Speaker biographies

Abdul Salam al-Majali most recently served as the vice-speaker of the Jordanian Senate in 2003.  Prior to this position, Dr. al-Majali was a member of the Jordanian Senate in 1993, 1997, and 2003.  From 1993 to 1995 and 1997 to 1998, he served as the prime minister and minister of defense and foreign affairs of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.  In 1994, as head of the Jordanian delegation to the peace negotiations on the Middle East, Dr. al-Majali signed the bi-lateral peace treaty with Israel.  From 1990 to 1991, he was the director general for the Jordan Health Institute.  In 1989, he served as an advisor to King Hussein I.  Dr. al-Majali has been the president of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences since 1999.

Sai’d Kan’an has served as the director of the Center for Palestine Research and Studies in Nablus since 1995, where he produces independent analyses of political and economic developments in the Palestinian territories.  He also served as a political advisor to the late president Yasser Arafat for nine years, up until his death in 2004.  Prior to these positions, he was a member of the board of directors for Al-Quds Weekly in Cairo from 1989–1994, during which time he also worked in the private business sector.  Mr. Kan’an has been a member of the board of trustees of An-Najah National University in Nablus since 1998, in addition to being a member of the Palestine National Council since 1976.

Bernard Lewis is the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.  He specializes in the history of Islam and its interaction with the West.  He is one of the most widely read Western scholars of the Middle East.  After serving in the British forces during World War II, Dr. Lewis became a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London until 1974, when he began teaching at Princeton University.  He became an emeritus professor upon his retirement from Princeton in 1986.  Dr. Lewis also served as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study during 1986–1990. He has been a naturalized citizen of the United States since 1982. 

Rami Nasrallah is the head of the IPCC (International Peace Cooperation Center).  During 1993–1996, he was a political advisor and Israel desk officer at Orient House Special Unit, where he coordinated a core team of experts whose main task was to prepare for the final status negotiations on Jerusalem issues.  In addition to his role at the IPCC, Mr. Nasrallah is a research associate on the Cities in Conflict Project in the architecture faculty of Cambridge University.  His research has appeared in the books The Jerusalem Urban Fabric and Jerusalem on the Map, as well as in the essay “Divided Cities in Transition.”  His recent research has focused on “images of the other” and increasing citizen participation in democracies. Prior to 1993, he was active as a journalist.  

Danielle Pletka is the vice president for foreign and defense policy studies at AEI. Her research areas include the Middle East, south Asia, terrorism, and weapons proliferation. While at AEI, Ms. Pletka developed a conference series on rebuilding post-Saddam Iraq and a project on democracy in the Arab world. She recently served as a member of the congressionally-mandated Task Force on the United Nations, established by the United States Institute of Peace.  Before coming to AEI, she served for ten years as a senior professional staff member for the Near East and south Asia on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Michael Rubin is a resident scholar in foreign policy studies at AEI, where he studies Arab democracy, Kurdish society, and domestic politics in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey.  Prior to joining AEI, he served as a political advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad from 2003 to 2004.  Previously, he was a staff advisor for Iran and Iraq in the Office of the Secretary of Defense during 2002–2004. He is currently the editor of the Middle East Quarterly.

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