Martin Indyk, an author, think tank leader and diplomat who worked toward peace in the Middle East, has died aged 73.
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The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank he helped establish, made the announcement on Thursday.
Indyk twice served as the United States ambassador to Israel, first from 1995 to 1997 and then from 2000 to 2001, during the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton.
He was assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs from 1997-2000, also under Clinton, and returned to government to serve as the US special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations from 2013 to 2014, under President Barack Obama.
Born in Britain in 1951 and raised in Australia, Indyk earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Sydney University and a doctorate from the Australian National University. He moved to the United States in 1982 to serve as a visiting professor and fellow at Columbia University, becoming a US citizen in 1993.
The top Middle East policy adviser on Clinton's National Security Council before his tours in Israel and time at the State Department, Indyk was deeply involved in Clinton's failed 2000 effort to coax the Israelis and Palestinians to a peace deal. He wrote a book about the experience, Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East.
Resigning as Middle East peace envoy in 2014 following the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian talks, Indyk returned to the world of policy analysis. On his departure from government, Secretary of State John Kerry praised Indyk as an indefatigable diplomat who had dedicated decades of his career to trying to achieve peace.
More recently, Indyk was a leading scholar on Middle East policy at the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations.
His books also included Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy, published in 2021.
Australian Associated Press
