Complex Palestinian Narratives & Competing Political Visions
Jun 28 2018
Thursday
– EST
Middle East Institute
1319 18th Street NW, 2nd Floor,
Washington, DC 20036
1319 18th Street NW, 2nd Floor,
Washington, DC 20036
Please join the Foundation for Middle East Peace, Arab American Institute & Middle East Institute for
Thursday, June 28th
10:00am
1319 18th Street NW, 2nd Floor
Washington, DC 20036
with
Omar Baddar (Arab American Institute)
Rula Bawardi (PR & Events Professional)
Nizar Farsakh (Museum of the Palestinian People)
moderated by
Muna Shikaki (Al-Arabiya)
The American public and policymaking circles all too often reduce the “Palestinian perspective” to a single, monolithic viewpoint, both in terms of historical experience and yearning for the future. The oversimplification glosses over key complexities that directly result in a varying answers to the question “what do Palestinians want?”. This reduction of the Palestinian perspective contributes to a distortion in how the American policy world, as well as public, view Palestinians.
Please join the panelists to explore the multiplicity of Palestinian perspectives and narratives looking back on the events since 1948 and looking forward on the future of the Palestinian people.
Panelists
Omar Baddar is the Deputy Director of the Arab American Institute. Omar is a political analyst, digital producer, and human rights advocate. Prior to joining AAI, Omar was a Digital Producer and Presenter with Al Jazeera International’s The Stream, the Executive Director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Massachusetts, and the the Director of the Palestine Cultural Center for Peace.
Rula Kort Bawardi, born and raised in Jerusalem, worked as an information officer at UNRWA headquarters in Jerusalem then as an assistant to Dr. Hanan Mikhail Ashrawi during the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. At the initial stages of building the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Rula worked with the Palestinian Ministry of Economics and the World Economic Forum on organizing the Palestinian representation at MENA summits in Amman and Cairo. When Rula moved to Michigan, she joined Zeitouna, a Palestinian and Jewish women’s dialogue group. She helped found the Arab-American Parent group in Ann Arbor, to bring Arabic language, history, and cultural education into public schools. Rula returned to Washington, DC at the beginning of the year to help Anera plan and implement their 50th anniversary campaign.
Nizar Farsakh is a trainer focusing on leadership, advocacy and negotiations. He was the General Director of the PLO Delegation in Washington DC for two years and between 2003-2008 was advising senior Palestinian leaders including the President, the Prime Minister and various ministries. Nizar is currently involved in several non-violence initiatives in Palestine/Israel and the US, and is also the chair of the board of the Museum of the Palestinian People in Washington D.C.
Moderator
Muna Shikaki is an on-air correspondent and video journalist for Al-Arabiya News Channel, a leading Arabic language news network. Based in Washington, D.C. since 2004, she covers a broad range of issues, from US elections and politics, to foreign policy and the Arab and Muslim American communities. Shikaki has reported from over 30 US states, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Dubai, the Palestinian Territories and South America. She was a 2004 Fulbright scholar at Columbia University in New York, where she earned her M.S. in Journalism. She completed her B.A. at Birzeit University in Ramallah, Palestine.