Tom Nides and the small steps towards peace

• Published date: 27 January 2023

"I am trying to keep the flame going," Tom Nides told The Jerusalem Post during an interview this week in his office

A tall man with a blunt and colorful style of speaking, he has been the United States ambassador for just over a year, at a time when West Bank violence is rising and few Israelis or Palestinians have any hope of resolving the conflict.

Nides said that his goal on a day-to-day basis is not to finalize a peace deal or even to help the parties resume negotiations.

A self-described incrementalist, Nides said his role is to move the situation forward in small steps while keeping hope alive.

"I am not really a big dreamer. I am a practical guy trying to do a practice job, which is really not simple."

Nides spoke with the Post after a visit to Jerusalem by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and an anticipated trip to Israel next week by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

He held fast to the Biden administration's position that now is not the time to launch a peace process, but that it is important to keep the option open and to ensure that conditions exist to allow for two states when the time is right.

"My goal is to try and make sure that we do not do things that preclude that option," Nides said.

He is not focused on attending a grand peace signing ceremony in the White House's Rose Garden, preferring to leave larger policy designs for his superiors.

"That is where my incrementalism comes in," explained Nides, adding that his vision is "not grand. It's not bands and flowers."

"Maybe we will get there at some point, but in the meantime, the blocking and tackling that we are doing every day is what I want to do.

"By the way, it's not easy. You cannot want peace more than the parties want peace," he said.

He bristles at the use of the word "frozen" to describe the peace process, even though US-led talks have not been held since 2014.

"That's your word, not mine," he said.

"Keeping a vision alive is not frozen. Frozen is doing nothing," he said, explaining that he and his staff are working every day to improve the situation on the ground.

"Sometimes your strategy is keeping [the vision] on track.... That is not as simple as you think when the parties are moving to the Right."

Ultimately, he said, he believes Israelis and Palestinians seek the same goals of jobs, healthcare and opportunities for their children and themselves.

To that end, he works on improving conditions in the day-to-day lives of Palestinians, with the Biden...