Is the term “Middle East Peace” an oxymoron? After decades of contention, strife and actual warfare, peace remains elusive, perhaps even more so in the current context of the uprisings we are witnessing across northern Africa all the way to the Persian Gulf.

Ambassador Philip Wilcox, president of the Washington-based Foundation for Middle East Peace, will address the topic of a “middle road” to peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis and put it in the context of the wider spirit of unrest. He will speak on Monday, March 21, at St. John the Evangelist’s Kiney Hall, 625 111th St., at 3:45 and 7:30 pm.

Ambassador Wilcox retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in September 1997 after 31 years of service. His overseas assignments include several in East and South Asia. His last overseas post was as Chief of Mission and U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem.

At the State Department, Ambassador Wilcox was, among other things, Director for Regional Affairs in the Bureau for Middle Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Director for Israeli and Arab-Israeli Affairs and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Middle Eastern Affairs. He also served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research and as Ambassador at Large and Coordinator for Counter Terrorism.

Ambassador Wilcox graduated from Williams College with a BA in History in 1958 and obtained an LL.B. from the Stanford Law School in 1961. After law school, Wilcox taught school in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and practiced law for three years in Denver.

He is a graduate of the National War College, and has been awarded the Department of State's Meritorious, Superior, and Presidential Honor Awards. He is a board member of the Middle East Institute and Americans for Near East Refugee Aid and a member of The Washington Institute for Foreign Affairs.

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