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Thursday, February 24th 8:00 - 9:00 am. The Hamlin Room. Registration. CRC: Coffee Rolls Conversation. 9:00 am. Welcome from Dr. Rich and Dr. Aman 9:05 - 9:30 am. Stevenson Auditorium. Plenary Address. Educational and Cultural Diplomacy: Considering Middle East Challenges Richard Arndt Formerly Professor of French Literature, Columbia, and Diplomat in Residence, University of Virginia. State Department Cultural Attache, Beirut, Colombo-Sir Lanka, Tehran, Paris and Rome. President Emeritus of Americans for UNESCO. Past President, National Peace Foundation. Board member, American Iranian Council. President, the Roth Endowment. His latest book is First Resort of Kings: U.S. Cultural Diplomacy in the Twentieth Century. 9:35 - 10:15 am. Stevenson Auditorium. Roundtable of the Presidents. Can Education Help with the Middle East Problems? Chair: Wally Boston, President, American Public University System John Sexton, President, New York University Stephen J. Trachtenberg, President Emeritus, George Washington University Richard Arndt, President, The Roth Endowment Paul Rich, President, Policy Studies Organization 10:20 - 11:15 am. Stevenson Auditorium. Egypt and the Middle East in 2011 Chair: Mohammed M. Aman Alon Ben-Meir Professor, Center for Global Affairs, New York University. Syndicated Columnist, United Press. Author of A War We Must Win, The Last Option, In Defiance of Time, A Framework for Arab-Israeli Peace. Latest book: Lost Perspectives: The Bumpy Road on the Almost Impossible Mission of Middle East Peace. 11:20 am - 12:15 pm. Stevenson Auditorium. Next Century Foundation Panel. The Middle East Dilemmas. Mark Hambley Formerly United States Ambassador to Qatar and the Lebanon. Sometime Consul General in Alexandria and Jeddah. William Morris Secretary General, Next Century Foundation, London. Formerly Adviser, Sultanate of Oman and Chair of the International Council for Press and Broadcasting. Ewen MacAskill Washington Bureau Chief, The London Guardian 12:15 - 1:20 pm. Stevenson Auditorium. Lunch (halal and kosher). 1:30 - 2:00 pm. Concurring Presentations The Pub Room. Democracy in the Middle East: Insights of The Anti-Enlightenment Democrats. Chair: Miranda Jolicoeur, American Public University Deina Abdelkader, University of Massachusetts Lowell Ghannouchi, Yassin and Qaradawi: leaders of the Tunisian, Moroccan, and Egyptian Islamic movements, and their relevance to issues of Democracy -- implications regarding the theoretical assumption that secularization is imperative to democratization. The Library. Turkish Armenian Rapprochement Processes: A Case Study Approach. Chair: Guillermo De Los Reyes, University of Houston Jack Kalpakian, Al Akhawayn University; and Volkan Ipek, Bilkent University Reconciliation between Armenians and Turks is regarded by many as an exercise in futility. While there are clear positive incentives to move forward with the project of reconciliation, obstacles are extensive. This paper argues that the two attempts to move forward failed because they were not owned by Turks and Armenians. 2:00 - 2:30 pm. Presentations The Pub Room Educating for Empowerment: Lessons of the Christian Education Network of Israel and Palestine. Chair: Leo Ribuffo, George Washington University Seth Frantzman, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
In the 1850s, Christian missionary organizations began establishing schools in Ottoman Palestine. A slow process of indigenization occurred. In today's Haifa the best schools, from a standpoint of matriculation, are Christian private ones open to all communities. Through interviews examining women's empowerment, secularism and religious education in a Catholic school where most of the pupils are Muslim are considered. The Library Transcending Nationalist Divides: Religious Reconciliation as the Basis for a One-State Solution in Israel/Palestine. Chair: Akram Elias, President, Capital Communications Andrew M. Wender, University of Victoria
Might religion, including the patterns of Abrahamic reconciliation underlying the three traditions -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam offer a more fruitful basis for fostering coexistence among the plurality of peoples in the region? 2:30 - 3:00 pm. Presentations The Pub Room Political Division and Democratization in the Middle East. Chair: Norman Bailey, Institute of World Politics Radwan Ziadeh, Georgetown University We look to the legislative elections in Lebanon, The Palestinian Authority, and Iraq. These elections, rather than creating conditions of stability and political harmony, accelerated their societies entrance into to conflict and political rivalry, setting the stage for intense fighting and outbidding. The strange paradox present in these cases is that the need for democracy is supposed to rise higher than degrees of division and unity but doesn't. The Library Global Civic Education: Framework for Nationhood in Palestine. Chair: David Merchant, Executive Director, Policy Studies Organization Mary Coleman, Lesley College Empirically examines 500 civic education exercises of fifty-two teachers and 400 of their Palestinian students over a period of two years, 2008-2010. The literature in political science and anthropology that focus on human capacity, self-governance and institutional analysis and development, will be used as a blended framework for examining the data gathered from teachers, students, the Ministry and other state actors. 3:00 - 3:30 pm. Presentation The Pub Room Progressive Development of Scarce Water Resources in the Middle East for Sustainable Water Supply in the Era of Climate Change. Chair: Bruce Rich, Environmental Law Institute Eilon M. Adar, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev This lecture will emphasize the complex hydrological relationship in the Middle East, in view of the fact that all major water resources are trans-boundary, with all the associated political consequences. It will also elaborate on the novelties and innovations that enabled the development of the region. The LibrarySyrian-Israeli Negotiations: Current State of Affairs Chair: Mohammed Aman, University of Wisonsin-Milwaukee Joseph Olmert, American University. Formerly Director of Communications for the Prime Minister and Policy Adviser to the Defense Minister, Government of Israel, and Executive Director of the Council for Parliamentary Democracy. This presentation will focus on a brief introduction about Syria's role in the Middle East politics in general, and the Arab-Israeli conflict in particular. Brief chronological history of the Syrian-Israeli negotiations, since the Madrid peace conference in late 1991, until the present. Dr. Olmert will inject to the presentation his own personal impressions from the talks he was involved in, and will analyze the reasons for their failure. This with the intention to make some suggestions that may be able to extricate the talks from the current limbo, and push them forward. Friday, February 25th Visit to the various Smithsonian Middle East Collections. Posted and Guide at Registration Desk. 8:15 pm - Closing Plenary at the Powell Auditorium of the Cosmos Club Water in Arid Lands: Mapping and Managing a Scarce Resource in the Middle East. Eilon M. Adar, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev The impact of the accelerating global warming on the natural and human environments of the arid and semi-arid zones is forecasted to be catastrophic. It is predicted that in most of the dry-land regions the precipitation systems will change, resulting severe depletion in existing water resources. Interference with long term water balance in nature, mainly in arid and semi-arid zones over the globe raised the doubt whether the principles of Sustainable Development of existing (and future) water resources will be able to avert the forthcoming catastrophes associated with water scarcity in these regions, especially in developing societies. The accelerating socio-economic crises in the developing world and the still looming negative impacts of the Global Climate Change on the already thirsty and hungry societies, strengthened the conclusion that a new policy of development has to be considered, namely to ensure progress toward a safer and sustainable life, while averting irreversible environmental catastrophes. It is suggested to call this new policy "Progressive Development" as it entails, in the first place, profound and sweeping changes in the attitude of the development approach toward natural environmental resources in the arid and semi arid zones. These changes will utilize the up-till-now, un-developed natural water resources without binding ourselves to the common environmental definition of "sustainability". When it comes to natural resources, Progressive Development will aim at the comprehensive development of soil and water resources including one-time water reserves and marginal land resources. Such projects will include deep drilling and pumping, modern irrigation and agricultural methods. Water development projects will plan ahead for the diversion of rivers from regions of excessive water resources to regions of needs. As most of the fertile land in humid regions has been already heavily cultivated (in many regions even over exploited), one of the targets will be to come up with additional "new" water for planting the deserts, in the first place to produce food, and also to sequester atmospheric carbon and thus help mitigating global warming. In a nutshell Progressive Development aims to guarantee the survival and well-being of future generations of the developing world in the arid and semiarid zones, by giving priority to investment in advanced planning and development of new water resources, step by step while observing and assessing the current and possible future impact on nature and the environment. Almost 100 years of intensive, yet successful development of the agriculture industry in the dry-lands of Israel, were associated with a simultaneous development of the most sophisticated water resources and water technologies. In some cases water exploitation lead to (temporary) environmental stress. In most cases, however, the massive interference with the long term natural water balance did not reveal any substantial negative impact on Mother Nature, yet it is under continuous investigation for its potential negative impact on the environment. The comprehensive progressive development of integrated various water resources such as one-time groundwater reservoirs, marginal aquifers, treated effluents, desalinated sea water and brackish groundwater provided Israel with sustainable water distribution systems. It served as the most firm foundation for reclaiming substantial are of desert basins turning it to famous productive land.
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