Dr. James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute (AAI), and Paul L. Scham, Esq., Executive Director of the Gildenhorn Institute for Israel Studies at the University of Maryland and Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute, will address the prospects of a Two-State Solution in light of the Gaza War, the new U.S. and Israeli administrations, and the upcoming Palestinian elections in January 2010.
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The panel, moderated by Dr. Hussein Ibish of the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), will assess current developments, both favorable and unfavorable, for such a solution. They will examine alternate scenarios if the present initiatives fail and their wider impact on the region’s stability. The burning question for the Israelis and Palestinians to be addressed by the panel: “Is this the last, best chance for resolution of the conflict before demographic and other factors make a Two-State Solution impossible?”
Dr. Zogby has been intimately involved in Arab American and Middle East issues for three decades. He has led numerous U.S. sponsored delegations to the region to promote reconstruction and peace. He is the co-founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). With former Congressman Mel Levine, he founded the Builders for Peace, a private sector initiative promoting U.S. investment in the West Bank and Gaza. A widely acclaimed lecturer and scholar, he appears frequently on all major networks and international media outlets.
Mr. Paul Scham is an expert on the history and current politics of Israel and of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has written extensively on these issues. From 1996-2002, he lived in Jerusalem and coordinated Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Jordanian joint research projects at Hebrew University.
Dr. Hussein Ibish has written extensively on issues of hate crimes, anti-discrimination, civil liberties and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He has appeared on numerous radio/TV programs, and his reports have been carried by major print media in the U.S. and abroad.
The panelists will address the foregoing issues during the 11th HCEF International Conference, co-hosted with and held at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, DC on Saturday, October 24, 2009.
