Organized by the UCLA Center for Middle East Development.  Co-sponsored by Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, and Luskin Department of Public Policy.

The swift and stunning collapse of the Assad regime in Syria a few days ago carries enormous implications for the future of the Middle East. Will the revolution produce an Islamist regime? Or will it usher in a new, more tolerant government for the Syrian people? Will Syria's four million refugees who fled during the 13-year civil war be welcomed home? Will Turkey become the new regime's patron, and if so, to what end? What will Syria's relations be with other Arab countries, including Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia? Will the regime seek good relations with the United States and Europe? Or will it turn back toward Russia and Iran? And what does all this portend for Syria's relationship with Israel? Our panel of experts will address these and many more questions as they explore the implications of this month's dramatic developments in Syria.

MEET THE SPEAKERS  

Dr. Ammar Kahf is the co-founder and executive director of the Omran Center for Strategic Studies, a Syria-focused policy research center established in Istanbul in November 2013 with a presence in Washington. He is also a founding board member of the Syrian Forum. Dr. Kahf earned a PhD from UCLA in 2011 with a dissertation entitled, “Syrian Authoritarianism: Persistence or Change.” His work focuses on geopolitical political alignments, security and military architecture in Syria, and local governance in Syria. Dr. Kahf’s last published work was on decentralization as an entry point to the political process in Syria.

Ms. Natasha Hall is a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Natasha has over 15 years of experience as an analyst, researcher, and practitioner in complex humanitarian emergencies and conflict-affected areas with a specialty in the Middle East. Most recently, she has worked on the Syrian conflict with The Shaikh Group, GIZ, Mayday Rescue, Center for Civilians in Conflict, and the U.S. government’s Refugee Affairs Division. She has lived and worked in over 15 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Southern Caucasus, and Europe. Her work has focused on conflict resolution, governance, displacement, environmental issues, resilience, and civilian protection. Her reports have spurred congressional hearings and high-level donor responses on Syria. As a director with Mayday Rescue, she led these responses, working with the White Helmets to reinforce critical civilian infrastructure and protect civilians from explosive weapons and other consequences of the war. She is a commentator and contributor for a number of media outlets and think tanks, including CNN, BBC, and MSNBC. She has written articles and in-depth analyses for the Washington Post, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, the Atlantic Council, the United States Institute for Peace, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, among others. Natasha is also the founder of Art in Exile. She earned her master’s from Georgetown's School of Foreign Service and her B.A. from the University of Virginia in foreign affairs and Middle East studies. She did a Fulbright Fellowship in Jordan from 2006-2007 and a Boren Fellowship in Syria in 2010.

Ambassador Hesham Youssef has worked extensively on conflict resolution in the Middle East, particularly the Arab-Israeli conflict, and reconciliation in Iraq, and the situation in Sudan. He has written several papers on reform in the Arab world and focused the last five years on fragility and the humanitarian situation in the Islamic world, particularly in Somalia, the Palestinian Territories, Chad, and Myanmar. He is a retired Egyptian diplomat, was a senior official in the Arab League for 13 years, and served as assistant secretary general at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. He is currently a senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace.

Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich is a professor emeritus of Middle Eastern history at Tel Aviv University. He is Israel’s former ambassador to the United States, former chief negotiator with Syria in the mid-1990s, and a former president of Tel Aviv University from 1999 until 2007. Additionally, he is the president of the Dan David Foundation, president emeritus and counselor of the Israel Institute in Washington and Tel Aviv, and a distinguished fellow of the Brooking Institution’s foreign policy program. Ambassador Rabinovich is the author of numerous books on the modern history and politics of the Middle East. His most recent book entitled, “Middle Eastern Maze: Israel, the Arabs, and the Region, 1948 - 2022,”” was published in Hebrew in November, 2022 and released by Brookings Institution Press in March, 2023.

MEET THE MODERATOR

Professor Steve Zipperstein is associate director of the UCLA Center for Middle East Development. He is also an adjunct assistant professor at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Professor Zipperstein is a former US federal prosecutor and the former chief legal officer of Verizon Wireless and BlackBerry Ltd. He is the author of The Legal Case for Palestine: A Critical Assessment (forthcoming) (Routledge, 2024), Zionism, Palestinian Nationalism and the Law: 1939-1948 (Routledge, 2022), and Law and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Trials of Palestine (Routledge 2020).

Sponsor(s): Center for Middle East Development, Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies, Department of Public Policy