Selva Steeped in Israel-Palestinian Politics
As Former Hillary Clinton Adviser, Selva Struggled to Implement Two-State
Roadmap
By Barbara Opall-Rome 6:12 p.m. EDT May 5, 2015
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/policy-budget/leaders/2015/05/05/israel-selva-hillary-clinton-palestinian-authority-roadmap-jerusalem-ramallah/26939961/

TEL AVIV, Israel — US President Barack Obama's choice for vice chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is well versed in the challenges that have
thus far prevented Israel and the Palestinian Authority from realizing US
and international goals of a two-state peace deal.

As former assistant to then-JCS Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, Paul Selva,
then a three-star, served a dual-hatted role as military assistant to
then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Among his duties: monitoring implementation of Israeli and Palestinian
obligations under terms of the so-called Performance-Based Roadmap to a
Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

As Washington's special envoy, Selva made multiple trips to Jerusalem and
Ramallah, trying to push both sides into implementing what is now an
essentially defunct plan.

In one of his visits in May 2010, then-deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon
used the occasion to "note the seriousness with which Israel views the
continued incitement by the official Palestinian institutions, including the
encouragement of popular violence, naming streets and squares after the mass
murderers of innocent civilians, and the continued boycott of Israeli goods
and the delegitimization of Israel in the international arena."

A Foreign Ministry announcement of the May 12, 2010, meeting with Ayalon
noted that it was "yet another visit by the general to the region as part of
the American effort to encourage the implementation of the roadmap."

Despite Selva's inability to add "roadmap implementation" to his long and
laudable resume, an Israeli diplomat interviewed Tuesday remembers him as "a
straight shooter; full of integrity."

But Selva is in good company.

Like retired USMC Gen. James Jones, a former US national security adviser;
and Gen. John Allen, former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, he is
among the growing list of military luminaries with up-close and personal
experience in the seemingly intractable drive toward Israeli-Palestinian
peace.

Email: bopallrome@defensenews.com

Twitter: @OpallRome