Dr Bishara is a political sociologist and the senior political analyst at Al Jazeera English. He was previously a lecturer in International Relations at the American University of Paris and a fellow at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. He is the author of The Invisible Arab, Palestine Israel: Peace or Apartheid, and other works focusing on the US foreign policy and the Middle East. Dr. Bishara is currently working on US Patron-Client relations in the Middle East.

Sawsan is also a co-founder and Trustee of the Asfari Foundation, which aims to help young people make a valuable contribution to society by empowering them through education, research and the power of free thinking. In addition to this, she is board member of the U.S Middle East Project, advisory board member of Challenge To Change and member of the Palestinian development organisation, the Welfare Association. She is also a partner in the production company Cactus World Films.

Yousef has over 26 years experience in complex corporate finance and business development. He gained extensive market knowledge after 10 years with a boutique advisory firm. He led the Transaction Services for Private Capital in the Middle East for two professional services firms. Yousef has sat on the Board of Directors of several investment companies and has hands on experience of company management.

He has also worked with many clients ranging from Large Private Equity Firms to Global holding companies. Yousef brings diversified technical financial and business skills into transaction advisory; including deal negotiations & closure, structured trade & project finance, capital raising, deal structuring, M&A and valuations. He has a Bachelors degree in Finance and Marketing from Yarmouk University in Jordan.

Abdulrahman is the CEO of Alaraby AlJadeed, one of the largest pan-Arab news outlet headquartered in London. Prior to joining Alaraby Aljadeed, he worked at the BBC for five years in different capacities, firstly as a producer and then as a Business Development Manager,  responsible for the BBC World Service’s relationships with the relevant government departments, NGOs and private companies in over 15 Arab countries.

Prior to that, he worked at a number of media organisations as well as a UK government funded project on Security Sector Reform. In early 2014, Abdulrahman secured funding for and organised the opening of an independent media training centre in Sana’a, Yemen. The institute went on to train over 150 potential journalists in Yemen on various production skills for multi-platform media and journalism ethics.

Abdulrahman was born in London and holds a BA in Economics and History from SOAS, an MA in Political Economy from Durham and an MBA from the London Business School.

Leila received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a Master of Business Administration from the George Washington University and an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS, University of London. She has worked at The World Bank, Brandes Asset Management, Robert Fleming NY and Goldman Sachs.

Khalil is currently the Executive Director of the Arab Center Washington DC, a think tank focused on researching the Arab World and US foreign policy. Between 2004-2013, Khalil was a lecturer in International Studies and Languages at Pepperdine University and Executive Director of Pepperdine’s Seaver College Washington DC Internship Program.

Prior to joining Pepperdine University, Jahshan served as Executive Vice President of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and Director of its government affairs affiliate, NAAA-ADC. Throughout his career Khalil has held numerous positions, including Vice President of the American Committee on Jerusalem, President of the National Association of Arab-Americans, and National Director of the Association of Arab-American University graduates. He received a BA in Political Science and French from Harding University in 1972.

Khalil serves on the board of directors, and advisory boards of various Middle East-oriented groups, including ANERA, MIFTAH and Search for Common Ground (Middle East). He appears regularly on various outlets including BBC, CNN, C-SPAN, CCTV, France24, RT, Al-Jazeera, Al-Araby TV, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra, Al-Ghad Al-Arabi, Ekhbariya TV, Al-Iraqiya, Qatar TV, Saudi TV 1, Saudi TV 2.

Eyad is a human rights lawyer based in Haifa and has been working with Palestinian political prisoners for over 10 years, representing them in the Israeli military courts. From his private Law Practice, he also provides legal advice to various companies and private clients. Eyad is involved with several educational and civil society organisations working for advancing the rights of the Palestinian community in Israel. Eyad received an L.L.B in Law and B.A in Sociology and Anthropology from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem and while studying he was Chairman of the Arab Students’ Union.