Last month I had a post wondering out loud about what it would mean to have Rep. Gary Ackerman — a staunch supporter of Israel who also has backed U.S. support for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — chairing the House’s Middle East subcommittee. Well, tomorrow Ackerman is hold his first hearing — on the “next steps in the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process.”

According to a released issued by Ackerman’s office, the lineup is David Makovsky, director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Martin Indyk, director of the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy and a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum.

Daniel Levy, a former adviser to the Office of the Israeli Prime Minister who was involved in peace talks with the Palestinians, has a post up at TalkingPoinstMemo.com blasting the selection of Pipes, a hawk who opposes Israeli concessions to the Palestinian Authority. Levy attributes the choice of Pipes to the Republicans on the committee.

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Critics are also arguing that the list is not representative enough. In truth, the panel is pretty balanced on the question of whether the U.S. should increase its efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian deal. But all three experts are Jewish, with ties to the pro-Israel lobby. Last month I had a post wondering out loud about what it would mean to have Rep. Gary Ackerman — a staunch supporter of Israel who also has backed U.S. support for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — chairing the House’s Middle East subcommittee. Well, tomorrow Ackerman is hold his first hearing — on the “next steps in the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process.”

According to a released issued Tuesday by Ackerman’s office, the lineup is David Makovsky, director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Martin Indyk, director of the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy and a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum.

Daniel Levy, a former adviser to the Office of the Israeli Prime Minister who was involved in peace talks with the Palestinians, has a post up at TalkingPoinstMemo.com blasting the selection of Pipes, a hawk who opposes Israeli concessions to the Palestinian Authority. Levy attributes the choice of Pipes, a late addition, to the Republicans on the committee.

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