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The Middle East Institute (MEI) and the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) are pleased to host a webinar series: COVID-19 and the Healthcare Systems in Israel/Palestine. nations around the globe, the COVID-19 crisis is both creating new challenges and exacerbating existing ones. This is especially true in Israel-Palestine, where Israelis and Palestinians live in close proximity, all under overarching Israeli authority but under regimes that afford them separate and grossly unequal access to health services.
In this context, the webinar series, moderated by MEI's Khaled Elgindy and FMEP's Lara Friedman, will examine how the COVID-19 crisis is impacting the very different and yet highly interconnected environments in Israel-Palestine, highlighting expert voices on the ground.
Mark your calendar for the following dates/times:
March 31, 11:00am ET -- Part 1: The Gaza Strip, RSVP here
April 1, 11:00am ET -- Part 2: The West Bank and East Jerusalem, RSVP here
April 3, 11:00am ET -- Part 3: Israel, RSVP here
Part 1 | The Gaza Strip
Tuesday, March 31, 2020, 11:00am-12pm EST
Tania Hary
Executive director, Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement
Dr. Ghada Al Jadba
Chief of Health Programme in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA
Omar Shaban
Founder and director, PalThink for Strategic Studies
Khaled Elgindy, Co-host
Senior fellow and Director of Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs, MEI
Lara Friedman, Co-host
President, FMEP
Part 2 | The West Bank and East Jerusalem
Wednesday, April 1, 2020, 11:00am-12pm EST
Tareq Baconi
Analyst for Israel/Palestine and Economics of Conflict, International Crisis Group
Jessica Montell
Executive director, HaMoked
Khaled Elgindy, Co-host
Senior fellow and Director of Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs, MEI
Lara Friedman, Co-host
President, FMEP
Part 3 | Israel
Friday, April 3, 2020, 11:00am-12pm EST
Henriette Chacar
Editor and reporter, +972 Magazine
Ran Goldstein
Executive director, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel
Khaled Elgindy, Co-host
Senior fellow and director, Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs, MEI
Lara Friedman, Co-host
President, FMEP
Speaker Biographies:
Tareq Baconi
Analyst for Israel/Palestine and Economics of Conflict, International Crisis Group
Tareq Baconi is the analyst for Israel/Palestine and Economics of Conflict at the International Crisis Group, based in Ramallah. He is the author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance (Stanford University Press, 2018).
Henriette Chacar
Editor and reporter, +972 Magazine
Henriette Chacar is a Palestinian editor and reporter at +972 Magazine. She also produces, hosts and edits The +972 Podcast. A graduate of Columbia Journalism School, Henriette previously worked at a weekly paper in Maine, Rain Media for PBS Frontline and The Intercept.
Khaled Elgindy
Senior fellow and director, Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs, MEI
Khaled Elgindy is senior fellow and director of the Program on Palestine and Palestinian-Israeli Affairs at MEI. He is the author of the newly released book, Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump (Brookings Institution Press, April 2019). Elgindy previously served as a fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution from 2010 through 2018. Prior to arriving at Brookings, he served as an adviser to the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah on permanent status negotiations with Israel from 2004 to 2009, and was a key participant in the Annapolis negotiations of 2007-08. Elgindy is also an adjunct instructor in Arab Studies at Georgetown University.
Lara Friedman
President, FMEP
Lara Friedman is the president of FMEP and a former U.S. Foreign Service Officer. With more than 25 years working in the Middle East foreign policy arena, Friedman is a leading authority on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, with particular expertise on the Israeli-Arab conflict, Israeli settlements, Jerusalem, and the role of the U.S. Congress. She is published widely in the U.S. and international press and is regularly consulted by members of Congress and their staffs, by Washington-based diplomats, by policy-makers in capitals around the world, and by journalists in the U.S. and abroad.
Ran Goldstein
Executive director, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel
Ran Goldstein is executive director of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel. Goldstein was head of communication for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Delegation to Israel and the Occupied Territories, and senior strategy and communications consultant to various Israeli Civil Society Organizations. Prior to this, he worked as a journalist for a number of leading Israeli media outlets.
Tania Hary
Executive director, Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement
Tania Hary is the executive director of Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, an Israeli human rights organization which promotes the right to movement in the Palestinian territory, especially Gaza. Leading Israel's only organization focused on Gaza, Hary is relied upon as a source of information and analysis on the situation in the Gaza Strip both at home and abroad. She briefed the United Nations Security Council in 2015 in an Arria formula meeting on the crisis in the Strip following the 2014 military operation Protective Edge. She also briefed the Council in 2019 at the invitation of the United Kingdom. Prior to joining Gisha in 2007, Tania worked on advocacy and fundraising initiatives for not-for-profit organizations promoting human rights and development.
Ghada Al Jadba
Chief of Health Programme in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA
Dr. Ghada Al Jadba is the chief of the UNRWA Health Programme in the Gaza Strip (since April 2015). As such, she is responsible for managing a workforce of some 900 staff and all of the health operations and services provided by 22 UNRWA health centers across the Gaza Strip to about 1.4 million Palestine refugees, including during times of emergencies. She has previously worked as Area Health Officer and Senior Medical Officer for UNRWA from 2003 to 2015. She holds a Masters degree in Public Health from Al Quds University, Gaza (2006), and a Bachelor degree in medicine and general surgery from Al Fateh University, Tripoli, Libya (1995).
Jessica Montell
Executive director, HaMoked
Jessica Montell is executive director of HaMoked, an Israeli human rights and legal aid center, and has been a leading figure in Israeli civil society for two decades. Montell previously served for 13 years as executive director of B’Tselem.
Omar Shaban
Founder and director, PalThink for Strategic Studies
Omar Shaban is the founder and director of the Gaza-based PalThink for Strategic Studies, an independent think tank with no political affiliation. He is an analyst of the political-economy of the Middle East and is a regular writer and commentator for the Arab and international media. Shaban is a founder of Palestinian groups for Amnesty International, the deputy head of the board of Asala, an association promoting microfinance for women, and a member of the Institute of Good Governance.