EVENT DETAILS

Following the protests and upheaval throughout the Arab world, Syrians took to the streets beginning on March 15, demanding a more responsive and democratic government. After an initial promise that reforms would be implemented, the government’s response has become increasingly violent. The continued instability in Syria has implications well beyond its borders. Complex issues, including the Israeli-Arab conflict, Iran’s role in the region, the stability of Lebanon, and Syria’s relationship with organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah, are inextricably linked to Syria’s domestic situation. What happens in Syria in the coming months will play a critical role in the future of the region.

The Carnegie Endowment and the Brookings Institution are co-hosting an event with Tamara Wittes, Murhaf Jouejati, Ammar Abdulhamid, Itamar Rabinovich, and Paul Salem to discuss these issues. Marwan Muasher will moderate.

Tamara Wittes was sworn in as a deputy assistant secretary for Near Eastern Affairs (NEA) on November 9, 2009. She coordinates democracy and human rights policy for the NEA Bureau and supervises MEPI and the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) initiative. Before joining the State Department, Dr. Wittes was a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. She directed the Middle East Democracy and Development (MEDD) Project, which conducts research into political and economic reform in the region and U.S. efforts to promote democracy there.

Murhaf Jouejati is a Syrian-born specialist on Middle East affairs, particularly Syrian politics and the Levant. He is currently a professor of Middle East Studies at the National Defense University’s Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. Dr. Jouejati is also a professorial lecturer in Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University, as well as an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC.

Ammar Abdulhamid is a liberal democracy activist whose anti-regime activities led to his exile from Syria on September 7, 2005. Abdulhamid is the founder and director of the Tharwa Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to democracy promotion in the Greater Middle East and North Africa region. Prior to founding The Tharwa Foundation, Abdulhamid served as a fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.

Itamar Rabinovich is the Charles Bronfman distinguished nonresident senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. Rabinovich is an expert on the policies and politics of the Middle East, with a particular interest in Syria, Arab-Israeli relations, and the U.S.-Israel relationship. He served as Israel’s ambassador to the United States and as chief negotiator with Syria from 1992 to 1996.

Paul Salem is the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center. Prior to joining Carnegie in 2006, Salem was the general director of the Fares Foundation and from 1989 to 1999 he founded and directed the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, Lebanon's leading public policy think tank. Recently, Salem was a member of the Lebanese National Commission for Electoral Law Reform, a blue ribbon commission tasked with revising Lebanon's electoral laws and proposing a new system. Marwan Muasher is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment, where he oversees the Endowment’s research in Washington and Beirut on the Middle East. Muasher served as foreign minister (2002–2004) and deputy prime minister (2004–2005) of Jordan, and his career has spanned the areas of diplomacy, development, civil society, and communications. He is also a senior fellow at Yale University