The Rapidly Changing Face of the Middle East and Arab World, March 24, 2011

On Thursday, March 24th, the Council held an extensive half-day conference entitled The Rapidly Changing Face of the Middle East and the Arab World. The event was held at the Union League of Philadelphia and featured a panel of renowned experts including:

• Chris Matthews, MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews
• The Hon. Stephen Hadley, National Security Advisor (2005-2009); Senior Advisor, United States Institute for Peace
• Haleh Esfandiari, Director, Middle East Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• H.E. Samir Sumaida'ie, Ambassador of Iraq to the U.S.
• Bernard Lewis, Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
• Dan Arbell, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Israel, Washington D.C.
• Eric Davis, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University; past director, Rutgers Center for Middle Eastern Studies
• Daniel Kutner, Consul General of Israel, Mid-Atlantic Region of the U.S.
• Trudy Rubin, Worldview columnist, The Philadelphia Inquirer
• Salman Shaikh, Director, Brookings Doha Center; Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy
• Jerry Sorkin, Middle East and North African specialist; Founder of TunisUSA
• Edward A. Turzanski, Sr. Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute; National security analyst, La Salle University

This stellar line-up gave an audience of nearly 400 — including many middle, high school and college students — a fascinating inside look at up-to-the-minute news in the Middle East and Arab world. Our speakers joined guests for an afternoon reception and gave topical "inside briefings" at a special student reception.

View the Fox29 interview with The Hon. Stephen Hadley

Additional news coverage:

Philadelphia Inquirer coverage of the event, by Michael Matza
Jewish Exponent interview with Minister Dan Arbell, by Brian Schwartzmann
Mainline Media Newscoverage of the event, by Bonnie Squires
Chris Matthews, interviewed on the day of the conference for One Great Idea, philly.com