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Fafo Seminar on the Middle East:
Expert’s advice to President Obama

Fafo December 9th 2009, 09:00 – 11:00, Borggata 2b Oslo

Ahead of President Obama’s arrival in Oslo, Fafo invited to a seminar on the situation in the Middle East, where experts presented their views on the current situation, and their advice to the international community. What are at present the prospects for a negotiated two-state solution? How does the regional situation affect the peace process? How can European countries and the U.S. contribute to a positive outcome?  

A Panel with experts presented their views through brief interventions, followed by a general discussion. All panelists spoke in their personal capacity.

The panelists were:

  • Dr. Abdel el-Khatib: President of Social and Economic Commission. Jordan (former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Jordan), Khatib was an overseer of Jordan's contributions to the Arab-Israeli peace talks throughout the 1990s, and was posted to the Jordanian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
  • Dr. Azmi Shuaibi: Director, AMAN Transparency Palestine, coalition of Civil Society Organizations, Palestine. Former Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
  • Dr. Hanan Ashrawi: Director Mifta, elected numerous times to the Palestinian Legislative Council. Dr. Ashrawi is a member of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad’s Third Way party. She has served as the official spokesperson for the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East peace process.
  • Prof. Galia Golan: Professor at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy and Strategy in Herzliya, Israel, specializing in issues related to globalization, international crises and current political issues. She is part of the leadership of Meretz and has been active in the Israeli Peace Now movement since its foundation in 1978.
  • David Landau: London-born Israeli journalist and newspaper editor. Landau was editor-in-chief of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz from 2004-2008. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of the paper's English edition from 1997 to 2004. Landau is currently working on a biography on Ariel Sharon.
  • Iain Scobbie, professor at London School of Oriental and African Studies.
  • David Gardner, Middle-east correspondent for the Financial Times. Recently published the book “The Last Chance".

Chair and contact: Managing Director Anne Lene Sandsten, Fafo

Panelists

Panelists left to right: Shuabi, Gardner, Landau, el-Khatib, Ashrawi, Golan and Scobbie.

  

Al-aqsa moskeen

A glimpse of the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Photo: Mona Christophersen