INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SEMINAR ON PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

5-6 September 2018 Press Center, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Moscow, Russian Federation

Contributing Participants

Organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and with the support of the United Nations Association of Russia and the Russian Peace Foundation

MR. AIDAR AGANIN The Representative of the Russian Federation to the Palestinian National Authority in Ramallah since February 2017. He joined the Russian diplomatic service in 1990 and until 2007 served in various capacities in the central office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow and in several missions abroad, including as Counsellor of the Russian Embassy in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan from 2003 to 2007. From 2007 to 2011, Mr. Aganin served as head of Russia Today’s news service Rusya Al- Yaum. In 2011, he resumed his diplomatic career and held the post of Senior Counsellor of the Russian Embassy in the United States of America until 2016. A 1990 graduate from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, he is fluent in Arabic, English and Hebrew.

MR. KHALID AL-ROUSHD A scholar (Middle Eastern studies), philologist, and specialist in the modern history of the Arab world. In 2004, he started working as a media producer. In 2007-2008, was presenter, “Persona” programme on Russian satellite TV- channel RT-Arabic (“Rusiya Al-Yawm”). Starting from 2008 onwards – author and presenter of the program “Journey Through Memory.” Mr. Al-Roushd published two books “They Dared to Speak Out” (in Russian) and “Journey Through Memory” (in Arabic). He is also the author and presenter of several documentaries, including “The Era of Putin” (2008), “Islam in Russia (2010) and “Information Warfare between the Past and the Present” (2017).

DR. HANAN ASHRAWI A distinguished Palestinian leader, legislator, activist, and scholar who served as a member of the Leadership Committee and as an official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace process, beginning with the Madrid Peace Conference of 1991. In 1996, Dr. Ashrawi was appointed as the Palestinian Authority Minister of Higher Education and Research. Prior to that, she

CONTRIBUTING PARTICIPANTS 1 was Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Birzeit University and head of its Legal Aid Committee since the mid-1970s. Dr. Ashrawi was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council representing Jerusalem in 1996 and was re-elected for the “Third Way” bloc ticket in 2006. Making history as the first woman to hold a seat in the highest executive body in Palestine, she was elected as member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 2009 and 2018. Dr. Ashrawi received both Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from the American University of Beirut and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Medieval and Comparative Literature from the University of Virginia in the United States. Moreover, she is the recipient of eleven honorary doctorates from universities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Arab world.

MR. OMAR BADDAR Deputy Director of the Washington, DC-based Arab American Institute (AAI). Mr. Baddar is a political analyst specializing in U.S. Middle East policy and holds an M.A. in International Relations and Comparative Politics from the University of Memphis, where his research focused on U.S. policy towards the -Palestine conflict. He is the former Executive Director of the American Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee of Massachusetts and the former Director of the Palestine Cultural Center for Peace in Boston. Mr. Baddar’s media appearances include the BBC, Al-Jazeera, Sky News, Voice of America, Russia Today, i24, and several other outlets, and his writings have appeared in Salon, the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast, Jadaliyya, Middle East Eye, among other platforms. @OmarBaddar

MR. WALID BATRAWI A veteran Palestinian media and communication practitioner, trainer and consultant, with more than 26 years of experience. From March 2012 until July 2017, he worked as a Country Director in Palestine with BBC Media Action.

2 Prior to that, Mr. Batrawi worked as the Deputy Chief of Party for Internews Network in Palestine and a trainer/coach with the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ). From December 2007 through January 2010, Mr. Batrawi served as a Project Director for the BBC World Service Trust (formerly BBC Media Action). He also worked as a correspondent on Al-Jazeera English, as well as a correspondent for BBC Arabic Service Radio. In 2003, the European Commission and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) named Mr. Batrawi winner of the IFJ’s 2003 Natali Prize for “Excellence in reporting Human Rights, Democracy and Development” in the category of the Arab World, Iran and Israel. He holds an M.A. in Mass Communication from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom.

MS. NANETTE BRAUN Chief of Communications Campaigns Service in the Strategic Communications Department, United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI). A self-confessed strong believer in the power of communications for social change, Ms. Braun joined the United Nations in 1995. Prior to joining DPI in 2018, Ms. Braun served as Chief of Communications and Advocacy at UN Women since 2010. Before that, she headed the communications departments of one of UN Women’s predecessor organizations and of the UN Volunteers programme. A journalist by training, Ms. Braun worked for print media and broadcasters in her native Germany and abroad, reporting with a particular interest on international politics and humanitarian issues. Ms. Braun holds a M.A. in modern history and North-American studies from Technical University Berlin and Free University Berlin respectively.

MS. LIAT COLLINS Editor of The International Jerusalem Post and writer of a weekly op-ed column (My Word) in The Jerusalem Post. Ms. Collins has a B.A. in East Asian studies (Chinese) and International Relations and an M.A. (cum laude) in

CONTRIBUTING PARTICIPANTS 3 Communications, from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ms. Collins has worked at The Jerusalem Post since 1988 in various positions, including as environment reporter and parliamentary correspondent, columnist, and editor. She received the Life and Environment Award from the umbrella organization of Israeli green NGOs for her contribution to raising the standards of environmental reporting. She also won praise for her coverage of the Oslo diplomatic process.

MR. ALAA DARAGHMA Graduate of Al-Quds University in Palestine with a B.A. in Journalism and Media, Mr. Daraghma is currently working as a freelance producer and video journalist. Based in West Bank, he has produced feature stories, reports and short films that were published on AJ+ (Arabic and English), Aljazeera English Channel, Middle East Eye, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, among others. He is skilled in writing, communication, social networking, photography and editing. Mr. Daraghma is also an alumnus of the United Nations training programme for Palestinian journalists, which is part of the UN Department of Public Information’s Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine. @AlaaDaraghme

MS. STEPHANIE FREID Israel-based correspondent for the China Global Television Network (CGTN). Ms. Freid is an award-winning television correspondent and producer covering conflict zones throughout the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa. She is also a two-year Israel-Palestine Foreign Press Association (FPA) board member and the current University of Cincinnati Board of Directors Lead Chair. She is a TedX Berkeley, IdeaFestival, and international speaker. Before joining CGTN she freelanced for The San Francisco Chronicle, Reuters, the BBC, NBC News, Sky News, among others @SFreid

4 MR. CHRIS GUNNESS Spokesperson and Director of Advocacy and Strategic Communications for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Mr. Gunness has more than 30 years of experience in communications and advocacy. He took up his present post with UNRWA in 2007. Other UN assignments have included Spokesperson for the Office of the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) and Director of Communications for the United Nations Protection Force in the former Yugoslavia (UNPROFOR). In his 23 years at the BBC, Mr. Gunness worked as a correspondent and anchor of award winning news and arts programmes. @ChrisGunness

MR. WESSAM HAMMAD Palestinian news producer at media network in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel. Mr. Hammad is also the director of the “Al Jazeera Palestine” facebook page. He has been covering the conflict and political issues for the past fourteen years. While in Gaza, Mr. Hammad has covered news for CNN and Ramattan news agency. He then joined Al Jazeera and was the main producer for both Al Jazeera Arabic and English channels during the 2008-2009 war in Gaza. Mr. Hammad is an alumnus of the United Nations training programme for Palestinian journalists, which is part of the UN Department of Public Information’s Special Information Programme on the Question of Palestine. @WessamH

MS. MA’ALY HAZZAZ Programme Specialist, coordinating extra budgetary projects in the Freedom of Expression Section as part of the Communication and Information Sector at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). During her 8-year tenure at UNESCO, Ms. Hazzaz has been responsible for implementing programmes and projects supporting freedom of expression, access to information, and safety of journalists in various regions around the

CONTRIBUTING PARTICIPANTS 5 world, mainly in countries witnessing conflict or in democratic transition. This included strategic planning, fundraising, coordination and backstopping field offices. Before joining the organization, Ms. Hazzaz worked in the media for 10 years, filling the position of Chief Editor for print publications, and previously TV and radio producer and presenter. @speakoutalready

DR. YAIR HIRSCHFELD Director for the Centre for Middle East Studies at Galilee International Management Institute and Negotiator during the Oslo Peace Process. Dr. Hirschfeld has been involved in promoting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process since 1979. During the 1980s, he organized the confidential dialogue between the Israelis and Palestinians. In 1990, he prepared a research paper which became the conceptual model for the Oslo negotiations. Dr. Hirshfeld led the non-official Israeli team in Norway and became a member of the official Israeli negotiating team leading to the conclusion of the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles of September 1993. After the Second Intifada, he was instrumental in preparing the way for Israel-Palestine security cooperation and was involved in an Israel-Palestine backchannel preparing parameters for negotiations, an effort that failed. Among his most recent publication is Track Two Diplomacy toward an Israeli-Palestinian Solution, 1978-2014; Developing an Israeli Grand Strategy toward a Peaceful Two-State Solution.

MS. ALLISON KAPLAN SOMMER Journalist and columnist for Haaretz since 2012. Her blog for Haaretz ‘Routine Emergencies,’ covers politics, pop culture, gender issues, and everything in between. Ms. Kaplan Sommer was the 2017 Arnold Distinguished Visiting Chair in Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston. She was the former Washington, D.C. correspondent feature writer and critic for The Jerusalem Post, and has written on a freelance basis for U.S. publications, including the New Republic, Politico, The Forward, and JTA. She earned her B.A. in English and Theater at Wesleyan University and her M.A. from the Columbia School of Journalism. @AllisonKSommer

6 DR. RIYAD H. MANSOUR Ambassador and Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations since 29 November 2012, and before that Ambassador and Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations since 2005. He is also the non-resident Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. Ambassador Mansour served as the Deputy Permanent Observer of the Palestine Liberation Organization to the United Nations from 1983 to 1988 and as Deputy Permanent Observer of Palestine to the UN from 1988 to 1994. Since 2002, he has been an Adjunct Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Central Florida. Ambassador Mansour is the author of several publications. He obtained his Doctorate of Philosophy in 1977 from the University of Akron, Ohio. @Palestine_UN

MR. SHERIF MANSOUR The Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ.) He is an Egyptian- American democracy and human rights activist. Before joining CPJ, he worked with Freedom House, in Washington, D.C. In 2010, Mr. Mansour co-founded the Egyptian Association for Change, a Washington-based nonprofit group. He monitored the Egyptian elections for the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies and worked as a freelance journalist for Al-Kahera newspaper. In 2004, he was honored by the Al-Kalema Center for Human Rights for his work in defending freedom of expression in . Mr. Mansour has authored several articles and conducted research studies on civil society and the role of the new media and civil society in achieving democracy. He was named one of the top 99 young foreign policy professionals in 2013 by the Diplomatic Courier. Mr. Mansour received his M.A. in International Relations from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and his B.A. in Education from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. @Sherifmnsour

CONTRIBUTING PARTICIPANTS 7 DR. YONATAN MENDEL Director of the Jewish-Arab Center at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. He is also a Research Fellow of The Forum for Regional Thinking and a regular contributor on Israel-Palestine to leading journals and newspapers, including the London Review of Books and Haaretz. Dr. Mendel completed his doctoral studies in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge and his doctoral thesis focused on the political history of the Arabic language in the Jewish community in Palestine-Israel. His book, “The Creation of Israeli Arabic: Political and Security Considerations in the Making of Arabic Language Studies in Jewish Schools” was published by Palgrave Macmillan.

DR. VITALY NAUMKIN A renown Russian scholar of Central Asia and Middle East, Dr. Naumkin was elected Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies in May 2009 and Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2011. He joined the Institute of Oriental Studies in 1984 where he became Head of Department of the Arab Countries (1984-1989), then Deputy Director of the Institute (1989-1994). From 1994 to 2009, he served as the Head of the Center for Arab Studies. Dr. Naumkin is the lecturer and the author of over 500 publications in Russian and other languages dealing with the history of Asia, the Arab world, Central Asia and Caucasus, international relations, political science, Islamic studies, philology, conflict management and resolution. In 2008, he was appointed the Ambassador for the UN Alliance of Civilizations project. Since March 2016, Dr. Naumkin has been serving as Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Syria.

MS. NOUR ODEH CEO of the Connect Strategic Communications Consultancy. She is the former Director of the Palestinian Media Centre and Spokesperson for the Palestinian government. Before that, she covered the Israel-Palestine conflict for more than 11 years in English, Arabic and Spanish for several Palestinian and international media organizations. Ms. Odeh set up and led Ramattan, Palestine’s first video news agency, based in Gaza, serving clients worldwide.

8 In 2006, she became the correspondent in Gaza, where she was the only resident correspondent for an English-speaking channel to cover the internal turmoil in Gaza and several large-scale Israeli operations in the territory. Her coverage won the prestigious Golden Nymph Award at the 2008 Monte Carlo Festival for best news programme of the year. In 2011, Ms. Odeh was a media consultant and a senior member of the communications and media committee of the National Campaign, Palestine State 194, ahead of Palestine’s application for membership at the United Nations. @nour_odeh

DR. ILAN PAPPÉ Professor of History and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies, University of Exeter. Dr. Pappé obtained his B.A. degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1979 and DPhil. from the University of Oxford in 1984. He founded and directed the Academic Institute for Peace in Givat Haviva, Israel, between 1992 to 2000 and was the Chair of the Emil Tuma Institute for Palestine Studies in Haifa, between 2000 and 2006. Dr. Pappé was a senior lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern History and the Department of Political Science at Haifa University, Israel between 1984 and 2006. He was appointed as Chair in the Department of History at the University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus from 2007-2009 and became a fellow of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies (IAIS) in 2010. His research focuses on the modern Middle East and in particular the history of Israel and Palestine. He has also written on multiculturalism, critical discourse analysis and on power and knowledge in general.

MS. ABBY SEWELL Beirut-based journalist whose work has appeared in publications including the Los Angeles Times, U.S. News & World Report, Middle East Eye, GOOD Magazine, and National Geographic Travel. Ms. Sewell is currently a staff reporter with The Daily Star (Lebanon). Her coverage of the Middle East has focused in particular on the situation of Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

CONTRIBUTING PARTICIPANTS 9 Outside of her journalism work, she has volunteered as an English teacher and assisted in organizing recreational activities for Palestinian and Syrian refugee youth. @Sewella

MS. ALISON SMALE United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications since September 2017, Ms. Smale has almost 40 years of experience in international journalism in which she has been a reporter, an editor and a senior leader. Before joining the UN, she served as the Chief of Bureau in Berlin for The New York Times. Ms. Smale also served previously as Executive Editor of The International Herald Tribune (2008 to 2013), becoming the first and only woman to have held that post. Prior to that, Ms. Smale was The New York Times’ Deputy Foreign Editor (2002 to 2004) and Weekend Foreign Editor (1998 to 2002). Earlier in her career she reported for United Press International and the Associated Press as a bureau chief or correspondent in Vienna, Moscow and Bonn. Ms. Smale, holds a Bachelor of Arts in German and politics from Bristol University, and a Master of Arts in journalism from Stanford University. She also has an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Bristol University. @alison_smale

MR. GIL SOMEKH Israel-based cameraman for China Global Television Network (CGTN). Mr. Somekh is an award-winning cameraman who has been covering conflicts throughout the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe. Mr. Somekh’s coverage includes the battle to retake Mosul from ISIS, the Israel-Palestine conflict, specifically in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Ukraine’s upheaval and the Ebola epidemic in Africa. Mr. Somekh works closely with CGTN correspondent Ms. Stephanie Freid (also a participant in the seminar) covering the Middle East as well as other global conflicts together as team for nearly a decade.

10 DR. ELENA SUPONINA Holds a Ph.D. from Russian Friendship University in Moscow, History of Philosophy Department. She previously worked as a correspondent, then observer for the Novoye Vremya magazine and Vremya Novostei newspaper; then Head of International Desk, Vremya Novostei and Moscow News newspapers (2002–2011). She is currently the Head of the Middle East and Asia Center and Advisor to the Director of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies. Her research interests cover current Middle Eastern and Asian issues; cooperation between Russia and countries in the region; international mediation in the Middle East settlement. Dr. Suponina received international and Russian awards for best publications in the following areas: Islam in Russia, Russia-Iraq cooperation, Russia–Arab cooperation in oil and gas. She also provides commentary for various Russian, Western and Arab TV channels and radio stations.

MS. SHERINE TADROS Head of the New York (UN) Office, Amnesty International. Prior to joining Amnesty International in August 2016, Ms. Tadros was a senior international correspondent for Sky News, based in Cairo. She led investigations into and reported on wars and conflicts across the MENA region, and set up – as Bureau Chief – Sky’s first office in Egypt. An internationally acclaimed journalist, her recent recognitions include the Royal Television Society International News Coverage Award (2016) and the Peabody Award for coverage of the (2011). Before she joined Sky News, Ms. Tadros served in various roles at Al Jazeera English, including as a foreign correspondent in Beirut, Jerusalem, Gaza and Cairo and finally as a news anchor in , . In 2011, she was an integral part of the network’s coverage of the ‘Arab Spring’ reporting extensively from Egypt, and . Before Al Jazeera, Ms. Tadros served on the faculty of SOAS University of London. She holds an MSc in Middle East Politics (cum laude), and a B.A. (Hons), Politics (cum laude) from the same university. @SherineT

CONTRIBUTING PARTICIPANTS 11 DR. ABDEL RAZZAQ TAKRITI Associate Professor and Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of Houston. He received his DPhil from St Antony’s College, Oxford University and subsequently held a Junior Research Fellowship in Political History at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and a Lectureship in International History at the University of Sheffield. He is the author of the award- winning book Monsoon Revolution: Republicans, Sultans, and Empires in Oman (Oxford University Press, 2013) and is the co-author and co-editor, with Professor Karma Nabulsi, of The Palestinian Revolution digital humanities project learnpalestine.politics.ox.ac.uk (Oxford DPIR, 2017). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and his opinion pieces on Arab and Palestinian affairs have appeared in a variety of English and Arabic media outlets.

MS. BEL TREW A Jerusalem-based Middle East and North Africa reporter for The Independent. She is a former Middle East reporter for The Times and freelance broadcast journalist. Until her recent move, she had spent seven years in Cairo for. Ms. Trew has reported on the region since the“Arab Spring,” covering multiple conflicts from Libya to Syria. She has worked in print, television and radio with The Times and The Sunday Times, BBC TV & Radio, France 24, The Daily Beast, Foreign Policy, New Statesman, Huffington Post, RTE and Tatler among others. Her work and investigative reports made her a finalist in the One World Media awards in 2017. @Beltrew

12 MS. MARIA ZAKHAROVA The Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation from 10 August 2015. From 2003 to 2005 and from 2008 to 2011, she worked in various capacities at the Ministry’s Information and Press Department. From 2005 to 2008, she was the Head of the Press Service of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations in New York City. From 2011 to 10 August 2015, Ms. Zakharova was the Deputy Head of the Department of Information and Press of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is known for her participation in political talk shows on Russian television and for contributing commentary on sensitive political issues in social networks. In 2016, Ms. Zakharova was chosen as one of BBC’s 100 Women. She speaks English and Chinese and holds the diplomatic rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, First Class.

CONTRIBUTING PARTICIPANTS 13 For tweeting during the seminar, please use: #UNMediaSeminar

For more information on the question of Palestine and the United Nations, please visit: https://unispal.un.org

Email: [email protected]