Editing Daniel C. Kurtzer

{{short description|American diplomat}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Daniel C. Kurtzer
| image               = Daniel C. Kurtzer.jpg
| office              = [[List of ambassadors of the United States to Israel|United States Ambassador to Israel]]
| president           = [[George W. Bush]]
| term_start          = July 12, 2001
| term_end            = July 17, 2005
| predecessor         = [[Martin Indyk]]
| successor           = [[Richard Jones (U.S. diplomat)|Richard Jones]]
| office1             = [[List of ambassadors of the United States to Egypt|United States Ambassador to Egypt]]
| president1          = [[Bill Clinton]]<br>[[George W. Bush]]
| term_start1         = November 10, 1997
| term_end1           = June 22, 2001
| predecessor1        = [[Edward S. Walker Jr.]]
| successor1          = [[David Welch (diplomat)|David Welch]]
| party               = 
| birth_name          = 
| birth_date          = {{birth year and age|1949|6}}
| birth_place         = [[Elizabeth, New Jersey|Elizabeth]], [[New Jersey]], U.S.
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = [[Yehuda Kurtzer]], David Kurtzer-Ellenbogen, Jacob Kurtzer
| alma_mater          = [[Yeshiva University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Columbia University]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| footnotes           = 
}}

'''Daniel Charles Kurtzer''' (born June 1949) is an American former diplomat. He served as U.S. ambassador to [[Egypt]] during the term of President [[Bill Clinton]], and was the U.S. ambassador to [[Israel]] from 2001 to 2005 during the term of President [[George W. Bush]].

==Biography==
Daniel Charles Kurtzer was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey to Nathan and Sylvia Kurtzer.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/26/archives/sheila-doppelt-bride-of-daniel-c-kurtzer.html|title=Sheila Doppelt Bride Of Daniel C. Kurtzer|date=1973-12-26|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-02-20|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He received his PhD from [[Columbia University]], and served as the dean of his [[alma mater]], [[Yeshiva College (Yeshiva University)|Yeshiva College]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Goldman|first=Ari L.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/10/16/archives/yeshiva-university-starting-major-reorganization.html|title=Yeshiva University Starting Major Reorganization|date=1977-10-16|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-02-20|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Family==
Daniel Kurtzer is married to Sheila Kurtzer and has three children and eight grandchildren. One of his sons is the American Jewish public intellectual [[Yehuda Kurtzer]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/yehuda-kurtzer-elevating-the-conversation/|title=Yehuda Kurtzer, Elevating the conversation.|website=jewishweek.timesofisrael.com|date=22 May 2012 |language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-20}}</ref>

==Publications==
Kurtzer is the co-author of ''Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East''; co-author of ''The Peace Puzzle: America's Quest for Arab Israeli Peace, 1989–2011''; and editor of ''Pathways to Peace: America and the Arab-Israeli Conflict''. He is also a frequent contributor of academic articles and opinion pieces.

==Diplomatic career==
Kurtzer joined the [[United States Department of State]] and was serving as a junior officer at the American Embassy in [[Cairo]] when [[Anwar Sadat]] was assassinated in 1981. He served in Israel between the years of 1982 and 1986, then became Deputy Director of the State Department's Egypt desk in Washington, D.C. He later served on the [[Policy Planning Staff (United States)|Policy Planning Staff]], as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. When asked why he was drawn to the Middle East, he later replied: "The work never seems to be finished in this region. It is not a place where tuxedos and cocktail parties characterize diplomacy."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bellum.stanfordreview.org/?p=1840 |title=Bellum » Special Guest: Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer |access-date=2011-02-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728053829/http://bellum.stanfordreview.org/?p=1840 |archive-date=2011-07-28 }}</ref>

Kurtzer joined the staff of Secretary of State [[James Baker]]. He helped write Baker's noteworthy speech to [[American Israel Public Affairs Committee]] in May 1989. The speech was originally drafted by [[Harvey Sicherman]], who used uncontroversial pro-Israel language in his text. Kurtzer's revisions included an attention-getting line that encouraged Israel and its supporters to abandon the [[Greater Israel]] idea.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-LonszmTwIC|title=The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace|author=Aaron David Miller|date=2008|publisher=Random House|page=207|isbn=9780553904741}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/23/world/baker-in-a-middle-east-blueprint-asks-israel-to-reach-out-to-arabs.html|author=Thomas L. Friedman|date=May 23, 1989|title=Baker, in a Middle East Blueprint, Asks Israel to Reach Out to Arabs|access-date=October 7, 2014|work=New York Times}}</ref> According to [[Aaron David Miller]], he and Kurtzer wrote short memos for Baker on issues at hand, rather than longer, strategic papers.<ref>Miller 2008, p. 198.</ref>

Kurtzer was also part of the Clinton administration's team of advisers on the Arab–Israeli peace process. According to Miller, Kurtzer left in 1994 because he "felt shut out by" the Special Middle East Envoy, [[Dennis Ross]].<ref>Miller 2008, p. 244.</ref>

In 2006, he retired from the State Department and the U.S. Foreign Service with the rank of Career-Minister and assumed a chair in Middle East policy studies at the School of Public and International Affairs at [[Princeton University]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S13/33/76C47/|title=Former ambassador to Israel appointed visiting professor|access-date=November 14, 2006 |last=Cliatt|first=Cass|publisher=News@Princeton}}</ref> He co-chaired, with Scott Lasensky, the Study Group on Arab-Israeli Peacemaking, a project supported by the [[United States Institute of Peace]]. They published their recommendations in a 2008 book.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/negotiatingarabi0000kurt|url-access=registration|title=Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: American Leadership in the Middle East|date=2008|publisher=United States Institute of Peace Press|author=Daniel Kurtzer|author2=Scott Lasensky|isbn=9781601270306 }}
</ref>

In 2007, Kurtzer served as the commissioner of the [[Israel Baseball League]], a league discontinued after [[2007 Israel Baseball League season|a single season]].

He endorsed then-Senator [[Barack Obama]]'s successful candidacy for the presidency.<ref>[http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964124.html], ''[[Haaretz]]'' {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080315234251/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/964124.html|date=March 15, 2008}}</ref> Kurtzer, [[James Steinberg]], and Dennis Ross were among the principal authors of Barack Obama's address on the Middle East to AIPAC in June 2008, which was viewed as the Democratic nominee's most expansive on international affairs.<ref>Jay Solomon, [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121358442119676435 "Obama's Mideast Experts Emphasize Talks"], ''Wall Street Journal'', June 16, 2008; Page A7</ref>

==See also==
* [[Israel–United States relations]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/kurtzer-daniel-charles Daniel Charles Kurtzer] at the U.S. State Department
*{{C-SPAN|17432}}
*[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/17/AR2008031702440.html The Audacity of Chutzpah], Dana Milbank, ''[[The Washington Post]]'', March 17, 2008
*[http://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/MC271 Daniel C. Kurtzer Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University]

{{S-start}}
{{S-dip}}
{{succession box
| title=[[United States Ambassador to Egypt|U.S.&nbsp;Ambassador&nbsp;to&nbsp;Egypt]]
| before=[[Edward S. Walker, Jr.]]
| after=[[David Welch (diplomat)|C. David Welch]]
| years=1997–2001
}}
{{succession box
| title=[[United States Ambassador to Israel|U.S. Ambassador to Israel]]
| before=[[Martin Indyk]]
| after=[[Richard Jones (U.S. diplomat)|Richard Jones]]
| years=2001–2005
}}
{{s-sports}}
{{succession box
| title=[[Israel Baseball League|Israel Baseball League Commissioner]]
| before=Precedent
| after=Incumbent
| years=2007
}}
{{S-end}}

{{US Ambassadors to Israel}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurtzer, Daniel C.}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Egypt]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Israel]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:Baseball executives]]
[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]
[[Category:People from Elizabeth, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Princeton University faculty]]
[[Category:Yeshiva University alumni]]
[[Category:United States Foreign Service personnel]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]