Press Room

Press Releases

From Belfast to Jerusalem: Lessons from Mitchell

AAI
Posted on Tuesday March 17, 2009

Washington D.C. – March 17, 2009 – The Arab American Institute will hold a roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill entitled “From Belfast to Jerusalem: Lessons from Northern Ireland for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.” The panel will feature leading experts on the Northern Ireland peace process, Middle Eastern affairs and American policy-making.

WHO:

Ambassador John Bruton, European Union Ambassador to the United States; former Prime Minister of Ireland (1994-1997)

Susan Brophy, Partner, Glover Park Group; former Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs (1993-1998)

Daniel Levy, Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Initiative at the New America Foundation

Denis Staunton, Washington Correspondent, Irish Times

Moderated by Dr. James Zogby, President and Founder, Arab American Institute

WHEN & WHERE:

Wednesday, March 18
2:30-4:00 pm
2200 Rayburn House Office Building

For more information, please contact Nadine Wahab, Public Affairs Manager at the Arab American Institute, at nwahab@aaiusa.org.

Ambassador John Bruton is the former Prime Minister of Ireland (Taoiseach), who helped transform the Irish economy into the “Celtic Tiger,” one of the fastest growing economies in the world. He was deeply involved in the Northern Irish Peace Process, which lead to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, under whose terms a conflict of allegiances dating back to the seventeenth century was resolved. Ambassador Bruton was first elected to the Irish Parliament (“Dáil Éireann”) in 1969 at the age of 22 as a member of the Fine Gael Party, becoming Party Leader in 1990 and leading it into government in 1994. He previously served as Ireland’s Minister for Finance (1981-1982 and 1986-1987); Minister for Industry & Energy (1982-1983); Minister for Trade, Commerce & Tourism (1983-1986); and was Parliamentary Secretary (Junior Minister) from 1973-1977.

Susan Brophy is a Partner in the legislative affairs practice at the Glover Park Group. Before joining the Glover Park Group, she was Senior Vice President at the Time Warner Global Public Policy Office in Washington, DC for four years. Ms. Brophy was responsible for issues related to the protection of intellectual property, telecommunications and trade for Time Warner’s seven business units and advised Chairman and CEO Dick Parsons on politics and policy. From 1993 to 1998, Ms. Brophy served at the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs, where she developed, implemented and directed legislative strategy with the White House, Administration and Congress in support of President Clinton’s policy priorities. From 1992 to 1993, Ms. Brophy was director of congressional relations for the Clinton-Gore transition office, where she served as chief liaison to Congress with oversight responsibility for Cabinet confirmations, personnel and the establishment of first-term legislative priorities.

Daniel Levy is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Initiative at the New America Foundation and a Senior Fellow and Director of the Prospects for Peace Initiative at The Century Foundation. During the Barak Government, Mr. Levy worked in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office as special adviser and head of Jerusalem Affairs, following which he worked as senior policy adviser to then Israeli Minister of Justice, Yossi Beilin. Mr. Levy also served as the lead Israeli drafter of the Geneva Initiative, a joint Israeli-Palestinian effort that suggests a detailed model for a peace agreement to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr. Levy was a founder of the Israel-Palestinian Peace Coalition and is on the Advisory Board of the recently established J Street organization and of the global campaigning group, Avaaz.

Dr. James Zogby (Moderator)

Dr. James Zogby is President of the Arab American Institute, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization committed to the civic and political empowerment of Americans. In 2001, Dr. Zogby was elected to the Executive Committee of the United States Democratic National Committee (DNC). He is a senior analyst with the polling firm Zogby International, founded and managed by his brother John Zogby, and is a lecturer and scholar on Middle East issues. Dr. Zogby host a weekly television show Viewpoint with James Zogby and serves on the Human Rights Watch Middle East Advisory Committee and on the national advisory boards of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Forum, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.