Wednesday 29 August 2012

What does the future hold for Palestine, Syria & Bahrain?






Maryam Al-Khawaja
Maryam Al-Khawaja is a Bahraini human rights activist and current acting president of the Bahraini Centre for Human Rights. She is the daughter of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, a prominent human rights activist who has been imprisoned for his role in the 2011 Bahraini uprising. She has been participating in activities concerning human rights since her late teens and was a member of the 2006 Bahraini delegation that handed a over letter to UN secretary General Kofi Annan's assistant calling for the resignation of the Bahraini Prime Minister on human rights grounds. After the start of the uprising she attended numerous conferences and seminars around the world in an attempt to publicise the revolution; her command of English being seen as an important tool to give a voice to ordinary Bahrainis. This has subsequently resulted in her receiving death threats and being the victim of smear campaigns. Al-Khawaja holds a BA in English and American Studies from the University of Bahrain, and in 2010 attended Brown University on a Fulbright scholarship.



Fawaz Tello
Fawaz Tello is a former member of the Syrian National Council (the main body established post the Syrian uprising to unite opposition from outside of Syria). He was previously a member of the Damascus Spring Movement (2000-2001); a founding member of the National Dialog Forum (2000-2001), a liberal grouping which he led (2000-2001); and assisted in establishing the National Council of the Damascus Declaration, a movement set up to advocate gradual reform of the Syrian political system (2006-2008). His political activities resulted him being imprisoned by the Assad regime from 2001 to 2006. Mr Tello holds a diploma in Business Administration and a Bachelors in Civil Engineering from Damascus University.



Mohsen Saleh
Dr Mohsen Saleh is the General Manager of Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations. He is editor-in-chief of the influential annual Palestinian Strategic Report, former head of the Department of History and Civilization at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) and former executive manager of the Middle East Studies Centre in Amman. He was awarded the Bait al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) award for Young Muslim Scholars in 1997 and the Excellent Teaching Award (College level) from IIUM in 2002. Dr Saleh is the author of numerous books, including Al-Qadiyyah al-Filastiniyyah: Khalfiyyatuha al-Tarikhiyyah wa Tatawwuratuha al-Mu‘asirah (Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations, 2012) and The Lost Course of the Palestinian Statehood (AlJazeera Centre for Studies, 2010). He has contributed chapters to several books, has edited or co-edited fifteen books and has published many articles in scholarly journals and magazines.


Phyllis Bennis
Fellow Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at IPS. She is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. She has been a writer, analyst, and activist on Middle East and UN issues for many years. In 2001 she helped found and remains on the steering committee of the U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation. She works closely with the United for Peace and Justice anti-war coalition, co-chairs the UN-based International Coordinating Network on Palestine, and since 2002 has played an active role in the growing global peace movement. She continues to serve as an adviser to several top UN officials on Middle East and UN democratization issues.

Phyllis Bennis is the author of eight books:
From Stones to Statehood: The Palestinian Uprising (1990); Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates Today's UN (2000); Before & After: US Foreign Policy and the September 11th Crisis (2003) [US Policy and the War on Terrorism, 2nd ed.]; Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power (2006); Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer (2009); Ending the Iraq War: A Primer (2009); Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer (2009); Ending the US War in Afghanistan: A Primer (2010).
She is also co-editor of Beyond the Storm: A Gulf Crisis Reader (1991) and Altered States: A Reader in the New World Order (1993).




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