Secretary of State John Kerry named Martin Indyk, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, as his special envoy on Middle East peace just hours before talks resumed in Washington on July 29 after a three-year break.
During the Oslo peace talks in the 1990s, Indyk served twice as President Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Israel and once as top Middle East peace envoy.
Indyk said his passion for Middle East peace had its roots in the time he spent in Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the shuttle diplomacy of Henry Kissinger, then secretary of state, to bring an end to the war.
Indyk came to the United States from Australia in 1982 to work for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He helped found the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. — jta