Events

Donald Trump's attitudes toward Islam became a key point of contention on the campaign trail, and in power Trump has continued his war of divisive words and deeds. In this book, acclaimed journalist Lawrence Pintak scrutinizes America's relationship with Islam since its foundation. Casting Donald Trump as a symptom of decades of misunderstanding and demonization of the Islamic world, as well as a cause of future tensions, Pintak shows how and why America's relationship with the world's largest religion has been so fractious, damaging, and self-defeating.

In spring 2011, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to his friend and army commander, Manaf Tlass, for advice about how to respond to Arab Spring-inspired protests. Tlass pushed for conciliation but Assad decided to crush the uprising, an act that would catapult the country into an eight-year-long war, killing almost half a million Syrians and fueling terrorism and a global refugee crisis. Assad or We Burn the Country examines Syria’s tragedy through the generational saga of the Assad and Tlass families, once deeply intertwined—and now estranged—in Bashar’s bloody quest to preserve his father’s inheritance. By drawing on his own reporting experience in Damascus and exclusive interviews with Tlass, Dagher takes readers inside palace walls to reveal the family behind the destruction of a country and the chaos of an entire region.

On June 18, 2019 Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) held an event titled “The Kushner Plan and the Bahrain Economic Workshop: An Official Palestinian Perspective,” at the National Press Club with Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, who is a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee, a Palestinian legislator, human rights activist, and scholar.

Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) hosted a panel discussion at the National Press Club titled “The Future of Libya: Between Internal Rivalry, Regional Influence, and US Policy.” The speakers were Karim Mezran, Director and Resident Senior Fellow, North Africa Initiative of the Atlantic Council; Najla El Mangoush, Graduate Lecturer at George Mason University and Adjunct Faculty member at Northern Virginia Community College; Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Non-resident Senior Fellow at ACW and Baker Institute Fellow for the Middle East, Rice University; and Federica Saini Fasanotti (via video-conference), Non-resident Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution and Senior Associate Research Fellow, Italian Institute for International Political Studies. ACW Executive Director Khalil Jahshan served as moderator.

On April 17, 2019, Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) hosted a panel of experts at the National Press Club for an event titled “Unpacking Netanyahu’s Reelection: Future Implications.” The speakers were Peter Beinart, Professor of Journalism and Political Science, City University of New York; Phyllis Bennis,Director, New Internationalism Project, Institute for Policy Studies; Nadia Hijab, Co-Founder and Board President, Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network; Mouin Rabbani, Co-Editor, Jadaliyya; and Amir Tibon, Washington Correspondent, Haaretz Newspaper. ACW Executive DirectorKhalil E. Jahshan moderated the discussion.

On April 4, 2019, Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) hosted a panel discussion at the National Press Club titled “Algeria’s Protests and the Prospects for Change.It featured four experts on Algeria: Marina Ottaway, Middle East fellow at the Wilson Center; Geoff D. Porter, founder and president of North Africa Risk Consulting; Hugh Roberts, Edward Keller Professor of North African and Middle Eastern History at Tufts University; and Sarah Yerkes, a fellow in Carnegie’s Middle East Program. ACW Executive Director Khalil Jahshan offered introductory remarks, and ACW Assistant Executive Director and Senior Fellow Tamara Kharroub moderated the session.

On March 29, 2019, Arab Center Washington DC hosted author and journalist Ben White for a discussion titled, “Palestinian Rights and Israeli Policies: Shifts in International Opinion.” White’s work has been published in The Guardian, The Independent, Newsweek Middle East, and many other publications. He is also a frequent guest expert on Al Jazeera and a contributor for Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. White is the author of Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide (Pluto, 2014) and, most recently, Cracks in the Wall: Beyond Apartheid in Palestine/Israel (Pluto, 2018).

Arab Center Washington DC Executive Director Khalil E. Jahshan moderated a wide-ranging conversation with Robert W. Jordan, former US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2001 to 2003 about the current state of the relationship between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.