On October 6th, ATFP Advocacy Director participated in a forum organized by J-Street and held at Temple Sinai entitled "Who are the Partners for Peace? Palestinian Perspectives: A Discussion with the American Jewish Community". In addition to Mr. Al-Omari, the panel included Dr. Amal Jadou, Deputy Chief of Mission of the General Delegation of the PLO to the U.S. and Amjad Atallah, Co-Director of the Middle East Task Force, New America Foundation, and was moderated by Amb. Martin Indyk, Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution.

Mr. Al-Omari focused on the institution-building project undertaken by the Palestinian Authority. He expanded on the internal Palestinian aspects and benefits of this project, as well as the way in which it interacts with the peace process. In particular, institution building can provide sustained progress as the negotiations go through inevitable turbulence, it can support a peace deal through laying down the infrastructure for a future Palestinian state, and it can serve as a safety net and protect against collapse in case of an impasse in negotiations. He concluded by advocating convergence between the negotiations and state building as the best recipe towards achieving a two-state solution.