Palestinian-American Experts Available for Comment on Annapolis Meeting

The American Task Force on Palestine, a not-for-profit organization that advocates to the American people the national security interests of the United States in establishing a Palestinian state, has a number of experts available to the media for commentary on the recently announced Annapolis meeting and the broader context of the current Arab-Israeli peace initiative. For more details or to book any of our Washington based experts please call ATFP at 202-887-0177.

Dr. Ziad Asali, President, ATFP
Cell: 202-345-0435
Dr. Asali is a leading Palestinian-American activist on Middle East issues. He has provided testimony on Palestinian issues before numerous congressional committees including the House Committee on International Relations. He has written for many prominent newspapers, domestically and abroad and appeared on almost all major national news networks, as well as several Arabic television and satellite networks. Dr. Asali is the author of numerous publications on the issue of Palestine and Israel.

Rafi Dajani, Executive Director, ATFP
Cell: 202-669-5888
Mr. Dajani has been active in promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace and coexistence since 1995. He has written for many newspapers including the New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, and Chicago Tribune. He has also made regular appearances on CNN, MSNBC, BBC TV and radio, Abu Dhabi television, LBC and Al Jazeera.

Ghaith al-Omari, Advocacy Director, ATFP
Cell: 252-218-9784
Mr. Al-Omari has served as member of the Palestinian negotiating team throughout the permanent status negotiations including the Taba (2000) and Camp David (2000) rounds. He also served as foreign policy advisor to Palestinian President Abbas and head of the International Relations Department of the Palestinian Presidency. In addition, Mr. Al-Omari was the chief Palestinian drafter of the Geneva Initiative, an official model Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement. He is also currently a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation.

Lamia Matta, Consultant, ATFP
Cell: 202-468-6686
Lamia was one of the main legal advisers working on the coordination with Israel and the international community of the withdrawal of Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip and parts of the Northern West Bank. Lamia joined the International Crisis Group after working for a number of years in Ramallah as a legal adviser at the Negotiations Support Unit [NSU], an internationally-funded donor project which provides legal and policy support to Palestinian negotiators.

Hussein Ibish, Senior Fellow, ATFP
Cell: 202-438-7297
Dr. Ibish has published numerous books and articles on Israeli-Palestinian issues including "Principles and Pragmatism," "The Palestinian Right of Return" and "The Media and the New Intifada." He has made thousands of radio and television appearances and written for many newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune. He was the Washington Correspondent for the Daily Star (Beirut), and from 1998-2004 was Communications Director for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). He also serves as the Executive Director of the Foundation for Arab-American Leadership.