Former U.S. State Department Middle East Coordinator Ambassador Dennis B. Ross said Wednesday night that a diplomatic solution can still be found to conflicts in the Middle East.

Ross received the Jit Trainor Award, which was established in 1978 to honor “Distinction in the Conduct of Diplomacy.” Ross is the 20th recipient of the award.

Following an introduction by Max Kampelman, the Chairman of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, a 1988 recipient of the award, Ross delivered an address entitled “Can Diplomacy Still work in the Middle East?”

“The short answer,” joked Ross, “is yes. Any questions?”

Ross is an expert on Middle Eastern politics, and played an integral role in U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process during the Clinton Administration, including brokering of the Hebron Accord of 1997.

Ross said the situation in the Middle East does not make diplomacy impossible. Direct diplomacy can be implemented once the two sides have “crossed the threshold” of “mutual recognition,” as Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization did in Oslo in 1993.

According to Ross, although there are extremist factions on both sides who believe that violence is an alternative to diplomacy, a long-term solution must be achieved peacefully.

“Violence will only delay the day when [the Israelis and the Palestinians] can achieve their ends,” he said.

He emphasized that the pursuit of peace has “survived unbelievable threats, trauma and crises” since 1993 in the form of bombings, civilian killings, assassinations and long standing attitudes of hostility on both sides.

Due to relatively rapid changes in the political climates of both the United States and Israel, Ross stressed the importance of timing in the successful negotiation of a peace settlement.

“It was made very clear that if President Clinton wasn’t going to succeed, a new administration wasn’t going to continue,” he said. “Arafat couldn’t do it, now he has an Israeli government that won’t do it,” referring to current difficulties

However, despite ongoing challenges to the peace process and recent stagnation of negotiations, the Ross stressed the potential positive outcomes of a diplomatic solution.

“If you can’t solve the conflict, you focus on what you can do,” he said.

Ross said that the focus of diplomatic efforts now is to facilitate an environment where constructive progress toward peace can be made. This means restoring trust on both sides, he said, by establishing a code of conduct to change the current feelings of “fear, frustration and anger” into hope. He believes that a large part of the United States’ considerable brokering role in the process is based on trust from both sides.

“The capability we had was based on how both sides perceived us,” he said.

Ross said he believes that it is best for the United States to “take a step back,” because too much American influence could “upset the balance.”

“It is right for [the United States] to assume the role of a facilitator, and not take over the negotiations,” he said.

As a facilitator, American diplomats can achieve important objectives, such as changing the position on the ground, and the economic situation, which has worsened in the past years.

“We may be at a point where we have not seen the worst. But diplomacy, by definition, has a role that it can play,” he said. “At the end of the day, I remain an optimist. But I argue that it is not optimism, but realism.”

The Trainor Award has recognized leaders and visionaries in foreign policy since 1978, when it was instituted along with the Trainor Lecture Series. Both of these are supported by donations from School of Foreign Service alumni to commemorate J. Raymond “Jit” Trainor. Trainor was among the first graduates from the School of Foreign Service in the early 1920s. He joined the faculty upon completion of his master’s degree in 1928, and continued on in various positions until his retirement in 1956.