Mark Bruzonsky holds dual advanced degrees in international affairs and law from Princeton University (MPA), where he graduated from the Woodrow Wilson School, and New York University Law School (JD), where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar. He is a journalist, author, and consultant with special expertise in U.S. foreign policy, international affairs, and the Middle East. He writes and speaks frequently about world affairs, U.S. foreign policy, the Middle East, U.S.-Arab and U.S.-Israel relations, and the underlying realities of policy-making in Washington.
In the past, Bruzonsky was the producer and host of the weekly TV program Mid-East Realities TV, which was broadcast from 1994 to 2003 during prime-time hours on all the major cable TV systems on public access TV in the greater Washington, DC area. Before that, he was Associate Editor of WORLDVIEW MAGAZINE in New York and Forum Interview Editor of THE MIDDLE EAST MAGAZINE in London. In the past, his weekly column appeared in leading newspapers in the Middle East, and he authored more than 650 articles. He founded and spoke for The Jewish Committee on the Middle East (JCOME). Also in past years Bruzonsky has been the Washington Representative and international affairs consultant for several prestigious organizations, including the Woodrow Wilson Center at the Smithsonian, Congressional Quarterly (CQ), The National Geographic Society, The Foundation for Middle East Peace, Okaz Organization, Goals for Americans, and the World Mental Health Coalition.
Very early in his career, Bruzonsky made world headlines when he met alone in Cairo for more than an hour with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. This critical historic meeting led to Sadat’s history-changing visit to Israel. The following day after this meeting, with Bruzonsky already on a plane returning to Israel, a large picture of Bruzonsky meeting Sadat was published at the top of the front page of leading Egyptian newspapers. Sadat stunned the world three days later, announcing he would visit Israel, which he did two days later. Then, during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Bruzonsky again made world headlines when he authored The Paris Declaration, published as nearly the entire front page of LeMonde, France’s leading newspaper, and said to be “The Balfour Declaration for the Palestinian People.”
During his graduate school years, Bruzonsky was Chief Representative at the United Nations Headquarters of the International Student Movement for United Nations (ISMUN). For over a decade, from 1982 through 1994, Bruzonsky wrote a syndicated newspaper column called From Washington, published in leading newspapers throughout the Middle East, including in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, and Israel/Palestine. From 1988 through 1995, Bruzonsky was Chairperson of the Jewish Committee On the Middle East (JCOME), an organization of Jewish intellectuals and professionals that was the first American Jewish organization to call for a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian State and a more balanced and moral relationship with Israel. The JCOME Statement of Principles was initially published in the Congressional Record and subsequently in over 50 newspapers and magazines, including The New York Review of Books, The Nation, and LAWeekly. This was followed by JCOME publication of dozens of full-page magazine advertisements focusing on the hard choices necessary to achieve a real and lasting peace in the Middle East between Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab States, as well as many ground-breaking television documentaries.
In addition to being a journalist, when he first moved to Washington Bruzonsky was also the first Washington Representative of the World Jewish Congress at a time when that organization was led by the most distinguished leading independent international Jewish personalities who became his personal mentors — Dr. Nahum Goldman and Philip Klutznick. It should now be emphasized that Bruzonsky has had nothing to do with the WJC for some time since it was totally taken over by Israel and the Israeli/Jewish Lobby which turned it into a mouthpiece for increasingly dangerous, unlawful, and unacceptable Israeli policies. However, in the years the organization was independent and headed by Goldman, Klutznick and Edgar Bronfman, Bruzonsky played a significant and crucial role. Among other things, he was instrumental in bringing about personal contact and negotiations for a peaceful Israeli-Palestinian settlement between the most senior Jewish international leaders, major Israeli personalities, top officials of the Palestine Liberation Organization, senior officials at the United Nations including the Secretary-General, and key leaders in several Arab countries as well as the Soviet Union. He was the “advance man” when the President of Egypt invited first Klutznick and then Bronfman to be his official guest to that country. He represented Edgar Bronfman on an official visit to Moscow where he had the special priviledge of staying in the Lenin Room of the National Hotel overlooking Red Square.
Bruzonsky has made more than 200 international trips to more than 45 countries in these many and varied capacities. He himself has been the official guest of many governments and organizations, including Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, the PLO, Tunisia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Austria, and the Palestine Authority. He made so many international trips that early in his career he earned the greatest frequent flyer award in airline history — a full month of unlimited travel worldwide on Pan Am Airlines.
Bruzonsky has been invited to speak at many universities and public affairs organizations including Rotary Clubs and World Affairs Councils. He has given keynote and major speeches at several leading universities, including Princeton, The University of Chicago, Purdue, Lawrence University, the University of Illinois, St. Mary’s College in California, and Morehouse College. Bruzonsky was invited twice to lecture about U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East at the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks in Pennsylvania. During the historic White House signing ceremony with Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat, and President Bill Clinton, Bruzonsky provided live commentary throughout for Canadian Television (CTV).
Having lived in Washington, DC, for many years, Bruzonsky has a special grasp of how the political, economic, legal, and social systems intersect with the vast array of think tanks, media organizations, lobbyists, and foreign representatives. His written articles and extensive interviews with key figures — including former U.N. Secretary-Generals Boutros-Ghali and Kurt Waldheim, Shimon Peres, Yasser Arafat, Edward Said, Robert Fisk, Moussa Abu Marzook (Hamas), Noam Chomsky, General Matti Peled, and many other important political and intellectual personalities — have appeared in more than eighty magazines and newspapers in thirteen countries throughout the U.S., Europe, Israel, and the Arab world.
Bruzonsky is now working on several unique books about the “Two-State Solution,” U.S.-Israel Relations, and American Foreign Policy.
Publications in which feature articles written by Mark Bruzonsky have been published:
USA PUBLICATIONS:
Atlanta Constitution Journal
Boston Globe
CSIS Reports
Chicago Tribune
Christian Science Monitor
Commonweal Magazine
Congressional Quarterly
Dissent Magazine
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Weekly
International Security (Harvard)
Middle East Journal
Moment Magazine
The Nation Magazine
National Geographic Society
The National Jewish Monthly
The New Renaissance
Newsday
Palestine Perspective
Politics
Sacramento Bee
The Journal of Palestine Studies
The Journal of the Middle East Institute
The Washington Post
The Washington Star
Worldview Magazine
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS:
Al-Biyader Al-Siyyaseh (Jerusalem)
Ad Dustour (Amman)
Al Ahram (Cairo)
Al-Siyassah (Kuwait)
Contemporary Review (London)
Events (London)
Haolam Hazeh (Tel Aviv)
International Affairs (London)
The Muslim (Islamabad)
International Problems (Tel Aviv)
The Jerusalem Star (Amman)
Israel & Palestine (Paris)
Journal of Palestine Studies (Beirut)
Le Monde (Paris)
Liberation (Paris)
Middle East International (London)
New Outlook (Tel Aviv)
Okaz (Jeddah)
Playboy Magazine (Slovenia)
Rose El Yusef (Cairo)
The Middle East Magazine (London)
The Saudi Gazette (Jeddah)
No War (Gentosha Publishing, Japan)