Wednesday, September 13, 2:00 PM EDT

Join Jim to discuss this week's column, "I Supported Oslo Because It Shattered a Taboo." Oslo opened the White House doors to Arab Americans, normalizing for the first time our relationship with government. Vice President Al Gore launched a project to bring the economic benefits of peace to Palestinians. Invited to join the board - on equal terms - were 75 Jewish American and 75 Arab American (mostly Palestinian American) business leaders. There were frequent meetings with the President, Vice President, and Secretaries of State and Commerce. The community was given the respect it deserved and had for too long been denied. And while our foes continued to oppose us and made efforts to exclude us, the doors, once opened, could not easily be closed.

Thirty years later, those breakthroughs may seem to pale in the face of the enormity of the sufferings still endured by Palestinians. But seen in the American political context, they were important and not to be dismissed.

In the end, Oslo did fail. And while the fingers of blame can point in many directions, ultimately it was the refusal of the US to assume its responsibility as guarantor of the process that is the main reason for the disaster the Israeli-Palestinian arena has become.

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Read this week’s column: I Supported Oslo Because It Shattered a Taboo (aaiusa.org)