This week on Babel, Jon speaks with Ambassador Fred Hof about his new book, Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace. They talk about Ambassador Hof's effort to negotiate peace between Syria and Israel between 2009 and 2011, what complicated those efforts, what he thinks he could have done differently, and the qualities that make for a good mediator. Then, Jon continues the conversation with Natasha Hall and Caleb Harper, taking a closer look at U.S. mediation in the Middle East and the interplay between U.S. mediators on the ground and policymakers in Washington.  Frederic Hof, "I almost negotiated Israel-Syria peace. Here’s how it happened." Atlantic Council, May 26, 2022. Frederic Hof, Reaching for the Heights: The Inside Story of a Secret Attempt to Reach a Syrian-Israeli Peace, (Washington, D.C.: USIP Press, 2022). Transcript, "Lessons Learned from U.S. Negotiations with Syria," CSIS, May 31, 2022.