WHITHER THE ARAB-U.S. RELATIONSHIP IN THE PERIOD AHEAD? POLICY IMPLICATIONS FROM THE LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES
Chair:
Ms. Barbara G. B. Ferguson - Washington Bureau Chief, Arab News; Co-Chair, International Correspondents Committee, The National Press Club, Washington, D.C.; author, “Country Reports” on Bahrain, Morocco, and Kazakhstan for the Washington Times; embedded war correspondent during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Kuwait in 1990-1991 and in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
Speaker:
H.E. Ambassador Dr. Hussein Hassouna - Chief Representative of the League of Arab States to the United States.
Commentators:
Mr. Bill Corcoran - President, American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA).
Mr. John Moran - Career Member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service, United States Department of State; Distinguished Diplomat-in-Residence, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.
POLICY DIRECTIONS FROM THE LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES
H.E. Ambassador Dr. Hussein Hassouna – Chief Representative of the League of Arab States to the United States.
“GEO-POLITICAL DYNAMICS (II): ISRAEL AND PALESTINE”
Chair: Dr. Stephen Zunes − Professor of Politics and International Studies and Chair, Middle Eastern Studies Program, University of San Francisco; Senior Policy Analyst for the “Foreign Policy in Focus” project of the Institute for Policy Studies; Associate Editor, Peace Review; Chair, Academic Advisory Committee for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict; Alumnus, National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations Malone Fellows in Arab and Islamic Studies Program; and Host of the National Council’s West Coast Model Arab League.
Speakers:
H.E. Dr. Hussein Hassouna − Ambassador of the League of Arab States to the United States of America; Member, United Nations International Law Commission; former Assistant Foreign Minister of Egypt; former Ambassador of Egypt to Morocco and Yugoslavia; Member, Egyptian delegation involved in reaching the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.
H.E. Maen Rashid Areikat − Ambassador and Head of Mission, Mission of the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the United States; former Director-General, PLO Negotiations Affairs Department and PLO Negotiations Support Unit.
Dr. Thomas Neu − Executive Director, Friends of UNRWA – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine; former Middle East Representative for ANERA in the Jerusalem office; formerly with the United States Peace Corps and Save the Children.
Mr. Robert Malley − Middle East and North Africa Program Director, International Crisis Group; former Special Assistant to President Clinton for Arab-Israeli Affairs; former Executive Assistant to Samuel R. Berger, National Security Advisor; former Director for Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, National Security Council.
“ARAB-U.S. RELATIONS: The Way Forward – Views the Arab World”
H.E. Dr. Hussein Hassouna − Ambassador of the League of Arab States to the United States of America; former Assistant Foreign Minister of Egypt; former Ambassador of Egypt to Morocco and Yugoslavia; Member, United Nations International Law Commission.
Audio from portions of the 2007 Arab-U.S.-Policymakers Conference can be found on the Saudi-U.S. Relations Information Service Web site, www.susris.org.
Keynote Address – Senator Chuck Hagel
Geo-Political Dynamics: Iran and Iraq
- Amb Ronald Neumann – Chair, former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Algeria and Bahrain
- Dr. Judith Yaphe, Distinguished Research Fellow, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University
- Dr. Trita Parsi, President, National American Iranian Affairs Council
- Dr. Edmund Ghareeb, Mustafa Barzani Scholar of Global Kurdish Affairs
- Dr. Kenneth Katzman, Senior Middle East Specialist, Congressional Research Service
- Panel Questions and Answers
Energy
- Dr. Frank Verrastro – Chair, Director, CSIS Energy Program
- Hon. Clay Sell, DepSec and COO, US Dept of Energy
- Dr. Mohammed Y. Al-Qahtani, President and CEO, Aramco Services Corp
- Michael J. Dolan, President, ExxonMobil Chemical Co, and VP, ExxonMobil Corp
- John D. Hofmeister, President, Shell Oil Co.
- Gary R. Heminger, Exec VP, Marathon Oil Co and President Marathon Petroleum Co.
- Sigmund L. Cornelius, Senior VP, ConocoPhillips
- Panel Questions and Answers
Defense Cooperation Panel
- MajGen William Nash (Ret) Chair
- Dr. Anthony Cordesman
- Dr. John Peterson
- LtGen Martin Dempsey
- Panel Questions and Answers
Developmental Dynamics
- Dr. Joseph Moynihan, Chair
- Amb Shaun Donnelly, Asst US Trade Rep
- Jeremy Jones, Senior Strategic Fellow, Oxford Center for Islamic Studies
- Dr. Odeh Aburdene, President OAI Advisors
- Dr. Abdelrahim Foukara, Washington Bureau Chief, Al-Jazeerah International
- Panel Questions and Answers

