Leadership
Bio: In the 1980s Archbishop Desmond Tutu became South Africa's most well-known opponent of apartheid, that country's system of racial discrimination which allowed white Africans, who made up 20 percent of the population, to reserve for themselves about 87 percent of the land, most natural resources, and all meaningful political power. Desmond Tutu emerged as the leading spokesman for nonviolent resistance to apartheid. The problem faced by anti-apartheid clergy was how to oppose both violent resistance and apartheid, which was itself increasingly violent. Tutu was determined in his opposition, and he spoke out both in South Africa and abroad, often comparing apartheid to Nazism (a radical movement of racial superiority led by Adolf Hitler (1889—1945) and communism (where a strong-handed government controls goods and services within a country). By the 1980s clergy had become the most passionate opponents of apartheid within South Africa. Tutu's international recognition as a critic of apartheid came when he became first general secretary of the South African Council of Churches in 1978. In 1984 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work. After apartheid was abolished in 1993 and Nelson Mandela became president in 1994, Tutu led South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, a court-like body that investigated apartheid crimes and which has since become a crucial component of the transition to full and free democracy in South Africa. Archbishop Tutu is the recipient of many honorary degrees and awards from around the world. His publications include: God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time; An African Prayer Book; No Future Without Forgiveness; The Rainbow People of God; Hope and Suffering; and Crying in the Wilderness. Archbishop Tutu continues to speak worldwide on issues of justice, peace, and nonviolence. He is the international patron of Sabeel International, speaking courageously on the issue of apartheid practices by the State of Israel against the Palestinians.
The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu
Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa
Patron of Sabeel International
Canon Naim Ateek
Founder/Director, Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, Jerusalem
Bio: Naim was born in 1937 in the Palestinian village of Beisan, south of the Sea of Galilee. His family went to live in Nazareth after Zionist troops occupied Beisan in 1948. He was ordained in the Anglican (Episcopal) Church in 1967. He holds degrees from Hardin-Simmons University (TX) and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CA). He earned a Doctor of Divinity degree from the San Francisco Theological Seminary (CA) in 1985. Ateek received the Episcopal Peace Fellowship Sayre Award and Distinguished Alumnus awards from San Francisco Theological Seminary and Hardin Simmons University. He holds Honorary Doctor of Divinity degrees from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and the Episcopal Divinity School of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ateek established the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem in 1991. Previous to that, he served as Canon of St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem and also served as parish priest in Haifa and Nazareth. He is author and editor of numerous books, including Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation; Faith and the Intifada; Jerusalem: What Makes for Peace; Our Story: The Palestinians; Holy Land, Hollow Jubilee: God, Justice and the Palestinians; and A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation (Orbis Books, October 2008). Ateek lectures widely in Palestine and Israel as well as internationally. He has been called “the Desmond Tutu of Palestine”.FOSNA Steering Committee Officers
Rt. Rev. Edmond (Ed) Browning
FOSNA President/Former Presiding Bishop, Episcopal Church, USA
Hood River, OR
Email: edbrowning@hoodriverelectric.net
Bio: Bishop Browning was the 24th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church USA (January 1986—December 1997) and has served as president of FOSNA since he helped to establish it in 1998. He began his career as a priest in Corpus Christi as an assistant at the Church of the Good Shepherd from 1954 to 1956, followed by a period as Rector of Church of the Redeemer in Eagle Pass, Texas from 1956 to 1959. He and his wife Patti moved to Japan where they lived and served the church there from 1959 to 1968. On January 5, 1968, Browning was consecrated the first Missionary Bishop of Okinawa. Bishop Browning’s prophetic role as a church leader has always placed him at the vanguard of the progressive Christian movement on issues of justice and peace, the ordination of women, and homosexuality. His vision is that the church should “. . . use all its influences to try to bring about better conditions for the poor, the hungry, both in this country as well as in the global village." He published A Year of Days with the Book of Common Prayer in October 1997, meditations inspired by the Book of Common Prayer. Browning, now retired, continues to support Sabeel and spends part of his time growing blueberries in Hood River, Oregon, where he is known as the Blueberry Bishop.
Rev. Richard (Dick) K. Toll, D.Min., D.D.
FOSNA Board Chair
Friends of Sabeel – North America
PO Box 9186, Portland, OR 97207
Office: (503) 653-6625
Email: RToll41439@aol.com
Bio: The Rev. Canon Richard K. Toll, retired Episcopal priest, has served as board chair of Friends of Sabeel--North America since 2000. Born in Pecos, Texas. Received BBA from Texas Technological University in 1962. Graduate of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (M.Div. 1967) and Virginia Theological Seminary (D.Min. 1985). Ordained to the diaconate in 1967 and the priesthood in 1968. Began ministry as an Associate at Grace Memorial Church in Portland, Oregon, serving as City Missioner, from 1967-1970. Chaplain Resident at Emanual Hospital in Portland, 1970-71. Called as Rector of St. Stephen’s, Baker, Oregon, from 1971-1976. Member of Diocesan Council of Eastern Oregon from 1972-1972 and the President of the Standing Committee for the Diocese of Eastern Oregon from 1973-1976. Called as Canon Pastor of St. Mark’s Cathedral, Seattle, Washington, 1976. Received the title of Honorary Canon in the Diocese of Olympia, Washington. Received honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, California, 2001. Rector of St. John the Evangelist, Milwaukie, OR, from 1984 to 2003. Awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, by The Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley. The degree was given in recognition of Dick’s “courage, vision, and wisdom” and for his effective commitment to justice and peace in the Holy Land through his work with Sabeel.
Sister Elaine Kelley
FOSNA Administrative Officer
PO Box 9186, Portland, OR 97207
Office: (503) 653-6625
Email: friends@fosna.org
Bio: Sister Elaine Kelley, SFCC, a Roman Catholic and member of the Sisters for Christian Community, has been involved in the Palestine-Israel peace movement for 20 years. She lived in the Bethlehem area for four years, working with heads of West Bank NGOs to communicate case and need to English-speaking funders in North America and Europe and their representatives in Jerusalem. She served as development officer at Bethlehem University during 1998-2000. For six years she was a writer for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and contributed to the book, They Came and They Saw: Western Christian Experiences of the Holy Land. Since September 2001 she has served as administrator of Friends of Sabeel—North America.
Mary Hansen
FOSNA Treasurer
Portland, OR
Email: MHMay9@aol.com
Bio: Mary Hansen is a professional fiduciary in the Portland area. She developed a care management business assisting the elderly and families of the elderly and disabled in 1991. Mary sits on several boards in the Portland area including the Associates Board for the Sisters of the Holy Names, and Outreach in Burnside (also serving as past board president). She is active in community affairs and serves as a volunteer and resource person for several organizations. She serves as Treasurer of Friends of Sabeel—North America.FOSNA Steering Committee Members
Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel
Executive Director, AMIS, Inc.
Peachtree Presbyterian Church
Atlanta, GA
Email: fabu-akel@peachtreepres.org
Bio: The Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel is a Palestinian born and raised in the village of Kuffer-Yassif, Galilee, Israel, the son of Christian Palestinian Arab parents. He holds a D. Min. degree from McCormick theological Seminary in Chicago and a masters from Columbia Seminary in Georgia and has been the Mission Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Atlanta for 20 years. In 1986, as a commissioner to the Presbyterian General Assembly, he helped found the PC (USA)s Middle Eastern Caucus. He served on the church's Initiative Team on Racism and Racial Violence that produced the denomination's seminal document on "Facing Racism, a Vision of the Beloved Community." While at First Church Atlanta, he began and became executive director of the Atlanta Ministry for International Students, AMIS, an ecumenical organization that provides hospitality to more than 5,000 students from 140 countries. In June 2002 Abu-Akel was elected Moderator of the 214th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA, the first Palestinian to lead a major American denomination.Rev. Robert Assaly
Ottawa, Ontario - Canada
Email: robertassaly@rogers.com
Bio: The Rev. Robert Assaly is an Anglican priest of the Diocese of Ottawa. He has been engaged with Middle East peace and justice issues for over 20 years. He continues, since the late 1980s, as the Anglican Church of Canada’s appointee to ecumenical Middle East Working Group of the Canadian Churches. For a decade he represented the Canadian Council of Churches on the United Nations North American Coordinating Committee of NGOs on the Question of Palestine, eventually becoming vice-president. In the early 90s, he served as Director of the Middle East Council of Churches Jerusalem office and its Ecumenical Travel Office, as well as Vicar of Gaza. He has been Chair of Canadian Friends of Sabeel for nine years. He holds a degree in Middle East and Islamic History, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate (historical theology) at McGill University in Montreal. He is the father of six. His oldest daughter is also involved, leading groups from Canada to Sabeel exposure visits of the West Bank and Gaza.
Elizabeth (Betsy) Barlow
Ann Arbor, MI
Email: Edbarlow7@aol.com
Bio: Episcopalian. Educated at Carleton College, Minnesota, and St. Anne’s College Oxford, subsequently earning an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan where, beginning in 1982 she served as Outreach Coordinator of the University’s Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies. She has been active for three decades in educating people through workshops and summer institutes for teachers and in her evaluation of textbooks and the design of supplementary study materials, study tours to the Middle East and media briefings. In 1996 she helped to co-found Friends of Sabeel—North America, serving as U.S. coordinator until 1999. She continues to support its work on the steering committee and as coordinator of Friends of Sabeel in Michigan.
Ann E. Hafften
Weatherford, TX
Email: annhafften@mindspring.com
Bio: Ann Hafften is a writer,communication specialist and advocate. She currently heads Ecumenical Accompaniment in Palestine/Israel (EAPPI) program in the U.S. She has worked as a communicator for agencies of the Lutheran church for most of her career;most recently she served as coordinator for Middle East networking for the Division for Global Mission, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.In that capacity she provided resources for prayer, education and advocacy around Palestine and Israel concerns and coordinateda national grassroots network of prayer and advocacy. Hafften is the contributing editor of Water from the Rock – Lutheran Voices from Palestine [Augsburg Fortress 2003]. Hafften has traveled to Israel and Palestine 16 times beginning in 1977. Most recently she led a tour for Bishop Kevin Kanouse of the ELCA's Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod in May2005.Hafften organized and led travel seminars for the Center for Global Education, Augsburg College.She was the director for news and information for the ELCA (1992-1998). Hafften is a graduate of the College of Journalism, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa. She is a member of Messiah Lutheran Church in Weatherford, Texas, where her husband Franz Schemmel is the pastor.George Khoury
Huntington Woods, MI
(248) 544-0359
Email: khouryga@yahoo.comGeorge Khoury is a retired mechanical engineer originally from
Joy Lapp, Ph.D.
Metropolitan State College of Denver
Boulder, CO
Email: lappj@earthlink.net
Bio: Joy Lapp, Ph.D., teaches religion and ethics classes at Metro State College of Denver. She also teaches English to refugees who are resettling in Denver. She lived in Egypt for three years as a Mennonite Central Committee worker, where she taught English at the Coptic Institute and at the Coptic Evangelical Seminary in Cairo. She is the chair of Friends of Sabeel - Colorado and has led several fact-finding trips to Israel/Palestine.
Rev. Darrel Meyers
Middle East Fellowship of Southern California
Burbank, CA
Email: darrelmeyers@webtv.net
Bio: Darrel Meyers helped organize and co-chairs the FOS chapter in Southern California. He founded and chairs the Middle East Fellowship of Southern California, established in 1969, which is an NGO related to the UN. A frequent traveler to the Palestine/Israel, including participation in six Sabeel international conferences, he is a Presbyterian minister who served several congregations and campuses in the LA area. With longtime involvement in peacemaking groups and activities, he currently chairs his regional synod's work groups on Peace, Justice, and the Integrity of Creation.
Dr. Rosemary Radford Ruether
Pacific School of Religion
Claremont, CA
Email: rruether@psr.edu
Bio: Renowned Roman Catholic feminist scholar and theologian; Visiting Professor of Feminist Theology at Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Graduate University. She formerly was Carpenter Professor of Feminist Theology at the Pacific School of Religion and Graduate Theological Union, and also taught at the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Ruether is the author of The Wrath of Jonah: The Crisis of Religious Nationalism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and Amerika, Amerikka: Elect Nation and Imperial Violence. Her many books on feminism, the Bible and Christianity include Sexism and God-Talk and In Our Own Voices: Four Centuries of American Women’s Religious Writing.
Grace Said
Chevy Chase, MD
Email: Grace.Said@verizon.net
Bio: Grace Said (Anglican) is a Palestinian-American activist. She was born in Egypt and lived in Lebanon for many years. She moved to Washington DC in 1983 where she became involved with the peace and justice community. She has spoken to audiences about Palestinian issues and is an active member of the Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace (WIAMEP). She is the sister of the late Edward Said.
Rev. Donald (Don) Wagner
Center for Middle Eastern Studies - Northpark University
Chicago, IL
Email: dwagner@northpark.edu
www.northpark.edu
Bio: Don Wagner was the co-founder and director of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding and previously served Presbyterian churches in New Jersey and Evanston, Illinois, where he resides. His books include: All in the Name of the Bible (editor, 1986), Peace or Armageddon (with Dan O’Neill, 1993), Anxious for Armageddon (1995), and Dying in the Land of Promise (2000). In addition to serving on the board of Friends of Sabeel—North America, which he helped to found in the early 1990s, Don has provided leadership for groups such as the Holy Land Trust, Pilgrims of Ibillin, the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation, and Youth Advocates. He has led numerous study groups to the Middle East and works internationally to educate Christians about the problems of Christian Zionism.
Rev. James M. (Jim) Wall
Senior Contributing Editor, The Christian Century
Elmhurst, IL
Email: Jimwall65@aol.com
Bio: From 1972 through 1999, James M. Wall served as editor and publisher of The Christian Century magazine. Since 1999, he has served as a Contributing Editor. Since 1973 Wall has traveled as a journalist to the Middle East and to other overseas assignments. He frequently writes on the issues of peace and justice, with a special concern for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Born in Monroe, Georgia, Wall earned his bachelor's degree from Emory University, majoring in journalism. After graduation, he worked for The Atlanta Journal sports department. In 1950-52, during the Korean Conflict, he served in the U.S. Air Force. He earned two master's degrees in religion at Emory University and the University of Chicago Divinity School. Wall is an ordained United Methodist clergyman. Earlier in his career he served pastorates in Georgia and Illinois. Wall is an occasional guest on television and radio talk shows in the Chicago area. Since 1972, he has been active in politics, and was elected six times as a delegate to a Democratic National Nominating Convention between 1972 and 2000. www.wallwritings.wordpress.com
FOSNA Advisory Board
Laila Al-Marayati
Los Angeles, CA
Email: lalmaray@usc.edu
Bio: Laila al-Marayati, M.D., is a Palestinian American doctor. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine and Assistant Residency Program Director in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She also serves as the Director of Women's Health at the Eisner Pediatric and Family Medical Center in downtown Los Angeles. She is a former presidential appointee to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, where she served for two years after being appointed by President Bill Clinton; past president of the Muslim Women’s League, a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to disseminating accurate information about Islam. She is the former head of KinderUSA, an organization of American physicians and humanitarian relief workers.
Mubarak Awad
Washington, D.C.
Email: MAwad@iyaf.org
Bio:Mubarak Awad is a psychologist in Washington, D.C., is the founder and director of Nonviolence International, advocating peaceful solutions to the Palestine-Israel conflict. He speaks at conferences throughout the U.S. and abroad.Kathy Bergen
Ramallah (West Bank), Palestine
Email: bergenkathy@gmail.com
Bio:
Mark Braverman
Bethesda, MD
Email: m_braverman@yahoo.com
Bio: Mark Braverman is a Jewish American with deep family roots in the Holy Land. Trained as a clinical psychologist, and a pioneer in developing innovative approaches to crisis intervention and recovery from trauma, Mark now devotes himself full-time to the cause for peace in historic Palestine. In his work he focuses on the role of religious beliefs and theology in the current discourse on Israel/Palestine and the future of interfaith relations. Mark serves on the advisory board of Friends of Sabeel North American and on the Board of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions-USA. He is the author of Fatal Embrace: Christians, Jews, and the Search for Peace in the Holy Land. Learn more about his work and his writing at www.markbraverman.org.Rt. Rev. (John) Barry Curtis
Calgary, Alberta, CANADA
Email: synod@calgary.anglican.ca
Bio: Anglican Bishop of Calgary 1983-1999 and Metropolitan of Rupert's Land. Archbishop Curtis was ordained to the diaconate in 1958 in Ottawa's Christ Church Cathedral. He was ordained a priest the next year in Smiths Falls, Ontario, was named bishop of Calgary in 1983 and became archbishop and metropolitan in 1994.
Rt. Rev. Thomas Gumbleton
Detroit, MI
Email: tjgdet@juno.com
Bio: Bishop Thomas Gumbleton is a retired auxiliary bishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit and the founding president of Pax Christi USA. His Sunday homilies from St Leo's parish in Detroit are published as The Peace Pulpit in the National Catholic Reporter weekly newspaper. He traveled to Gaza in April 2008 with FOSNA board chair Rev. Richard Toll. Bishop Tom is a member of several organizations (such as The Institute for Public Accuracy, Nevada Desert Experience, Pastors for Peace, and Call To Action). He is a recipient of 47 peace awards, including: Pacem in Terris Award (1979); Jewish National Fund - Trees for Israel (1981); Palestine Aid Society (1990); Pax Christi Ambassador of Peace (1992); Call to Action Leadership Award (1995); Alliance for Nuclear Accountability (1998); Prophets of Peace Award - Benedictine Sisters of Erie (2000); 2005 Global Peace Award (2005); Mercyhurst College's Archbishop Oscar Romero Award (2007).Gabriel Habib
Alexandria, VA
Email: jebranhabib@hotmail.com
Bio: Gabriel Habib was born in Lebanon. He studied law at St. Joseph University in Beirut. In 1961, he volunteered through the World Council of Churches (WCC) to serve the Algerian refugees in Tunisia. He also worked for the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) and World Council of Churches as the Joint Youth and Student Secretary for the Middle East between 1962 and 1974. He was voluntary General Secretary for the World Conference of Christians for Palestine (WCCP). In 1974, he worked as Director of the Near East Ecumenical Bureau of Information and Interpretation. He was Assistant General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches from 1977 to 1994. Mr. Habib participated in the creation of the Middle East Council of Churches. He was the International Affairs Consultant for the National Council of Churches in the United States between 1977 and 2002. He was recently appointed to the Board of Policy Institute for Religion and State. He is also active with the Middle East Fellowship.
Yvonne Haddad
Bethesda, MD
Email: haddady@georgetown.edu
Bio: Yvonne Haddad is Professor of History of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Georgetown University. She is a Presbyterian who grew up in Syria and came to the U.S. with her husband in 1963. She received her doctorate in the History of Religion from Hartford Seminary, Connecticut, in 1979, and is the former president of the Middle East Studies Association. Dr. Haddad specializes in issues of contemporary Islam and has focused in particular on Islam in the United States. Books she has edited and authored include "The Muslims in America" and "Islam, Gender and Social Change".Zaha Hassan
Vancouver, WA
Email: ZahaHassan@comcast.net
Bio: Zaha Hassan is an attorney, a graduate of UC Berkeley School of Law, and founder of Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights. She is an American born Palestinian Muslim from Al-Bireh, near Ramallah (West Bank) where she graduated from the Friends Girl School. She is one of three civil rights lawyers who sued the National Security Agency, claiming it illegally wiretapped conversations between the leaders of an Islamic charity and two of its lawyers. The case is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.
Rashid Khalidi
New York
Email: rik2101@columbia.edu
Bio: Dr. Khalidi, an American historian of Palestinian descent, is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. He holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University and his research covers the history of the modern Middle East, focusing on the emergence of various national identities and the role played by external powers in their development. He also researches the impact of the press on forming new senses of community, the role of education in the construction of political identity, and the way historical narratives have developed over the past centuries in the region. In Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness, which won MESA’s Albert Hourani Prize as best book of 1997, he places the emergence of Palestinian national identity in the context of Ottoman and British colonialism as well as the early Zionist effort in the Levant. His most recent book is The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (2006). His book Sowing Crisis: American Dominance and the Cold War in the Middle East is forthcoming in the spring of 2009. He serves on the advisory board of Friends of Sabeel— North America.
Atif Kubursi
Hamilton, Ontario, CANADA
Email: kubursi@mcmaster.ca
Bio: Dr. Kubursi is Professor Emeritus, Department of Economics, McMaster University. In 1972, Atif Kubursi formed Econometric Research Limited which he has continuously served as its president. In 1982, he joined the United Nations Industrial Organization as Senior Development Officer. Since then he worked as a team leader of several UNIDO missions to Indonesia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Sudan, and Egypt. In his consulting activities he has specialized in the areas of economic development strategies, impact analysis and regional planning with special emphasis on the environment, tourism and industrial development. He has frequently lectured on globalization issues, economic development, oil and industrialization, impact of tourism on provincial and local economies, political economy of development, Arab affairs and on environment-economy linkages. He is the author of Crises in Economic Theories, Models and Methodology (Al Mustaqbal Al Arabi 274, 2001) and A Note on Environmental Technologies and Economic Growth (unpublished 2004). Dr. Kubursi also taught economics at Purdue University in Indiana, USA, was a senior visiting scholar at Cambridge University, UK., and lectured and consulted at Harvard.
Michael Lynk
London, Ontario, CANADA
Email: mslynk@uwo.ca
Bio: Professor Lynk joined the Faculty of Law at The University of Western Ontario in 1999, after practicing labor and employment law in Toronto and Ottawa for a number of years. He has taught constitutional law, labor law, Canadian human rights law, and a seminar on advanced labor law, and he has won awards for his teaching. He is the co-author of Trade Union Law in Canada (Canada Law Book), and has written widely on labor law and human rights law. Other publications include: “Conceived in Law: The Legal Foundations of Resolution 242” (2007), 37:1 /Journal of Palestine Studies/ 7.; “The United Nations Special Committee on Palestine – 1947” in C. Rubenberg (ed.), /Encyclopedia of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict/ (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, forthcoming); “A Tale of Two Judgements” (2006) 24 /Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights /61 (co-authored with Prof. Susan Akram).Prior to joining the Faculty, he served as a vice-chair on the Ontario Public Service Grievance Board, and worked with the United Nations in the Middle East on refugee and human rights issues. He is currently Associate Dean (Academic) at Western Law.
Ambassador Clovis Maksoud
Washington, D.C.
Email: glsouth@american.edu
Bio: Ambassador Clovis Maksoud is presently Professor of International Relations and Director of the Center for the Global South at American University in Washington, DC. A Lebanese national, Dr. Maksoud was the Chief Representative of the League of Arab States in India from 1961-1966. From 1967-1979, he served as the Senior Editor of Al-Ahram and then Chief Editor of Al-Nahar Weekly. Ambassador Maksoud was appointed as the League of Arab States' Chief Representative to the United States and the United Nations on September 1, 1979. On August 15, 1990, he submitted his resignation from the League in the aftermath of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. A lawyer, journalist and diplomat, Dr. Maksoud served as the Arab League Ambassador to India and South-East Asia from 1961-1966. Dr. Maksoud is the author of several articles and books on the Middle East and the global South, among them: "The Meaning of Non-Alignment," "The Crisis of the Arab Left," "Reflections on Afro-Asianism," and "The Arab Image." Clovis Maksoud was the Chairperson and Convener of many conferences on environment and development, human rights, population, and disarmament. Born on December 17, 1928, Dr. Maksoud graduated from The American University of Beirut, went on to receive his J.D. from the George Washington University in Washington, DC and did post-graduate studies at Oxford University in Britain.
Afif Safieh
Moscow, Russian Federation
Email: ambassador@palestine.ru
Bio: H.E. Afif Safieh is a Palestinian Christian diplomat, former PLO Mission Representative to the U.S. and former Ambassador to the Vatican and the U.K., currently serving as Palestinian ambassador to the Russian Federation. From 1987 until 1990, Safieh served as PLO representative to the Netherlands. During his service, he was involved in the 1988 Stockholm negotiations that led to the first official and direct American-Palestinian dialogue. In 1990, he became Palestinian General Delegate to the United Kingdom. In January 1995, he was invited to join the International Board of Trustees of the Vatican-sponsored Bethlehem University. Nominated Palestinian General Delegate to the Holy See, he presented his letter of credentials to Pope John Paul II on November 6, 1995. On October 27, 2005 he was appointed to head the PLO office to the United States, Washington, DC. He served in Washington for two and a half years, having lectured students and US citizens from the west coast to the east coast about the Palestinian struggle at a wide range of universities and institutes. In May 2008, Afif Safieh was appointed to serve as the Palestinian ambassador to the Russian Federation and presented his letter of credentials to President Medvedev on September 18, 2008. Afif Safieh is considered the most experienced and skilled Palestinian diplomat having served in three politically significant capitals: London, Washington, and Moscow.
John Salzberg
Washington, DC
Email: john.salzberg@verizon.net
Bio: John is a Quaker with a Ph.D.in International Relations, New York University, 1973. 40 plus year career in international human rights including: Staff Consultant, international human rights, House Subcommittee on International Organizations, 1973-1978. Regional Affairs Officer, Bureau of Human Rights, Department of State, 1979-1981. Washington Representative, the Center for Victims of Torture, 1992-2005. Current volunteer positions: Chair, Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace. Member, Steering Committee, Friends International Center in Ramallah. Co-Chair, Human Rights Task Force, United Nations Association of the National Capital Area.
Dorothy Jean Weaver
Harrisonburg, VA
Email: weaverdj@emu.edu
Bio: Dorothy Jean Weaver is Professor of New Testament at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, VA, where she has taught since 1984. She holds a PhD in New Testament from Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, VA. Her publications include Matthew’s Missionary Discourse: A Literary Critical Analysis (Sheffield, 1990) and Bread for the Enemy: A Peace and Justice Lectionary (Mennonite Church Peace and Justice Committee, 2001). Dorothy Jean co-leads regular Israel/Palestine study tours for EMS and Nazareth/Bethlehem work groups for Virginia Mennonite Missions. She has likewise taught New Testament courses in Beirut, Bethlehem, and Cairo. Dorothy Jean is a member of Community Mennonite Church in Harrisonburg.
Cornel West
Princeton, NJ
Email: maryannr@princeton.edu
Bio: One of America's most provocative public intellectuals, Cornel West has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. His writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the black Baptist Church, progressive politics, and jazz.
Currently the Class of 1943 Professor at Princeton University, West burst onto the national scene in 1993 with his bestselling book, Race Matters, a searing analysis of racism in American democracy. Race Matters has become a contemporary classic, selling more than a half a million copies to date. Dr. West has published 18 other books and has edited 13 texts and has received more than 20 honorary degrees. He earned two bachelor's degrees from Harvard in three years, magna cum laude. After earning his Ph.D. at Princeton, he became a professor of religion and director of the Afro-American Studies program there. West has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. In his book, Democracy Matters, West analyzes the arrested development of democracy both in America and in the crisis-ridden Middle East. In his latest book, Hope on a Tightrope, he offers courageous commentary on issues that affect the lives of all Americans. Themes include Race, Leadership, Faith, Family, Philosophy, and Love and Service. He also has produced 3 albums. His latest CD, Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations is a collection of socially conscience music featuring collaborations with Prince, Outkast, Jill Scott, Talib Kweli and KRS-ONE. West also offers commentary weekly on The Tavis Smiley Show from PRI.
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