Issues

Palestine

Roadmap: AAI/APN Joint Speakers Bureau

Posted on Thursday August 14, 2003

The Arab American Institute (AAI) and Americans for Peace Now (APN) have launched a Joint Speakers Bureau for people and organizations seeking Arab American and Jewish American peace advocates to address their events together about the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Road Map to Middle East peace. A list of staff experts from each organization is provided below.

While no honorarium is requested for the appearance of these speakers, sponsoring individuals or groups are expected to cover all travel and lodging costs related to speaking events in advance.
For more information about the Joint Speakers Bureau or to book speakers, please contact:

Jenny Salan/AAI at (202) 429-9210 or jsalan@aaiusa.org
Noam Shelef/APN at (202) 728-1893 or nsapn@earthlink.net

Arab American Institute Speakers

James Zogby is President and co-founder of the Arab American Institute. For the past three decades Dr. Zogby has been involved in a full range of Arab American issues. He also co-founded the Palestine Human Rights Campaign in the late 1970s, and later co-founded and served as the Executive Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He serves on the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee as well as on the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Zogby hosts a weekly television show called, “Viewpoint James Zogby” and writes a weekly newspaper column, “Washington Watch.” He is a frequent contributor to CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC and numerous other print and broadcast media. Dr. Zogby has testified before U.S. House and Senate committees, has been guest speaker on a number of occasions in the Secretary’s Open Forum at the U.S. Department of State, and has addressed the United Nations and other international forums.

George Salem is Chairman and co-founder of the Arab American Institute and a partner in the Washington, DC office of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP where he chairs the firm’s Middle East practice and concentrates on labor and employment law. Salem also served as solicitor of the U.S. Department of Labor during the second Reagan administration, and played key roles in the Bush-Quayle and Bush-Cheney campaigns.

Jean AbiNader is Managing Director of the Arab American Institute and the President & CEO of IdeaCom, an international marketing strategy firm based in Bethesda, MD. He has extensive experience with foreign affairs and international business development and was the President of the U.S. – Arab Chamber of Commerce from 1986-1993. He serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He has testified before the EEOC and been a featured speaker on numerous Middle East panel discussions. He regularly appears on national and international media including CNN, MSNBC, BBC, FOX, Al Jazeera and Nile TV.

Marwan Kreidie is Founder and Director of the Arab American Community Development Corporation (PACDC) in Philadelphia and a member of AAI’s Arab American Leadership Council. Mr. Kreidie received a BA from Drew University and an MA in Political Science from Temple University. He works as a Civil Service Commissioner for the City of Philadelphia and as a professor of Political Science at Immaculata College. At PACDC Mr. Kreidie developed an after school program for Arab American children, co-produced two Arab music concerts, implemented a women’s heath care service and worked with the U.S. Census Bureau to insure a proper count of Arab Americans in the area. Mr. Kreidie was born in New York City and raised in Beirut, Lebanon until 1976.

Richard M. Fawal is the National Political Director of the Arab American Institute. He has worked on numerous political campaigns in California, Texas and Alabama since 1988. The son of Palestinian immigrants, he has been a regular columnist for Via Dolorosa magazine and a commentator on Middle East issues and politics since that time. In 1999 he co-founded the political consulting firm Grassroots Solutions in Austin, Texas.

Fay Beydoun is the Director of AAI’s Michigan office. Prior to joining AAI Ms. Beydoun was Director of Health programs at the Arab Chaldean Council and was a founder and Executive Board Member of the Arab American Political Action Committee. Under the Wayne County Regional Educational Services Department she coordinated programs for low-income families. She is active in the Democratic Party and is a frequent contributor to local and regional media outlets.

Dr. Marwan Elmasri is the Media and Public Relations Coordinator for the Palestinian American Congress. He works out of Boston, Massachusetts.

Americans for Peace Now Speakers

Debra DeLee is President and CEO of Americans for Peace Now. Prior to joining APN, Ms. DeLee served as Chief Executive Office of the Democratic National Convention Committee. In this position, she designed, developed, and managed the entire 1996 Democratic National Convention, which was attended by 20,000 delegates and guests, as well as 15,000 members of the media. From 1993-1995, she served as the Executive Director and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, managing the operations of the $42 million organization, supervising a staff of 200 persons, and maintaining organizational order during a difficult political period for the party. From 1990-1994, Ms. DeLee worked as Director of Government Relations for the National Education Association, supervising a staff of 60 people and managing an $8 million annual budget. Ms. DeLee has appeared frequently on CNN, MSNBC, and National Public Radio, and she has been cited as an expert on Israeli-Palestinian issues in the Washington Post, the Forward, and other major newspapers.

Mark Rosenblum is the Founder and Political Director of Americans for Peace Now. In addition to his work with APN, Mr. Rosenblum is a Professor of History at Queens College. Since the mid-1980s he has been involved in numerous efforts to facilitate Middle East conflict resolution: through organizing and moderating a series of six major international conferences with leaders of the PLO and Israeli national figures; hosting a U.S.-televised roundtable discussion series, “From the Battlefield to the Negotiating Table;” and by founding and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian Youth Dialogue program. Mr. Rosenblum also works with the Jerusalem research, information, and legal defense project, Ir Shalem (Unified City), and is an authority on Jerusalem and final status issues. His radio and television appearances include: The Larry King Live Show, CBS and NBC Evening News, CNN, and National Public Radio. He is frequently cited as a Middle East expert in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and American Jewish publications.

Gail Pressberg is APN’s Arab Affairs Policy Consultant, as well as a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Civil Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting breakthroughs in civil society that address pressing issues of the day. Prior to holding these positions, Ms. Pressberg was the Director of the Center for Israeli Peace and Security (APN’s Washington program). She has also served as the Executive Director of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. For her efforts in bringing Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab leaders together, Ms. Pressberg was honored by the University of Pennsylvania with its Janet Lee Stevens Memorial Award. Her numerous media appearances include the Phil Donahue Show, Good Morning America, CNN, Crossfire, and Sally Jesse Raphael.

Lewis Roth is Assistant Executive Director of Americans for Peace Now. In this position, he is responsible for representing Americans for Peace Now with the media, Capitol Hill, the Administration, American Jewish organizations, and Arab American groups. Mr. Roth is also in charge of APN publications, including its weekly email/fax newsletter, The Middle East Peace Report, and the quarterly Peace Now News. He has worked in Washington policy circles for over 17 years, including service with Senator John Glenn (D-OH), Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA), British Aerospace, Inc., and the National Jewish Democratic Council. His media appearances include Rivera Live (CNBC/MSNBC), C-SPAN, America’s Voice, Tribune Broadcasting, National Public Radio, Pacifica Network News, KQED public radio in San Francisco, C|NET Radio, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Jerusalem Post, Ha’aretz, the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Chronicle, and numerous American Jewish publications. Mr. Roth holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in International Relations from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Noam Shelef currently serves as grassroots coordinator and legislative assistant for Americans for Peace Now, and speaks frequently before student audiences. A dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, originally from Jerusalem, Mr. Shelef has been a longtime peace activist, having served as an intern at APN for two years prior to taking this position in 1999, as well as in Jerusalem with Ir Shalem, Peace Now’s Jerusalem project. Mr. Shelef was also active in dialogue groups in Washington and in Bethlehem, where Jewish and Arab students met to discuss the Arab-Israeli conflict. Mr. Shelef recently completed a two-year term on the Executive Board of Meretz USA, a national Jewish-American organization supporting peace, pluralism, and democracy in Israel. He also represented Meretz at the World Zionist Congress in June of 2002. Mr. Shelef is a graduate of the George Washington University (GW) with a BA in International Affairs with a Middle Eastern Studies concentration.

David Pine is the West Coast Regional Director of Americans for Peace Now. In that capacity, he organizes community programs and activities that educate and activate people in support of policies that help promote a comprehensive political settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He also represents the organization to government officials, media, community and religious groups, and on college campuses. Mr. Pine has worked as a professional organizer and fundraiser in the Jewish community and on behalf of several political campaigns in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. for more than fourteen years. He has lived in Israel for extended stretches of time, and during one period worked as an educator and community worker with new immigrants from Ethiopia, as well as in a development town. Mr. Pine has a double Masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California and in Jewish Communal Service from Hebrew Union College, where he now serves on its Field Faculty. He was an undergraduate at the University of California at Santa Cruz.