasefire arrangements. On 14 November 2012, Hamad met with Jabari and was planning to send a copy of a proposed ceasefire agreement to Baskin but later that day Israel killed Jabari in an air strike and started Operation Pillar of Defense. Baskin and Hamad remain in contact.

Baskin after IPCRI

Since stepping down as co-director of IPCRI on 31 December 2011, Baskin became the co-chairman of the Board of IPCRI. He is also a member of the steering committee of the Israeli Palestinian Peace NGO Forum, a member of the Board of Directors of ALLMEP – the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a member of the Israeli Board of One Voice Movement, and a member of the editorial committee of the Palestine Israel Journal. In 2012 Baskin was a library fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. He also began to advance renewable energy projects in the Palestinian Authority in association with local Palestinian partners and Gigawatt Global, a Dutch renewable energy company developing solar energy in emerging markets. He has also begun developing renewable energy projects in Egypt. In 2013 Baskin began working as a consultant to a USAID project through Deloitte Emerging Markets, The Trade Project, aimed at developing the Palestinian private sector, increasing trade and decreasing the cost of trade.

Awards

Baskin has been awarded:

Publications (books)

Baskin has published thousands of oped articles in many publications.