### Owens' Commitment To Mideast Peace Should Inspire Others

January 29, 2003\
*By Rep. David Price,\
Special to Roll Call*\
![](media/image1.png){width="1.0416666666666666e-2in"
height="9.375e-2in"}\
*Editor's note: A memorial service will be held for former Rep. Wayne
Owens (D-Utah) at 3 p.m. today in Room B-338 of the Rayburn House Office
Building.*

At a time when prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian peace have receded
dangerously and bold leadership is in short supply, the death of former
Rep. Wayne Owens (D-Utah), president of the Center for Middle East Peace
and Economic Cooperation, is a devastating blow. Those who wish to
advance the cause of peace can take instruction as well as inspiration
from the way Owens went about his work.

Owens, 64, collapsed and died of a heart attack while walking on a beach
in Tel Aviv on Dec. 18. The previous evening he had bade Rep. Jim Davis
(D-Fla.) and me farewell after seven intense days of travel through the
Middle East. Our shock and sorrow upon hearing the news a mere 24 hours
after we had parted in the airport were acute. These emotions were
widely shared among Owens' many friends, the Utah constituents he served
during two distinguished stints in the House, and the admirers of his
path-breaking work since 1989 with the center.

Owens' personal and political background hardly pointed to a career in
Mideast diplomacy. He gave six years of service to the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, including work as a missionary in France.
In the 1960s, he served on the staffs of Sens. Frank Moss (D-Utah),
Robert Kennedy (D-N.Y.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass). He gave up his
House seat for an unsuccessful Senate race in 1974 and again in 1992.
But in the meantime he had found what came to be his true calling, drawn
to the Middle East by his experience on the then-House Foreign Affairs
Committee, his vision of what a small, independent and creative
organization might achieve in this political and policy thicket, and his
friendship with Daniel Abraham, co-founder and financier of the Center
for Middle East Peace.

Owens, Abraham and the various Middle East hands and political leaders
working with the center were actively involved in discussions that
helped bring the relevant parties to the 1991 Madrid Conference. They
then found numerous ways of encouraging the Israeli-Syrian and
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations of the 1990s. Owens was haunted by the
knowledge of how close to resolution those efforts had come, only to
collapse into distrust and violence. He had few illusions about the
obstacles to getting peace negotiations back on track. Still he
persevered, always looking for the openings, the confluences of
interest, the glimmers of hope that could be acted and built upon. He
was one of the most determined and dedicated persons I have ever known.

Owens' approach was mirrored in the trip we took in December. We met
with the heads of state in Syria, Lebanon and Israel, demonstrating
again the remarkable access and the relationships of respect Owens and
the center had developed across the political spectrum in Israel, in the
Palestinian community and in most Arab states. But many of our visits
were more narrowly targeted to learn about and to encourage promising
initiatives, an approach necessitated by the collapse of the peace
process.

For example, we met in Cairo with Chief of Intelligence Gen. Omar
Seuliman regarding the next round of cease-fire talks to be brokered by
Egypt among Hamas, Fatah and possibly other groups. We then visited
chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Abu Mazen on the day it was
determined that he would personally attend this second round.

We met with Palestinian Authority Finance Minister Salam Fayyad
regarding financial and budget reform, where there has been enough
progress to allow the United States to broker the release of a first
installment of Palestinian Authority revenues impounded by Israel. We
talked with Sari Nusseibeh, head of Jerusalem Affairs for the PLO, about
the back-channel, unofficial peace initiatives undertaken by him and
others.

Owens specialized in discussions of these sorts, which bore witness to
his remarkable understanding of the politics of the region and of the
many facets of peacemaking, his conviction that fact-finding for himself
or others required diverse sources, and his realization that the
encouragement offered, the feedback given, and the information exchanged
in such off-the-record sessions could be significant.

Owens and the center also have stressed the economic aspects of regional
coexistence and cooperation. A major focus has been research on water
desalination and the planning of plants for Israel, Gaza and surrounding
states as a means of addressing what is perhaps the region's most
threatening long-term conflict of national interests. Owens a decade ago
began to encourage Members of Congress to visit and work with the
smaller Gulf states, in addition to Saudi Arabia, to build economic as
well as political support for a comprehensive Mideast settlement.

I have found the repeated visits Owens organized in the region and the
discussions hosted by the center in Washington invaluable as a source of
information and insight and as an avenue for constructive engagement.
The many tributes to Owens offered on the House floor on Jan. 7 affirmed
that this experience was widely shared among Members of Congress.

Owens was passionately committed to the security and integrity of Israel
and to justice and self-determination for Palestinians. He understood
well the relation between the two and the unlikelihood of forward
movement without persistent American engagement.

The achievement of a comprehensive peace among Israel and its neighbors
is a compelling cause in its own right, but it is one given additional
urgency by the need for regional cooperation and support in combating
terrorism and in disarming Iraq. With Wayne Owens' passing, we have lost
one of our country's most determined and resourceful contributors to
this cause. It is critically important for those of us who understand
the value of his work to find ways to carry it forward.