This House believes that Arab governments have failed the Palestinians
Wednesday September 28 2005
MOTION PASSED
by 72% to 28%
Speakers
Hussein Ibish
Speaking for the motion
Hussein Ibish is a Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, an organization dedicated to bringing stability to the Middle East through establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel. He is also Executive Director of the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab American Leadership.
From 2001-2004, Ibish was Vice President of the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom.
From 1998-2004, he served as communications director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the largest Arab-American membership organization in the United States.
Ibish has made over 3,500 radio and television appearances and has written for many newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune, and was Washington correspondent for Lebanon's Daily Star. Ibish is editor and principle author of two major studies of hate crimes and discrimination against Arab Americans before and after September 11, 2001. He is author of 'At the Constitution's Edge: Arab Americans and Civil Liberties in the United States' in States of Confinement, 'Anti-Arab Bias in American Policy and Discourse' in Race in 21st Century America, 'Ra ce and the War on Terror,' in Race and Human Rights and 'Symptoms of Alienation: How Arab and American Media View Each Other' in Arab Media in the Information Age. He is also co-author of 'The Palestinian Right of Return' and 'The Media and the New Intifada' in The New Intifada.
Ibish has a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Ahmed Maher Al Sayed
Speaking against the motion
Ahmed Maher El Sayed is a veteran diplomat with more than 45 years of diplomatic service behind him, most notably as Egypt's foreign minister from 2001-2004.
He has been posted in many of the world's major capitals, the last being as the Egyptian Ambassador to the US.
Born in September 14, 1935, he obtained his law degree from Cairo University and started his diplomatic career at the Foreign Ministry in 1957 as an attaché.
He served at the Egyptian embassies in Kinshasa, Paris, the consulate-general in Zurich, Lisbon and Brussels, where he was accredited by the E.U. He was posted as Egypt's Ambassador in Moscow and Washington.
Mr. Maher also worked at the office of the president's advisor for national security affairs from 1971-74 and was appointed director of the foreign minister's office from 1978-1980.
He participated in the Camp David peace negotiations in 1978 and the Taba peace negotiations in 1988 and has represented Egypt in many international conferences.
Mr. Maher was awarded the order of merit of the first degree, the Medal of the Republic of the Second Degree and the order of merit of the third and fourth degrees. He received two decorations from Portugal.
Ghada Karmi
Speaking for the motion
Ghada Karmi is a research fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter in England. She is a lso Vice Chair of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, which promotes a positive approach to Arab-British relations in government, parliament, media and education. Dr. Karmi is a doctor of medicine, a political activist, an academic and a writer.
Her most recent book, a memoir entitled 'In Search of Fatima', has won wide critical acclaim. Dr. Karmi also writes about Middle East politics and is currently completing a book on the one-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Her other publications include 'Jerusalem Today: What Future for the Peace Process?' and, as co-editor with E. Cotran, 'The Palestinian Exodus, 1948-1998'.
Dr. Karmi contributes to several journals and newspapers, notably Al Hayat and Al Ahram Weekly. She is also a well-known figure on British TV.
From 1999 to 2001, Dr. Karmi was an associate fellow of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, where she led a major project on Israel-Palestinian reconciliation.
She has also practiced as a doctor working as a specialist in the health of migrants and refugees, and has held a number of research appointments on Middle Eastern politics and culture at the School of Oriental and African Studies, Durham University and Leeds University.
Dr. Karmi is currently based in Ramallah. She was born in Jerusalem but had to leave her country in 1948 to live in Britain.
Michael Tarazi
Speaking against the motion
Michael Tarazi is a Palestinian-American lawyer and one of the Palestinian Authority's leading legal advisors currently advising the Palestinian Authority Ministry for Jerusalem Affairs. He provides legal and political advice on a wide array of issues facing the city of Jerusalem such as the Wall, refugees, Israeli settlements and home demolitions.
Mr. Tarazi regularly appears in the international media, including CNN, NBC, ABC and the BBC. Prior to taking his current position, he served with the PLO Negotiations Affairs Department. Prior to that position, Mr. Tarazi, a member of the New York State Bar, practiced securities law in New York and Europe.
Mr. Tarazi was raised in Colorado, attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and earned degrees at Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
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