Dr. Kassem Ja'afar - Born in Nigeria, West Africa in 1956 to a Shi'ite Muslim immigrant family from South Lebanon, Kassem Ja'afar got his primary and secondary education in Lebanon before graduating from the American University of Beirut (AUB) with a degree in Middle Eastern History and Islamic Studies. He moved to London in 1979 where he joined Kings College, University of London and completed his MA and Mphil in War Studies. During the early 80's he co-edited Strategic Review a specialized newsletter on defense and current affairs in London and later joined the BBC where he worked for more than 10 years as a Middle East and Defense correspondent.
He also worked as Defense and Diplomatic Editor at the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat at its sister weekly Al-Wasat. He has authored and co-authored several books and articles on Middle Eastern and Defense related affairs and currently lives between London and Doha, Qatar where he is a Diplomatic and Defense consultant. He also served for two years (2003-2005) as a member for the board of governors of Al-Jazeera satellite channel. Dr. Ja'afar is married with four children
Emanuele Ottolenghi - Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi is Executive Director at the Transatlantic Institute in Brussels. He previously taught Israel Studies at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies and at the Middle East Centre of St. Antony's College, Oxford University.
He holds a degree in Political Science from University of Bologna, Italy, and a Ph.D. in political theory from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Since 1998 he is at Oxford.
His research focuses on Israeli domestic politics, specifically coalition and party politics, and elections, post-Zionism, the Arab-Israeli conflict (mainly the Oslo era), Europe's new anti-Semitism and European attitudes to the Middle East. He is currently finishing a book on Israel's electoral reforms in the 1990s.
Dr. Kassem Ja'afar discusses The Middle East Arms Race: Establishing Deterrence or Precipitating Conflict?.
Kassem Ja'afar currently works as a diplomatic consultant in Qatar. During the early 80's he co-edited Strategic Review, a specialized newsletter on defense issues. He spent more than 10 years as a Middle East correspondent for the BBC. He also worked as Defense and Diplomatic Editor at Al-Hayat and Al-Wasat. He has authored and co-authored several books and articles on Middle Eastern and defense related affairs. He served for two years as a member for the Board of Governors of Al-Jazeera. He holds a BA from the American University of Beirut in Middle Eastern History and an MA and MPhil in War Studies from Kings College in London.