1930 -

U.S. secretary of state, 1989 - 1992.

As secretary of state during most of the administration of U.S. president George H. W. Bush, James Baker played a crucial role in U.S.-sponsored negotiations to end the Arab - Israel conflict. In late 1989 he proposed the "Baker Plan," which dealt with Israel - Palestinian talks over the future of the West Bank. Israel rejected the plan in the spring of 1990.

In the wake of the Gulf War, Baker - known as a blunt and persistent negotiator willing to pressure and cajole Arabs and Israelis alike - exerted tremendous efforts in arranging for negotiations that included not only Israel and the Arab states but Palestinian representatives as well. In the spring of 1991, he traveled to Jerusalem and met with prominent Palestinians titularly independent of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which both the United States and Israel refused to include directly in the proposed negotiations.

In October 1991, face-to-face negotiations began in Madrid, under U.S. and Soviet involvement, within a framework established by Baker: Palestinian representatives would participate as part of a joint Jordanian - Palestinian delegation, and the various parties would engage both in bilateral talks aimed at producing peace treaties and in multilateral talks dealing with wider regional issues, such as refugee repatriation and water. Although not completely responsible for the successful Arab - Israel agreements that followed, the negotiations were the most significant diplomatic effort undertaken on behalf of a comprehensive settlement to the conflict.

— MICHAEL R. FISCHBACH

Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.