Events

Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) convened a panel at the National Press Club to address the US killing of Iran’s Major General Qassem Soleimani and focus on the implications on the domestic level in Iran, Iraq, regionally, and internationally

On December 10, 2019, Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) organized a panel at the National Press Club titled “Lebanon’s Protests and Prospects for Change.” The panel consisted of Imad K. Harb, Director of Research at ACW; Patricia Karam, Regional Director of the Middle East North Africa Division at the International Republican Institute; and Leslie Touma, Executive Director of the American Task Force for Lebanon. Reema Abuhamdieh, a reporter for Al Araby Television Network, served as the panel moderator.

On Monday, November 18, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the Trump Administration does not view Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as illegal, thus reversing longstanding US policy and contravening international law and consensus. ACW is convening a panel to analyze this announcement by the Trump Administration. Experts will address the rationale behind this move and the significance of its timing, especially in the context of the administration’s upcoming peace plan. They will examine the political and legal implications for US policy toward Palestine/Israel, the role of the international community, and the impact on the national, legal, and human rights of Palestinians.

On November 14, 2019, Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) hosted a panel discussion at its headquarters titled “Evangelical Christians and US Middle East Policy.” The speakers were Alison Glick, Director of Development and Mobilization with Churches for Middle East Peace, James Wallis, theologian, best-selling author, and founder and editor-in-chief of Sojourners Magazine, and Jonathan Kuttab, ACW non-resident fellow and human rights lawyer, who also moderated the discussion.

Arab Center Washington DC organized its fourth annual conference dedicated to exploring the role of media and new technologies in human rights and democracy in the Arab world. Conference sessions and topics will include: Arab democracy in the information age; Cyber geopolitics and digital warfare in the Arab world; New media and new authoritarianism; Press freedom and the prospects of digital activism; Identity politics and the weaponization of social media; Silencing dissent and the politics of cyber espionage; Accountability and ethical policies in cyber space.

On September 11, 2019 Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) hosted a panel discussion at the National Press Club titled “The Future of Yemen: Between Internal Divisions and External Interference.” The speakers were Nabeel Al-Nowairah, research associate at the Gulf International Forum; Sama’a Al-Hamdani, director of the Yemen Cultural Institute for Heritage and the Arts and a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute; and Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Middle East fellow at the Baker Institute, Rice University, and a nonresident senior fellow at ACW.

This book illustrates how Arab women have been engaging in three ongoing and parallel struggles before, during, and after the Arab Spring, on three levels: the political struggle to pave the road for democracy, freedom, and reform; the social struggle to achieve gender equality and fight all forms of injustice and discrimination against women; and the legal struggle to chart new laws that safeguard both political and social gains. The contributors argue that while the political upheavals were oftentimes more prevalent and visible, they should not overshadow the parallel social and legal revolutions that are equally important, due to their long-term impacts on the region. The chapters shed light on the intersections, overlaps, and divergences between these simultaneous and continuous gendered struggles and unpacks their complexities and multiple implications locally, regionally, and internationally, across different countries and through various phases.