Recent & Upcoming ICMES Activities
The Arab Revolts and Their Consequences
On February 7, 2012 ICMES, in joint sponsorship with the Council for the National Interest Foundation, will hold a panel discussion about the ongoing and far-reaching effects of the monumental Arab uprisings. This program will take place from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in room 122 of the Cannon House Building in Washington, D.C. The panelists will be Chas Freeman, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, former Co-chair of the U.S. China Policy Foundation, Executive Committee member at the Atlantic Council, and President Emeritus of the Middle East Policy Council; Prof. Paul R. Pillar, Director of Graduate Studies at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program, former National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia, and former Deputy Director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center; and W. Patrick Lang, retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence with an emphasis on the Middle East and South Asia. The panel will be moderated by Peter Kelly, Chairman of the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) and former treasurer and national finance chairman of the Democratic Party’s National Committee. [see flyer]
New Approaches to Peace in the Middle East
On October 24, 2011, Dr. Ghada Karmi of the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, Issam Saliba, Esq. of the U.S. Law Library of Congress, and Dr. Rafi Danziger, formerly of AIPAC, presented their respective ideas for a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Karmi and Saliba argued for peaceful solutions that are often given short shrift in the mainline public sphere in that they challenge arguments favoring Israeli as well as Palestinian statehood. Danziger presented an opposing view. The event was co-sponsored by ICMES and The George Washingon University Law School.
Past ICMES Events
Doctrinal Foundation of Political Power under Sharia and Halachah
On October 4, 2011, ICMES co-hosted a session comparing and contrasting understandings of political power by and within Shari’ah (Islamic law) and Halakhah (Jewish law). The session was held at the Georgetown University Law Center and featured Rabbi Shlomo Yaffee of the Institute of American and Talmudic Law, and Attorney Issam Michael Saliba (ICMES), specialist in Islamic law at the Law Library of Congress. ICMES chair and Georgetown University Law Professor Don Wallace moderated the session. [See flyer]
Dynamics of Palestine in the Coming Arab & UN Seasons – Five Perspectives
On September 14, 2011 ICMES and the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations co-hosted a session at the International Law Institute discussing the relationship of the present and ongoing political situation in the Middle East to the upcoming United Nations decision on Palestinian statehood. How have the Arab uprisings affected–and been affected by–the Palestinian struggle? What role does both Israel and the Palestinian bid for statehood play in the context of these dynamics? What has been the US response to the situation, and what are its developing limits and possibilities? Participants included Dr. Fouzi El-Asmar (ICMES), Dr. Philip Giraldi (Council on the National Interest), author Mark Perry, and Middle East security specialist Jeffrey Steinberg. The session was chaired by ILI Chairman Prof. Don Wallace. Professor Norton Mezvinsky was the commentator. [see flyer]
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon: Justice or Political Endgame?
On March 2, 2011, Attorney Issam M. Saliba and author Mark Perry spoke on a panel at the International Law Institute, on which they analyzed the legality and political coordinates of the U.N. Special Tribunal for Lebanon mandated to prosecute persons responsible for the bombing that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and in turn prompted the collapse of the Lebanese government. [Read More]
Ongoing ICMES Projects
Religion and State in and on the Periphery of the Contemporary Middle East: A Close Examination of Five Separate Countries
This ground-breaking book, edited by Issam M. Saliba and sponsored by ICMES, will contain sophisticated essays that compare the relationship between religion and state in five Muslim majority countries: Iran, Turkey, Sudan, Palestine and Mauritania. An introductory chapter will discuss the theoretical formulation of Islam and the state. Numerous perspectives and arguments, rarely heard in the West, will be presented. Most of the contributors to this scholarly collection are indigenous scholars and writers from the designated countries. This book promises to be not only a contribution itself but also a model for further study. [Read more]