The Greater New York Region chapter of the American Friends of the Hebrew University raised $800,000 Thursday night for its Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, which is the largest research center in Israel focused on conflict resolution in the Middle East.

Scholars at the institute are studying contemporary Palestinian youth culture; human rights in the Arab countries, and the choices Israeli soldiers make while manning a checkpoint and in other situations they face on a daily basis.

The event honored the executive vice president of global marketing and corporate affairs at News Corporation, Gary Ginsberg, who received the Scopus Award, and a former envoy and chief negotiator in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process during the administrations of President George H.W. Bush and President Clinton, Dennis Ross.

Mr. Ross in his remarks discussed the way to proceed to productive peace negotiations. He said that, regarding Iran, “we need strong sticks and strong carrots.” He said that in Israel, for talks to be effective, something has to be done to turn around the psychology of the situation. “The negotiations now produce almost no reaction. Now that in itself is an indictment of where we are,” Mr. Ross said. He also advocated that Israel should improve economic life in the West Bank by building housing projects there.