Institute History

The Institute for Middle East Peace & Development was established by President Stephen P. Cohen in 1979 at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York with the help of then U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. At the urging of Moshe Dayan, the Israeli Foreign Minister at that time, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Boutros Boutros Ghali, Dr. Stephen P. Cohen founded the Institute to serve as a venue for confidential, Track II Arab-Israeli dialogue. The Institute created the Business Group for Middle East Peace & Development, the first group of prominent Arab and Jewish businessmen cooperating on political and economic efforts in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Institute was also a pioneer in bringing together major social scientists from Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian universities for collaborative research, including the groundbreaking Images in Conflict Project. At the Institute, Dr. Cohen convened the first secret official negotiations between Israel and the PLO in mid 1980's, years before Oslo, under the supervision of Chairman Arafat and Shimon Peres. In recent years, he has also been organizing confidential discussions with Syria's leadership. The Institute is a registered charity in Canada and an independent 501(c)(3) in the United States.