Many PON-affiliated faculty have been at the forefront of scholarship and policy on Middle East issues. Herbert Kelman ^[1], Professor of Social Ethics, Emeritus, at Harvard University, has written extensively on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and previously convened high-level, off-the-record meetings between senior members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israeli policymakers and academics. His belief that military conflict had proven incapable of resolving the seemingly intractable problem of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict led him to suggest new negotiating strategies ^[2] which might produce a breakthrough. In a recent Op-Ed ^[3] in the Boston Globe,  Kelman said that despite the lack of a breakthrough in negotiations, the United States should take the lead on drafting a resolution recognizing a Palestinian state, with certain conditions.