Summer Intern Lecture Series

Amb. Maen Areikat is the Chief PLO Representative to the U.S.  Prior to his appointment to Washington, Amb. Areikat was bestowed the rank of Ambassador by Chairman of the PLO and Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Amb. Areikat served for eleven years at the Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD) of the PLO in Ramallah, most recently as its Deputy Head and Coordinator-General (2008-2009). Prior to his service at NAD, Amb. Areikat spent six years at Orient House (1993-1998), the headquarters of the PLO in Jerusalem and of the Palestinian Negotiating Team to the Madrid peace talks. While at Orient House, he served as spokesperson for the late Mr. Faisal Husseini, former PLO Executive Committee member in charge of Jerusalem Affairs, and later as Desk Officer for the U.S., Canada, Australia and South Africa in Orient House’s International Relations Department.

Professor John Quigley is the President's Club Professor of Law at the Michael E. Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University.  Before joining the Ohio State faculty in 1969, Professor Quigley was a research scholar at Moscow State University, and a research associate in comparative law at Harvard Law School. Professor Quigley teaches International Law and Comparative Law. He is active in international human rights work. His numerous publications include books and articles on human rights, the United Nations, war and peace, east European law, African law and the Arab-Israeli conflict. In 2010 he authored the book The Statehood of Palestine: International Law in the Middle East Conflict.  In 1995, Professor Quigley was recipient of The Ohio State University Distinguished Scholar Award.

This lecture seeks to address the recent opening of the Rafah border crossing and its impact, if any, on the blockade on Gaza and how it's affecting the economic and social mood of Gazans.

Mr. Josh Ruebner is the National Advocacy Director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.  Mr. Ruebner is a former Analyst in Middle East Affairs at Congressional Research Service, a federal government agency providing Members of Congress with policy analysis. His analysis and commentary on U.S. policy toward the Middle East appears frequently in media such as NBC, ABC Nightline, CSPAN, Al Jazeera, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Detroit Free Press, Huffington Post and Middle East Report.

Mr. Matthew Reynolds is the Head Representative of the UNRWA Washington, DC office.  He began his career on Capitol Hill in 1986, serving as Legislative Director and Chief of Staff for Representatives Robert Lagomarsino and Jay Kim.   He then was a professional staffer on the House International Relations Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and finally served as Staff Director of the House Rules Committee.  After 17 years in Congress, Mr. Reynolds moved to the Department of State as Director of House Affairs.   In 2005 he started with the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, and was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs in 2008.

The purpose of this lecture is to address how Palestinians have utilized social media in light of recent events in the Arab world and the future of social media in Palestine. 

Mr. Ahmed Shihab-Eldin is a journalist and currently produces and co-hosts “The Stream” a new web community with a daily TV show on Al Jazeera English.  Before joining Al Jazeera English he worked as a reporter and producer for The Doha Film Institute, PBS’s award-winning documentary series Wide Angle, and The New York Times. He has also worked as a freelance reporter in New York, Beirut, Dubai, Kuwait, Doha and Amman.  Soon after graduating with honors from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Mr. Shihab-Eldin began teaching New Media courses as an Adjunct Professor. In 2008, his Masters Thesis earned him a Webby Award for “Defining Middle Ground: The Next Generation of Muslim New Yorkers”.  His work has been featured in The Huffington Post, Frontline/World online, TimeOut and Washington Week.

Adel Iskandar is a scholar of Arab studies and teaches at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and the Communication, Culture and Technology program at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Mr. Iskandar's work deals with media, identity and politics and has lectured extensively on these topics at universities in over 20 countries. He is the author and coauthor of several works including Al-Jazeera: The Story of the Network that is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism (Basic Books), the first book on the network. Mr. Iskandar's latest publication is an edited volume entitled Edward Said: A Legacy of Emancipation and Representation (University of California Press). His two forthcoming works are books on the role of new media and dissidence in the Arab world.

Will Youmans is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan and is a new media consultant. He has advised The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development and works with the Institute for Palestine Studies in Washington, DC. He also founded the irreverent and activist multi-author blog, KABOBfest. His educational background includes a BA in political science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley. In college, he served as President of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee chapter at the University of Michigan. His writings have appeared in Arab Media & Society and other journals. He has a chapter in an upcoming book on Arab Detroit (Wayne State University Press).