The Doha Debates: Recognising Hamas
Sharp divisions over the Palestinian group Hamas emerged during the February 26th Doha Debate, as international experts argued over its election success and world reactions to it.
A large majority of the audience voted in favour of the motion: 'This House believes that the international community must accept Hamas as a political partner.'
The Doha Debates are a forum for free speech in the Middle East, tackling the most controversial issues in the Arab and Islamic worlds head-on.
Panel:
Stanley L. Cohen is an American lawyer who is probably best known for his defense of Mousa Abu Marzook the head of the political wing of Hamas, whose extradition from the United States was sought by Israel in 1995. Over the years he has represented many other Muslim and Palestinian activists and imams throughout the United States and elsewhere.
Cohen is an outspoken advocate for the rights of Palestinians and has long been identified as one of the most ardent critics of United States policy towards Muslims at home and abroad. He has served as an advisor and counsel to numerous mosques and Islamic organizations throughout the United States and has frequently traveled to the Middle East to areas including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In July 2005, Cohen filed a landmark case in the District Court in Washington DC against Ariel Sharon, other Israeli leaders, President Bush, various weapons manufacturers and other organizations in the United States. The case sought damages and injunctive relief on behalf of a group of Palestinian-Americans who have had family members killed, injured and tortured and whose homes and businesses have been destroyed.
A frequent contributor to op-ed pieces and guest lecturer at various law schools, universities and other organizations throughout the United States and elsewhere, Cohen often appears on television and radio talk shows and in public debates on issues including the situation in the Middle East, U.S. foreign policy, the treatment of Muslims and the status of civil liberties and human rights in the United States.
He graduated from Pace University School of Law in 1983.
SALIM MANSUR is the Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. He is a regular columnist in North American newspapers and contributor to international journals.
Mansur is the editor of The Indira-Rajiv Years: the Indian Economy and Polity 1966-1991 and has published widely in academic journals such as The Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences; Arab Studies Quarterly; and Middle East Quarterly.
He writes weekly columns for Toronto Sun that are frequently published in several Canadian newspapers owned by the Sun Media and writes regularly for National Post (Canada). He has also published in the Globe and Mail (Toronto), the National Review Online and FrontPageMagazine.com.
Before teaching political science at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, Mansur worked as a Research Fellow at the Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security in Ottawa. He received his doctorate from the University of Toronto in Canada..
Dr. Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou is Associate Director of the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research.
Previously, Dr. Mohamedou served as Director of Research at the International Council on Human Rights Policy in Geneva, where he helped found and direct the research and policy program. He was a post-doctoral Scholar-in-Residence at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, and Research Associate at the Ralph Bunche Institute in the United Nations office in New York.
Dr. Mohamedou is the author of several books and essays on human rights, civil society and conflict, including; Iraq and the Second Gulf War - State Building and Regime Security; Societal Transition to Democracy; Contre-Croisade - Origines et Consequences du 11 Septembre; and Non-Linearity of Engagement: Transnational Armed Groups, International Law, and the Conflict between Al Qaeda and the United States. He is currently completing a book on Al Qaeda.
He is a frequent lecturer in his fields of interest and has contributed to The International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, Civil Society, The Journal of North African Studies, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, and Al Qods al Arabi.
Dr. Mohamedou holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and an M.A. in International Relations from City University of New York. He also holds a degree in law from the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris.
DAVID FRUM, former special assistant to President George W. Bush, is also a bestselling author, columnist and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
In 2001-2002, David Frum served as a special assistant to President Bush, during which the New Yorker magazine wrote: "A...case can be made that the most influential thinker in the foreign-policy apparatus of the Administration of George W. Bush during its first two years was ...David Frum."
He is the author of five books, including two New York Times bestsellers: THE RIGHT MAN: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush (2003), and co-author with Richard Perle of AN END TO EVIL: What's Next in the War on Terror (2004). His next book, a study of US foreign policy and the next presidential election, will be published by Doubleday in late 2006.
Frum writes a daily column for National Review Online, plus weekly columns for Canada's National Post newspaper and Italy's Il Foglio. He also contributes frequently to the editorial pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as to Great Britain's Daily Telegraph and Canada's National Post. He appears regularly on CNN, Fox News, and the BBC.
In 2001, Judge Richard Posner's study of public intellectuals listed Frum as one of the 100 most influential minds in the United States. In 1996, The Wall Street Journal acclaimed him as "one of the leading political commentators of his generation."
After receiving a simultaneous B.A. and M.A. in History from Yale in 1982, Frum was appointed a visiting lecturer in history at Yale in 1986. In 1987, he graduated cum laude from the Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Federalist Society.
See the Doha Debates on BBC World!
BBC World will be broadcasting the fifth Doha Debate of our second series on March 4th and 5th at the following times. Watch and see how Qatar is changing the rules of public discourse in the Arab world.
GMT:
Saturday March 4th 12:10 and repeated at 20:10
Sunday March 5th 08:10 and repeated at 17:10
It was a very interesting debate with quite good arguments from the 'FOR' side.
Sharp divisions over the Palestinian group Hamas emerged during the February 26th Doha Debate, as international experts argued over its election success and world reactions to it.
A large majority of the audience voted in favour of the motion: 'This House believes that the international community must accept Hamas as a political partner.'
The Doha Debates are a forum for free speech in the Middle East, tackling the most controversial issues in the Arab and Islamic worlds head-on.
Panel:
Stanley L. Cohen is an American lawyer who is probably best known for his defense of Mousa Abu Marzook the head of the political wing of Hamas, whose extradition from the United States was sought by Israel in 1995. Over the years he has represented many other Muslim and Palestinian activists and imams throughout the United States and elsewhere.
Cohen is an outspoken advocate for the rights of Palestinians and has long been identified as one of the most ardent critics of United States policy towards Muslims at home and abroad. He has served as an advisor and counsel to numerous mosques and Islamic organizations throughout the United States and has frequently traveled to the Middle East to areas including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In July 2005, Cohen filed a landmark case in the District Court in Washington DC against Ariel Sharon, other Israeli leaders, President Bush, various weapons manufacturers and other organizations in the United States. The case sought damages and injunctive relief on behalf of a group of Palestinian-Americans who have had family members killed, injured and tortured and whose homes and businesses have been destroyed.
A frequent contributor to op-ed pieces and guest lecturer at various law schools, universities and other organizations throughout the United States and elsewhere, Cohen often appears on television and radio talk shows and in public debates on issues including the situation in the Middle East, U.S. foreign policy, the treatment of Muslims and the status of civil liberties and human rights in the United States.
He graduated from Pace University School of Law in 1983.
SALIM MANSUR is the Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. He is a regular columnist in North American newspapers and contributor to international journals.
Mansur is the editor of The Indira-Rajiv Years: the Indian Economy and Polity 1966-1991 and has published widely in academic journals such as The Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences; Arab Studies Quarterly; and Middle East Quarterly.
He writes weekly columns for Toronto Sun that are frequently published in several Canadian newspapers owned by the Sun Media and writes regularly for National Post (Canada). He has also published in the Globe and Mail (Toronto), the National Review Online and FrontPageMagazine.com.
Before teaching political science at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, Mansur worked as a Research Fellow at the Canadian Institute for International Peace and Security in Ottawa. He received his doctorate from the University of Toronto in Canada..
Dr. Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou is Associate Director of the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research.
Previously, Dr. Mohamedou served as Director of Research at the International Council on Human Rights Policy in Geneva, where he helped found and direct the research and policy program. He was a post-doctoral Scholar-in-Residence at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, and Research Associate at the Ralph Bunche Institute in the United Nations office in New York.
Dr. Mohamedou is the author of several books and essays on human rights, civil society and conflict, including; Iraq and the Second Gulf War - State Building and Regime Security; Societal Transition to Democracy; Contre-Croisade - Origines et Consequences du 11 Septembre; and Non-Linearity of Engagement: Transnational Armed Groups, International Law, and the Conflict between Al Qaeda and the United States. He is currently completing a book on Al Qaeda.
He is a frequent lecturer in his fields of interest and has contributed to The International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, Civil Society, The Journal of North African Studies, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, and Al Qods al Arabi.
Dr. Mohamedou holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and an M.A. in International Relations from City University of New York. He also holds a degree in law from the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris.
DAVID FRUM, former special assistant to President George W. Bush, is also a bestselling author, columnist and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
In 2001-2002, David Frum served as a special assistant to President Bush, during which the New Yorker magazine wrote: "A...case can be made that the most influential thinker in the foreign-policy apparatus of the Administration of George W. Bush during its first two years was ...David Frum."
He is the author of five books, including two New York Times bestsellers: THE RIGHT MAN: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush (2003), and co-author with Richard Perle of AN END TO EVIL: What's Next in the War on Terror (2004). His next book, a study of US foreign policy and the next presidential election, will be published by Doubleday in late 2006.
Frum writes a daily column for National Review Online, plus weekly columns for Canada's National Post newspaper and Italy's Il Foglio. He also contributes frequently to the editorial pages of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as to Great Britain's Daily Telegraph and Canada's National Post. He appears regularly on CNN, Fox News, and the BBC.
In 2001, Judge Richard Posner's study of public intellectuals listed Frum as one of the 100 most influential minds in the United States. In 1996, The Wall Street Journal acclaimed him as "one of the leading political commentators of his generation."
After receiving a simultaneous B.A. and M.A. in History from Yale in 1982, Frum was appointed a visiting lecturer in history at Yale in 1986. In 1987, he graduated cum laude from the Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Federalist Society.
See the Doha Debates on BBC World!
BBC World will be broadcasting the fifth Doha Debate of our second series on March 4th and 5th at the following times. Watch and see how Qatar is changing the rules of public discourse in the Arab world.
GMT:
Saturday March 4th 12:10 and repeated at 20:10
Sunday March 5th 08:10 and repeated at 17:10
It was a very interesting debate with quite good arguments from the 'FOR' side.
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