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News & forthcoming CLS events (link to previous events)

CLS events &  Middle East Lecture series:

Now that the summer recess is over, the Centre for Lebanese Studies is resuming its dinner lectures and is pleased to announce its forthcoming events in September-October 2008.

1. DINNER LECTURE PATRICK SEALE - 26TH SEPTEMBER 2008 AT 7:30 PM FOR 8:00 PM

The speaker for the evening will be Patrick Seale, the well known British writer on Middle East Affairs, who will elaborate on the theme of Syrian Geopolitics Under Bashar Al Asad (including Syria-Lebanon relations). Born in Ireland and educated at Oxford University, Patrick worked as a foreign correspondent in many parts of the world for Reuters and The Observer. For some fifteen years, he also ran his own literary agency and art gallery in London. He now lives in Paris and works as a journalist writing weekly articles for several newspapers among which are Al-Hayat (London), Al-Ittihad (Abu Dhabi), Gulf News (Dubai), Saudi Gazette (Jeddah), and Jeune Afrique (Paris). He is the author of several books on the Middle East including 'The Struggle for Syria', 'Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East', 'Abu Nidal: A Gun for Hire'. Following the Gulf War of 1991, Patrick helped HRH Prince Khaled bin Sultan (now Deputy Defense Minister of Saudi Arabia) write a volume of memoirs 'Desert Warrior'. His biography of Riad el-Solh, the first prime minister of independent Lebanon, will be published in 2009

The dinner will be held in London SW3. Tickets must be purchased in advance by contacting Leila Buheiry. As places are limited early reservation is recommended.

2. DINNER LECTURE H.E. NASSIF HITTI - 16TH OCTOBER 2008 AT 7:30 PM FOR 8:00 PM

H.E. Dr. Nassif Hitti, Ambassador, Director of the Arab League Mission in Paris and permanent observer at the UNESCO, will be our guest speaker on 16th October. The topic of his presentation will be Which Foreign Policy for Lebanon?. He will discuss the interplay between the domestic and external environments affecting Lebanon's foreign policy and will highlight the major changes in both environments which raise new challenges to foreign policy making. Drawing on past experience and in light of a pro-active and successful foreign policy as a main source of national security, Dr. Hitti will argue for a new foreign policy of positive neutrality and discuss the conditions for developing such policy, its goal formulation and priorities in both its regional and international environments. Born in Tripoli, Dr. Hitti took his BA and MA in political sciences from the American University of Beirut and his doctorate in International Relations from the University of South California. He is the author of 'The Theory of International Relations' and 'The Arab World and the Five Superpowers: futuristic Study'. He publishes a weekly chronicle on international affairs in Al-Bayane (Dubai).

The dinner will be held in London SW1 . Tickets must be purchased in advance by contacting Leila Buheiry.

We look forward to seeing many of you at these events.

Dinners are held in London SW1-3. Tickets are £45.- per person and must be purchased in advance by contacting Leila Buheiry at 142 North End House, Fitzjames Avenue, London W14 ORZ, Tel: 020-7602 9512, e.mail Lbuheiryyahoo.co.uk

NEW POLITICAL LEBANESE TEXT 'A FACE IN THE CROWD' BY EMIR FARID CHEHAB

In an extensive and top secret archive, Emir Farid Chehab preserved innumerable documents, letters and reports covering a fascinating and vital part of the Lebanese history in the twentieth century. These papers form a wide web of political intrigue and plotting and reveal an untold side to events in countries across the Middle East.

To order your copy please send your request to Stacey International on 020-72217166 or marketingstacey-international.co.uk

Please contact Leila Buheiry, Lbuheiryyahoo.co.uk , or on 020-7602-9512 , if you have any questions or wish to purchase tickets,
Alternatively you may contact us through the Centre for Lebanese Studies, c/o 14a Airlie Gardens, London W8 7AL
Tel: 020 7221 3809

We also would like as many of you as possible to become Friends of the Centre for Lebanese Studies. The Centre needs your help to keep its work at the forefront of current thinking on Lebanon and the Middle East.
A Friends Membership form is available to download here
Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated !!

Previous CLS events:

18 Mar 2008 Dinner Lecture with Ghada Karmi.
Talk entitled " 60 Years of Damage: Israel and the Arab World since 1948 ". Israel's establishment in the Arab world sixty years ago impacted most immediately on the Palestinians. But what is often ignored is the extensive damage inflicted on the Arab frontline states and the Arab world in general. Lebanon especially has paid a heavy price for the imposition of Israel on its borders.
Ghada Karmi's new book Married to Another Man: Israel's dilemma in Palestine deals with this aspect, will discuss the historical damage done to Lebanon and the Arab world by Israel, and how it has shaped the modern Middle East.
Born in Jerusalem, Ghada Karmi grew up in England where she became a physician, academic and writer. Currently a research fellow and lecturer at the Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, she is the author of the widely acclaimed memoir In Search of Fatima.

27 Feb 2008 Dinner Lecture with Avi Shlem.
Talk entitled " The Palestinian Triangle: Jordan, Israel and the Palestinians ". Largely from the perspective of the past, that of King Hussein.

6 Feb 2008 PANEL ON THE PUBLICATION OF 'PALESTINE: POLITICAL REFLECTIONS 1945-54' - THE WRITINGS OF Michel Chiha.
Michel Chiha (1891-1954), a candid analyst and ardent patriot, often traced Lebanon's shortcomings to the partition of Palestine in 1949 and the creation of the Zionist State.
To celebrate the publication of Chiha's writings, a panel of prominent contemporary commentators considered how far we have come in the intervening 60 years.Chaired by Eugene Rogan, Director of the Middle East Centre at St. Anthony's College Oxford and will consist of Michel Edde, politician and former Chairman of the Maronite League, Chris Doyle, Director of CAABU, Samir Khalaf, Professor of Sociology at the American University of Beirut, Yossi Mekelberg, Associate Fellow of the Middle East Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. The event was held in conjunction with CAABU and Stacey International at the Foreign Press Association.

30 Jan 2008 BOOK LAUNCH 'BREAKING THE CYCLE: CIVIL WARS IN LEBANON' - with Dr. Youssef Choueiri, editor of the book
The Centre of Lebanese Studies will be launched their latest publication at the Arab British Chamber of Commerce, 43 Upper Grosvenor Street, London W1K 2NJ. This major new book gathers essays by a selection of distinguished commentators on the Middle East , addressing the matter of how to avoid the prospect of further civil wars in Lebanon.
This major new book gathers essays by a selection of distinguished commentators on the Middle East region, addressing the matter of how to avoid the prospect of further civil war in Lebanon.
Contributors include: Alexandra Asseily, Ahmed Beydoun, Youssef Choueiri, Pamela Chrabieh, Mark Farha, Sune Haugbolle, Rudy Jaafar, Michael Johnson, Michael Kerr, Mohammad F Mattar, Nawaf Salam, Halim Shebaya and Maha Shuayb.

16 Jan 2008 Dinner Lecture with Sofia Shwayri
talk entitled " Beirut: the City of Recurring Conflicts". Since October 2004 Beirut has been rocked by a number of explosions in hitherto relatively safe districts which have targeted politicians, journalists and civilians. This mobile violence was coupled in the summer of 2006 by a war which damaged many of the roads and bridges connecting the various governorates of Lebanon. Damage to Beirut's urban landscape was further extended by the occupation of protestors of the Central District and ghettoisation and securitisation of whole neighbourhoods. Such activities have reversed 15 years of reconcstruction and stability. Does this process of destruction mark the beginning of a new round of conflict or is Beirut experiencing a new form of violence comparable to New York on 11 September 2001, Madrid on 11 March 2003, and London on 7 July 2005?
Sofia Shwayri, a Visiting Fellow in Lebanese Studies at St. Anthony's College, Oxford., earned her BA and MA in Archaeology at the American University of Beirut, and her Ph.D. in architecture from the University of California, Berkley (2003). She worked as a Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of City and Regional Planning at Berkeley where her research focused on issues of water and violence manifested in a struggle between regional politics and local demands. She also lectured on Cities and Conflict in the Middle East. Previous to her fellowship at St. Anthony's Sofia worked at the University of New York as Assistant Professor/Fellow at the J.M. Draper Interdisciplinary Master's Program in Humanities and Social Thought.

29 May 2007 Dinner Lecture with Alex Klaushofer
Talk entitled 'Lebanon Under Western Eyes'. Alex discused the Lebanon that emerged from her research trips and conversations with Lebanese of all communities and beliefs over the past three years. In particular she shared her observations about Lebanon's special status as the quintessentially diverse, multi-confessional country of the Middle East, the evolving nature of Lebanese identity and how far the Lebanon she discovered matches with perceptions of the country in Britain.

Alex (Ms) Klaushofer is a London based journalist writing on social affairs and politics in Britain and the Middle East. Her work has appeared in many papers and magazines including the Guardian, the Observer, and the Daily Telegraph along with many contributions to the BBC.
Alex Klaushofer graduated with an English degree from St. Hugh's College, Oxford, and did her PhD in philosophy at Essex University. She taught in higher and further education for several years but it was in 1998, when she spent a summer as volunteer English teacher in a West Bank refugee camp, that she realised that the Middle East is (probably) the most interesting place in the world. She has been visiting the region ever since, as a writer and journalist and as Christian Aid's Middle East Communications Manager.
Her recently published book " Paradise Divided: A Portrait of Lebanon", which is part travel narrative and part reportage, chronicles Lebanon's attempts to maintain a fragile peace after its long civil war and last summer's conflict with Israel. Charles Glass said about the book: 'The Lebanese in all their complexity, wonder, deceit and kindness shine through this delightful book.'

31 Jan 2007 Dinner Lecture with HE Mr. Sami Khiyami
Topic: The Future Role of Syria in the Region:
HE Mr. Sami Khiyami, Ambassador of Syria to the Court of St. James, spoke about The Future Role of Syria in the Region. In view of the aftermath of the Iraq invasion and in view of its relationship with Iran and Lebanon, Syria is called upon to play a very important role in the region in the near future. Dr. Khiyami touched upon one or two aspects of this role both in relation to Iraq and Lebanon.
Dr. Khiyami is an electronic engineer by profession who received his BE in Electrical Engineering from the American University of Beirut and a PhD in Electronics and Information Technology from the University of Claude Bernard in Lyon, France. He is co-founder and a member of the board of the Syrian Computer Society, has taught Computer Engineering and Electronic Measurements at the Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering of Damascus University, and from 1986-1995 was Head of the Electronics Department, Chief Researcher and then Director of Research at the Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology in Damascus. He has been a consultant to the Syrian government in the field of electronics and IT and played a major role in the introduction of microprocessor design techniques in the electronic industry in Syria.

16 Jan 2007 The Opus for Lebanon:
United in Music concert, organised by Lebanon United, at St. John's Smith Square, SW1. A fusion of music and talent from East and West, past and present. Featured the Lebanese flautist Wissam Bustani, Davod Azad (Voice) and the Orion Symphony Orchestra conducted by Toby Purser. The music included that of Bushra El-Turk, Peter Caudrey, Barber and Mozart. Proceeds to the International Medical Corps UK Lebanon Appeal, a UK registered charity.

29 Nov 2006 Book Launch.Lebanese Imprints on the Twentieth Century by Asma Freiha, Viviane Ghanem & Amale Khlat.

28 Nov 2006 Dinner Lecture with Dr. Allawi
Topic: Democracy and Sectarianism: lessons from the Iraqi Experience.
How setting out the principles of a democratic government are sometimes in contradiction with the political realities on the gound and may require a more imaginative form of political system. A parallel was drawn with Lebanon which, like Iraq, suffers from sectarianism and a form of democratic government which does not often reflect the political realities. Dr. Allawi is Former Minister of Trade, Defence and Finance in several Iraqi governments in the period 2003-2006, and a member of the elected Transitional National Assembly. He is a graduate of MIT, LSE and the Harvard Business School, and has worked in development (with the World Bank group) as well as investment finance.

23rd May 2006 Word into Art exhibition highlighting the contemporary art of the Middle East

Venue: the Great Court at the British Museum. Reflecting issues of identity and politics and the diverse artistic heritage of the region. It focuses on the different ways artists engage and experiment with Arabic script. This is not simply because writing takes so many varied and interesting forms, but because grouping the works together thematically, and looking at what is written within them, gives an insight into the rich literary and artistic cultures of this region, as well as into the ways in which artists are affected by history and by current world politics. Word Into Art featured works by artists from Iraq, Syria, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Palestine and Israel as well as North Africa, Iran and Turkey. Sponsored by Credit Suisse.

9th Mar 2006 Dinner Lecture with Chibli Mallat
Topic: the future of Lebanon
Chibli Mallat is a Professor of Law at St. Joseph University, a senior fellow at Yale Law School, and principal partner at Mallat Law Offices in Beirut. Chibli was an active member of the Cedar Revolution in February 2005 and is a strong supporter of voting rights for Lebanese abroad. He spearheaded the constitutional opposition to the extension of President Lahoud's mandate in 1998 and 2004.
As human rights advocate Chibli co-founded and coordinated organsations for democracy and judicial accountability in mass crimes in Iraq, and conducted judicial action leading to the indictment of Qaddafi for the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr in Libya. He won his case in the Belgian Courts against Ariel Sharon in 2001 before it was stopped by retroactive legislation.
Chibli served as Director of the Centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Law at the Universithy of London. He is a candidate to the Presidency of Lebanon.

9 Feb 2006 Dinner Lecture with Najib Mikati.
ex Prime Minister of Lebanon,Najib Mikati, addressed a small group about the present situation in the Near East.

29 Nov 2005 Dinner lecture with Michael R. Kerr
Topic: focused on an evaluation of, comparing and contrasting, the power sharing agreements that were used to regulate the ethno-national conflicts at different times in both divided societies in Northern Ireland, the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement and the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, and in Lebanon the 1943 National Pact and the 1989 Ta'if Accords.
Michael R. Kerr is the author of 'Imposing Power Sharing: Conflict and Coexistence in Northern Ireland and Lebanon' and 'Transforming Unionism: David Trimble and the 2005 General Election'. His perspective of considering external factors, as opposed to conventional internal factors, as the key for reaching peace and making it work is of special relevance especially when power sharing is the main issue in Iraq.
Michael Kerr is Tutorial fellow in the London School of Economics' International History Department and Visiting Lecturer in its Government Department where he finished his PhD in 2003. He also worked from 1999 to 2005 for former Ulster Unionist Leader David Trimble at Westminster whilst teaching at the LSE and SOAS.

11 Apr 2005 Dinner lecture with Dr. Philip Salem
Topic: "The Lebanese abroad and how they can help the new Lebanon".
Dr. Philip Salem, the world renowned oncologist and cancer researcher, studied medicine at the American University of Beirut and began his career in cancer medicine in 1968 at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York. Back in Lebanon in 1971 he joined the AUB faculty and established the first fellowship training programs in cancer in the Middle East and the first cancer Registry in Lebanon. He emigrated to the US in 1986 where he joined the M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston.
His pioneering work and outstanding contribution to cancer research, particularly in respect of cancers which are unique to some Mediterranean countries and the Arab World, have been recognised worldwide. He was appointed to several advisory committees to the White House on health care issues during the Administration of George Bush Sr. In 1991 he became Director of the Cancer Research Programme at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Texas Medical Centre in Houston.

3 Apr 2005 Sunday, mass was celebrated for the rest of the soul of H.E. Mr. Rafiq Hariri, at St. Barnabas Church, Pimlico Road, London SW1.
Dr. Ridwan al Sayyad gave a speech on behalf of Hariri's family after the mass.

2 Mar 2005 Chatham House General Meeting
Topic: After Hariri: Syrian Lebanese Relations
A talk by Rime Allaf, Associate Fellow, Middle East Programme, Chatham House, and Nadim Shehadi, Director, Centre for Lebanese Studies, Oxford. Held at Chatham House, the talk was preceded by a reception hosted by Chatham House.

23 Feb 2005 A Dinner Lecture with Fiona Gilmore
Topic:Building the Lebanon Brand
Fiona Gilmore is the founding partner of Acanchi, a London based independent consultancy which specialises in strategy development for country brands. During a career spaning 25 years, she has advised on communications, strategy, brand positioning, architecture, innovation, migration, internal communication and identity for global leaders such as Vodafone, Unilever, and Armani, as well as a selection of destinations such as Hong Kong, England, and currently Lebanon and Zambia. Fiona has had extensive experience working in China and the region where, among other activities, she has advised the Hong Kong government on the communications strategy for the world's largest transport infrastructure programme (including the new Hong Kong airport) and how to develop a brand strategy for the country, post handover.
Her talk focused on the findings from a recent UNDP project entitled Leveraging the Social and Economic Agenda to building the Lebanon Brand. Fiona is the author of three books: Brand Warriors, Warriors on the High Wire and Brand Warriors China.

27 Oct 2004 CLS 20th Anniversary, Dinner Lecture with H.E. Mr. Issam Fares
Mr. Issam Fares, Topic: Lebanon and The Region: The Challenges
The 20th Anniversary of the Centre was celebrated under the patronage of H.E. Mr. Issam Fares, Deputy Prime Minister of Lebanon, guest of honour and keynote speaker.

15 June 2004 A talk by Dr Nabeel A Khoury
Topic:America's Relations with the Arab World
Dr Nabeel A Khoury was born in Lebanon and immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. 
He is Deputy Director of Media Outreach Center,  London, which specialises in Arab and Islamic media and is based at the United States Embassy in London.  It provides on-the-record interviews in Arabic to present the US Government's viewpoint on foreign policy issues and also provides assistance to posts in the region in handling the Arab media.  In this respect, Nabeel Khoury acted as Centcom spokesman in Doha during the Iraq war and as spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad between July and November 2003.  He joined the US Foreign Service in 1987 and has had a varied career serving most recently as Consul General in Casablanca, Morocco from 1998 until 2002. 
Before joining the US Foreign Service Nabeel Khoury was a professor of Political Science and Middle East politics for ten years. 

24 May 2004 A talk by William Pfaff.
Topic.US Foreign Policy and the Middle East
William Pfaff is a globally respected political commentator and the author of six books on international relations and US policy, including most recently 'Fear, Anger and Failure: a Chronicle of the Bush Administration's War on Terror, from the Attacks, of September 11, 2001, to the defeat in Baghdad in 2003'.  He began writing a newspaper column for the International Herald Tribune in 1978 which has been in syndication ever since.

24 Feb 2004. Dinner lecture with Henry Siegman.
Mr. Siegman is Senior Fellow and Director of the US-Middle East Center at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He is a leading expert on the Middle East, Arab-Israeli relations and US Middle East policy. He was previously Executive Director of the American Jewish Congress from 1978-1994. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, the Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, Al-Hayat, Al-Ahram, the Nation and the Jerusalem Post. Mr. Siegman will offer his perspective on future prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

10 Mar 2004. A talk by Christianne Amanpour.
Topic.Covering the Middle East
Christianne Amanpour is CNN's Chief International Correspondent who has reported on most crises from many of the world's hot spots including Iraq, Iran, Palestine-Israel, Afghanistan and the Balkans, to name just a few. She has received wide international acclaim and many prestigious awards for her reporting from the various war zones and for her high profile interviews of world leaders, including President Chirac, Prime Minister Blair, King Abdullah of Jordan, Chairman Arafat, President Khatami and President Musharraf.

15 Mar 2004. A talk by Robert Mabro.
Topic: Oil: A Curse for the Arabs?
Robert Mabro, CBE, is a fellow of St. Anthony's College, Oxford University, the Director of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and a Senior Research Officer in the economics of the Middle East at Oxford.

3 Dec 2003: A talk by Claude Serhal
Topic.The British Museum Excavations Project in Saida, Lebanon
In a rare departure from our normal focus on current events and the politics of the Middle East, we were delighted to welcome Claude Serhal, one of Lebanon's foremost archeologists. She is a special assistant to the British Museum and since 1998 is the Director of the British Museum excavations project in Saida, Lebanon. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London, and an associate member of the Research Institute for ancient Semitic Studies at the College de France. She is the founder and editor of the magazine "Archaeology and History in Lebanon". and has published several articles on the excavations at Saida. Her talk focused on the groundbreaking discoveries at Saida which reveal much new information on the history of the city from 4,000 to 2,000 BC and its Phoenician roots.
The Director of the British Museum, Dr. Neil McGregor, described the Saida project as "one of the most important archeological missions currently being undertaken by the British Museum anywhere in the world".

25 Nov 2003: A talk by David Ignatius
Topic: Iraq and the Arab Future
David Ignatius writes a twice-weekly column on global politics, economics and international affairs for the Washington Post. He is a former executive editor of the Herald Tribune and was foreign editor of the Washington Post (1990-1992) supervising the paper's Pulitzer Prize winning coverage of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Between 1980 and 1986 Ignatius was diplomatic editor and ME correspondent of the Wall Street Journal covering wars in Lebanon and Iraq. Ignatius is also a highly acclaimed novelist having written five novels, including 'Agents of Innocence' (1987) which is set in Beirut, 'A Firing Offence' (1997) and 'Sun King' (1999).

17 Nov 2003: Book Launch & Reception
The Centre for Lebanese Studies and the All-Party Parliamentary Lebanon Group in the House of Commons invited Friends of the Centre for Lebanese Studies to a reception, in honour of the visiting delegation of Lebanese Members of Parliament, and to launch the CLS's three new publications:
Struggle in the Levant by Caroline Attie
Lebanon and Arabism by Raghid el-Solh
The View from Istanbulby Abdul Rahim Abu Husayn

11 Nov 2003: A talk by Jeremy Bowen.
Topic: His new book on the Arab-Israeli 1967 war and offer his perspective on the current situation
Jeremy Bowen has been Special Correspondent for BBC news since March 2003. He was previously the BBC ME Correspondent and has covered conflicts in over 70 countries throughout the world. Jeremy has won a number of awards including best News Correspondent and best Breaking News report for his coverage on the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. His recently completed a book on the Arab-Israeli 1967 war is entitled Six Days, published by Simon & Shuster, and avaliable from 2 November 2003.

30 Oct 2003: A talk by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.
Topic: The Relationship between Islam and the West post September 11th
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown .is a senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Centre, a leading independent think tank in the UK that was launched in 1998 by Tony Blair and the then Foreign Minister Robin Cook. She writes a weekly column for the Independent newspaper and is a leading commentator on human rights, multiculturalism and race. She also writes regularly for the Guardian and the New Statesman and broadcasts on radio and television. She has written numerous books including 'No Place Like Home', an autobiographical account of her life as an Asian in Uganda. Her talk will concentrate on the relationship between Islam and the West especially post September 11th.

10 Oct 2003, Dinner lecture with Dr. Clovis Maksoud
Topic: Lebanon, the Arabs, and the Emerging Global Scenarios
Ambassador Clovis Maksoud is presently Professor of International Relations and Director of the Centre for the Global South at the American Univeristy in Washington DC. Dr. Maksoud, a Lebanese national, was the League of Arab States Chief Representative to India and South East Asia from 1961 to 1965 and, from 1979 to 1990, its Chief Representative to the United Nations. He resigned from the Arab League in 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. From 1967 to 1979 he had served as Senior Editor of Al-Ahram in Egypt and then was Chief Editor of Al Nahar Weekly in Lebanon.
Dr. Maksoud was also a member of the team of leading Arab intellectuals which produced in 2002 the groundbreaking and controversial Arab Human Development Report sponsored by UNDP and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.

23 Sept 2003: Dinner lecture with Dr. Ghada Karmi
Topic: 'Is A Two-State Solution Still Possible?'
Ghada is a leading Palestinian activist, academic and writer. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. She is also Vice-Chairman of CAABU. She also held posts at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, and at the School of Oriental and African Studies. She was born in Jerusalem but had to leave with her family in 1948. She qualified in medicine from Bristol University and London University. She has been involved in political lobbying for the Palestine cause for many years and her books include 'Jerusalem Today: What Future for the Peace Process?' and 'The Palestine Exodus 1948-1998'. Her most recent book is a memoir entitled 'In Search of Fatima: a Palestinian Story' (Verso Press, 2002) which has been widely acclaimed for its originality and style.

9 Sept 2003: Dinner lecture with Dr. Khalil Shikaki.
Topic 'The Middle East Road Map: Are the Parties Ready for Peace?'
Dr. Khalil Shikaki is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research (Ramallah) Dr. Shikaki took his Ph.D. from Columbia University and taught at several universities including Bir Zeit, Al Najah National University. He spent the summer of 2002 as a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC. In 1998-1999 he and Dr. Yezid Sayegh led a group of experts on Palestinian institution building and published their findings in a Council on Foreign Relations report called 'Strengthening Palestinian Public Institutions'. Dr. Shikaki has conducted more than 90 polls among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza strip. His latest poll included three comprehensive surveys among Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and Lebanon and his most recent publication is The Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process: Oslo and the lessons of Failure (Sussex Academic Press 2002).

21 May 2003: Dinner lecture with Dr. Alan George.
Topic 'Syria: Friend or Foe of the West?'
Dr. Alan George, freelancer and broadcaster, has been closely involved with the Middle East since 1967. His first degree was from Oxford and his MA and PhD (on Syria) were from Durham. He frequently commentates on Middle East affairs on TV and radio. He is a former Assistant Director of CAABU and former Head of Research of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce. He recently published a book entitled 'Syria: Neither Bread nor Freedom' (Zed Books April 2003).

7 May 2003: Dinner lecture with Yezid Sayigh.
Topic 'What Future for the Palestinian Authority?'
Yezid Sayigh is Academic Director of the Cambridge Programme for Security in International Society and a Teaching Fellow in the Politics and History of the Modern Middle East, Centre of International Studies, University of Cambridge. He is also a consulting Senior Fellow for the Middle East at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London). Previously he was an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the bilateral peace talks with Israel in Washington DC in 1991-93, and a senior negotiator in the peace talks leading to the Gaza Strip and Jericho Area Implementation Agreement signed in Cairo on 4 May 1994. In 1999 Sayigh co-authored (with Khalil Shikaki) the "Report of the Independent Task Force on Strengthening Palestinian Public Institutions" for the Council on Foreign Relations (New York). His academic research now focuses on the relationship between religion and nationalism (especially Islam and Arab nationalism) in the context of globalisation.

3- 4 May 2003: Minster Lovell Workshop.
RIIA/CLS project on The Palestinian Refugee Issue in the Middle East, stocktaking and evaluation of the situation with the refugee issue in the light of recent developments. see RIIA/CLS Open Letter

14 April 2003: Dinner lecture with Sir David Gore-Booth.
Topic, 'the Future of British- Arab Relations in Light of Current Events'
Sir David Gore-Booth, KCMG, KCVO. is a distinguished diplomat who served as UK Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and India and was also head of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Foreign Office. He is currently senior advisor to the Chairman of HSBC Bank.

14-16 March 2003: Cyprus Conference:
RIIA/CLS project on The Palestinian Refugee Issue in the Middle East, a project aiming to raise awareness of the regional dimension of the issue and explore mechanisms for reflecting this in future negotiations. see RIIA/CLS Open Letter

11 March 2003: Lecture and dinner with Tim Llewellyn.
Topic, 'The Battens Come Down: How the Institutional Media Stifle Middle East Reporting'
Tim Llewellyn was the BBC Middle East correspondent based in Beirut from 1976 to 1980 and in Nicosia from 1987 to 1992. He has covered all the major stories in the Middle East in the past quarter century, including the Lebanese civil war, the Palestinian question, the Iraq-Iran war, the Iranian revolution and the Gulf War. Tim was the first reporter to break the news of the massacre at Sabra and Chatila in 1982. He is now a freelance writer and broadcaster on Middle East Affairs, living in London and contributes regularly to the Guardian. Tim is also a member of the Executive Committee of the UK-based Council for the Advancement of Arab British Understanding (CAABU). Tim offerred his perspective on the current situation in the Middle East with a focus on how the Western media in particular covers the news.

10 Feb 2003: Lecture and dinner with distinguished guest HE Mr Marwan Hamadeh,
Topic, the impact of the current situation in the Middle East on Lebanon and prospects for the country's economic recovery in 2003.
Mr Marwan Hamadeh, Minister for the Displaced, and Member of Parliament is a former journalist and a highly respected and articulate politician.

30 Jan 2003: Lecture and dinner with Mr. Anton La Guardia.
Topic, the upcoming Israeli elections and the implications for the region.
Mr La Guardia is Diplomatic Editor of the Daily Telegraph, and formerly their Middle East correspondent based in Jerusalem between 1990 and 1998. He is also author of the best selling and highly acclaimed book Holy Land, Unholy war: Israelis and Palestinians (John Murray 2001).

25 Nov2002: Lecture and dinner with Mr. Nassib Lahoud.
Topic: An assessment of economic and political prospects for Lebanon in the current regional climate.
Mr Lahoud is a former Ambassador to the United States, has served in the Lebanese Parliament since 1992 as a MP for the Metn region, and is currently a Member of the Foreign Affairs, Budget and Finance Committees.
In 2001, Mr Lahoud co-founded and became Chairman of the Movement for Democratic Renewal, a leading opposition group in the country.

18 Nov 2002: Lecture and dinner with Mr. William Polk.
Topic: The Bush Doctrine and Its Implications for US Foreign Policy.
Mr Polk was a member of the Policy Planning Council of the US Department of State. He then became Professor of History and founding Director of the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago, and the President of the Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs. He is also the author of a number of books on International Affairs including The United States and the Arab World and The Opening of South Lebanon.

31 Oct 2002: Lecture and dinner with Mr. Charles Glass.
Topic: The current situation in the Middle East, as the region braces itself for a potential new war
Mr. Glass, the world famous veteran journalist and reporter who lived in Lebanon from 1972 to 1976 and again from 1983 to the end of 1984, was the Chief Middle East correspondent for ABC News from 1983 to 1993, and is a regular contributor to the Spectator, the Guardian, the Observer, the New Statesman and the Evening Standard. He is the author of Tribes with Flags and Money for Old Rope, both Picador books.

8 Oct 2002: An illustrated lecture by Mrs. Serena Fass, at the Royal Geographical Society.
Introduced by Lord Julius Norwich and entitled Lebanon Rediscovered
Serena Fass, the well known author, photographer and traveler, first visited Lebanon in 1967, and again in 1970 and returned for the first time a few months ago. Her illustrated lecture was an account of her most recent visit up and down the country.
Ticket sales benefited the Garden of Forgiveness project in Beirut, which is being created in a complex site in the very heart of Beirut's Solidere district. The Garden will contribute to the revitalisation and healing of this previously war-torn area. INVITATION (pdf document).

7 Oct 2002: Lecture and dinner with Mr. Ghassan Tueni.
Topic: The current crisis in the Middle East, the deterioration in US-Arab relations and the implications for Lebanon and the region
Mr Tueni is one of Lebanon's foremost statesmen and political writers. He is also the publisher and former editor of Lebanon's An-Nahar, one of the Arab world's most credible and authoritative daily newspapers (established in 1933). Mr Tueni, who lives in Lebanon, is a former Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister and was also Lebanon's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in the late seventies and early eighties.

16 Sept 2002: Lecture and dinner with Ambassador Richard Murphy.
Topic: Current events in the Middle East: the impending war against Iraq and prospects for US-Arab relations.
Former US Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East and South Asia from 1983 to 1989 in the Reagan administration, and also served as US Ambassador to Syria (1974 to 1978), Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. Mr Murphy currently holds the Hasib Sabbagh Chair at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York after 32 years in the US State Department.

18 Sept 2002: Lecture and dinner with Sir Marrack Goulding.
Topic: The future role of UN peacekeeping in South Lebanon post the Israeli withdrawal, and the challenges that lie ahead for the UN both in Lebanon and the Middle East.
Sir Marrack Goulding has been Warden at St Antony's College, Oxford University since 1997, and former Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs and Peace-keeping Operations at the United Nations from 1986 to to 1996, where he was responsible for the UN's peace-keeping operations involving 55,000 staff in 13 countries with a budget of $2.7bn. Sir Marrack has a highly acclaimed new book Peacemonger (publisher, John Murray 2002), an account of his days at the UN, during which time he undertook several delicate missions on behalf of the Secretary General to Lebanon and the Middle East.

24 June 2002: Lecture and dinner with Professor Samir Khalaf from the American University of Beirut.
Topic: Civil and uncivil violence in Lebanon: a discussion on political violence and post-war reconstruction and rehabilitation
Samir Khalaf is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Behavioural Research at the American University of Beirut. Probably Lebanon's best-known Sociologist, Mr Khalaf has also held academic appointments at Princeton, as a Fulbright Scholar and visiting Professor of Sociology as well as Harvard, MIT and New York University. He is the recipient of several international fellowships and research awards. He is the author of numerous books including most notably, Lebanon's Predicament (Columbia 1987), Beirut Reclaimed, Reflections on Urban Design and the Restoration of Civility (An Nahar 1994), Cultural Resistance, Global and Local Encounters in the Middle East (Saqi Books 2001). His latest book, Civil and Uncivil Violence will shortly be published by Columbia University Press.

13 June 2002: Lecture and dinner with Mr. Fred Halliday.
Topic: September 11 and the War on Terrorism: consequences for US policy in the region, including Iraq
Mr. Halliday is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science since 1983. He is a former chairman of the Research Committee of the Royal Institute of International Affairs and is a leading authority on Middle Eastern Affairs. He has lectured widely on superpower relations, development issues, the Middle East and international relations. His many books include Arabia without Sultans (1976), Iran: Dictatorship and development (1978), Islam and the Myth of Confrontations (1995) and last year's best-seller Two hours that shook the world, in which he explores the repercussions of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the US and the subsequent ''war on terrorism''. He is also a prolific broadcaster, with regular appearances on CNN, the BBC etc.

29 May 2002: Lecture and dinner with Dr Mai Yamani.
Topic: The United States and the Arabs -friendly regimes and angry populations
Dr Yamani is a specialist in social, political and human rights issues in the Arab states, as well as on women and Islam. She is currently Associate Fellow in the Middle East Programme of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) and also an Associate at the Centre for Islamic and Middle East Law at the School for Oriental and African Studies. Dr Yamani is most recently the author of the highly praised Changed Identities, the challenge of the new generation in Saudi Arabia (RIIA, 2000), and is a frequent commentator on TV on Middle Eastern affairs.

3 May 2002: Mr. Chibli Mallat's Lecture and dinner:
Topic: War crimes and the future of the Middle East: building on International Law
Mr. Mallat is a lawyer at the Beirut bar and holds the Jean Monnet Chair in European Law at St Joseph's University in Lebanon.
He is also Amnesty International's lawyer for the Middle East Regional Office which he helped establish in 2001 in Beirut. Mr Mallat has been involved in a number of international business and criminal cases, including the world famous case against Ariel Sharon in the Belgian courts, where he represents 28 Lebanese and Palestinian victims of the Sabra and Chatila massacres. Prior to that, Mr Mallat also taught for a decade at the University of London (SOAS), where he held the tenured Lectureship in Islamic Law and was the Director of the Center for Islamic and Middle Eastern Laws. He has appeared on several TV and radio shows worldwide and has published a number of books and articles.

30 April 2002: Lecture and dinner with Mr Avi Shlaim.
Topic: The Palestinian-Israeli conflict: what next?
Mr Avi Shlaim is Professor of International Relations at St Antony's College, Oxford University and the author of the highly acclaimed book ''The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World'' (Penguin 2000), he is also a frequent contributor to newspapers (most recently the International Herald Tribune and the Guardian) and a commentator on radio and television on Middle Eastern affairs.

18 March 2002: Lecture and dinner with Mr Afif Safieh.
Topic:The Middle East Peace Process: from breakthrough to breakdown
Mr Afif Safieh is head of the Palestinian diplomatic delegation to the United Kingdom.

7 February 2002: Lecture and dinner with Dr Rosemary Hollis.
Topic: Means versus ends: how to combat terrorism in the Middle East
Dr Rosemary Hollis is head of the Middle East Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).

12 December 2001: Lecture and dinner with Mr. Michael Binyon.
Topic: The Middle East peace process: where do we go from here
Mr. Michael Binyon is leader writer for the Times and former Diplomatic correspondent for the Times from 1991-2000.

6 December 2001: Lecture and dinner with author and journalist Mr. Patrick Seale.   
Topic: The war on terrorism: implications for states in the Middle East and the existing world order

18 October 2001: Lecture and dinner with guest speaker Sir Marrack Goulding.
Topic: The events of September 11th and the consequences
Sir Marrack Goulding is Warden of St Antony's College and former UN Under Secretary General. (see also 18sept02)

For further information on the Middle East Lecture series, pls contact:
Leila Buheiry, Lbuheiryyahoo.co.uk or on 0207-602-9512.