Book Launch | “From Apartheid to Democracy”
Date and Time
Sep 30, 2025 6:00 pm
Location
450K
450 K St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20001
Sep 30, 2025 6:00 pm
450K
A decisive break from the failed Oslo Accords and an innovative plan to create the foundations for peace and self-determination in Israel-Palestine.
For more than three decades, the illusion of a two-state solution under the auspices of the Oslo Accords has allowed Israel to maintain a one-state reality of permanent occupation and apartheid.
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man and Sarah Leah Whitson challenge this approach, presenting a road map to end these crimes and create a rights-respecting regime for everyone now living under Israeli control. Only once basic safety and legal equality are assured can Jewish Israelis and Palestinians determine their futures—in one, two, or more states if they choose—through an inclusive, democratic process. Breaking with the failures of the past, the plan presented here makes clear that ongoing violations of basic human rights must be ended before issues of governance can be equitably addressed.
Clear-eyed yet hopeful, Omer-Man and Whitson offer proof of concept that democracy and equality are indeed attainable—and call on the international community to create the conditions required for them to flourish.
Co-authors Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man and Sarah Leah Whitson are joining us on the Busboys stage alongside author and distinguished scholar Shibley Telhami. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and the authors will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of FROM APARTHEID TO DEMOCRACY will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man is the Israel-Palestine Director at DAWN, where his work focuses on individual accountability for Israeli officials, reforming the U.S. relationship with Israel, open source investigations, and domestic and international advocacy. Michael previously lived and worked as a journalist in Israel-Palestine for nearly two decades. He was the editor-in-chief of +972 Magazine for seven years, prior to which he worked as an editor for The Jerusalem Post. In these roles, he closely covered Israeli and Palestinian grassroots movements and civil society campaigns, legislative trends, public opinion, as well as diplomatic and other efforts to strengthen accountability for Israeli abuses and the rule of law. He is fluent in English and Hebrew, and tries his best in Arabic and Spanish. Omer-Man’s forthcoming book with Sarah Leah Whitson, "From Apartheid to Democracy: A Blueprint for Peace in Israel-Palestine," will be published in September 2025 by University of California Press.
Sarah Leah Whitson is the Executive Director of DAWN, an organization that seeks to support democracy and human rights in the Middle East, hold abusers accountable, and reform U.S. policy in the region. Previously, she served as executive director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa Division from 2004 – 2020, overseeing the work of the division in 19 countries, with staff located in 10 countries.
Whitson has led dozens of advocacy and investigative missions throughout the region, focusing on issues of armed conflict, human rights, accountability, and legal and policy reform. She has published widely on human rights and foreign policy in the Middle East in international and regional media, including The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Los Angeles Times, and CNN and appears regularly in global media, including Al-Jazeera, BBC, NPR, MSNBC, and CNN. Whitson's forthcoming book with Michael Omer-Man, "From Apartheid to Democracy: A Blueprint for Peace in Israel-Palestine," will be published in October 2025 by University of California Press.
Previously, Whitson worked in New York for Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School and is fluent in English, Arabic and Armenian.
Whitson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is on the boards of the the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, the Artistic Freedom Initiative, ALQST for Human Rights, Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, Action for Hope, and the Armenian Bar Association.
Shibley Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development, the Director of the University of Maryland’s Critical Issues Poll, and a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher. He is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Before coming to the University of Maryland, he taught at several universities, including the University of California at Berkeley, where he received his doctorate in political science. He has authored and edited numerous books, including one forthcoming book: Peace Derailed: Obama, Trump, Biden, and the Decline of Diplomacy on Israel/Palestine, 2011-2024 (co-authored). His most recent book is a co-edited with contributions volume, The One State Reality: What is Israel/Palestine? which was published in March 2023 with Cornell University Press. He has advised every U.S. administration from George H.W. Bush to Barack Obama. Telhami was selected by the Carnegie Corporation of New York along with the New York Times as one of the "Great Immigrants" for 2013 and the Washingtonian Magazine listed him as one of the “Most Influential People on Foreign Affairs” in both 2022 and 2023. He is also the recipient of many awards including the University of Maryland’s Distinguished Service Award and the University of Maryland’s Honors College Outstanding Faculty Award.
BOOK DETAILS
From Apartheid to Democracy
A Blueprint for Peace in Israel-Palestine
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man and Sarah Leah Whitson
September 30, 2025 | Paperback, 272 pages, $26.95
Sep 16, 2025 6:00 pm
