AHMAD AMARA is Palestinian human rights practicing lawyer in Israel, litigating cases on land, housing and education rights. Amara is a PhD candidate on History and Hebrew and Judaic studies in NYU. For the last three years he has been serving as a clinical instructor and global advocacy fellow with the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program. His work at Harvard focuses on social, cultural and economic rights in the Middle East and on the Law of Occupation, where he published few reports and articles on this area. He completed his Bachelor and Masters degrees in Law at Tel-Aviv University, where he also served as a teaching assistant and a coordinator of the Street Law Clinic Program at the Faculty of Law. In 2005, he completed a second Masters degree in International Human Rights Law at Essex University in the United Kingdom. In 2005, he co-founded a human rights organization, Karama (Arabic for “Dignity”), in Nazareth where he served as a senior staff attorney.

Many Israelis are used to see Mr. Aharon Barnea every night on the TV screen discussing issues relating to the Israeli-Arab conflict. Mr. Barnea is currently based in D.C and serving as a senior correspondent to the USA for Channel 2 TV News. In the last 8 years he serves as an anchorman and special correspondent on Arab affairs on channel 2 TV News in Israel. In the past, Mr Barnea served as an advisor to Ezer Weizman, the President of Israel and as a journalist at Hadashot newspaper and correspondent of Arab Affairs in Israel Radio and Chief Editor and Anchorman on weekly news magazine on Israel Radio. Mr. Barnea’s academic background includes a Ph.D. (candidacy) in Middle Eastern Studies and Linguistics from the University of California in Berkeley and M.A in Middle Eastern Studies and Linguistics from the University of California. Mr Barnea got his B.A. in Middle East History and Arabic language and Literature from Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

RUTH CARMI is an attorney in the Legal and Public Policy Department at the Israel Religious Action Center, the public and legal advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel. She specializes in constitutional, administrative and human rights law and is currently the Director of IRAC’s project to defend civic equality for the Arab minority in Israel. Ms. Carmi is also a legal advisor for the Rape Crisis Center in Jerusalem, where she has been volunteering since 2004. She is a graduate of the Hebrew University, where she completed both her undergraduate and law degrees.

BROOKE GOLDSTEIN is a human rights attorney based in New York City and an award-winning filmmaker. Brooke currently serves as the director of The Lawfare Project, a not-for-profit dedicated to raising awareness about the abuse of the law and legal systems for political or military means and is also the founder and director of the Children’s Rights Institute (CRI), a nonprofit whose mission is to raise awareness and legally combat violations of children’s basic human rights as occurring throughout the globe. CRI has a special focus on the incitement and recruitment of children to become suicide-homicide bombers, child soldiers and human shields. Brooke co-produced and co-directed the documentary film “The Making of a Martyr” which received the Audience Choice Award for Best Film at the United Nations Documentary Film Festival (2006) and is currently broadcast worldwide. Brooke is the 2007 recipient of the E. Nathaniel Gates Award for Outstanding Public Advocacy, is currently an associate

DR. LEONARD GROB is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, New Jersey. He has published extensively in the areas of Holocaust Studies, philosophy of dialogue and peace studies, with an emphasis on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is co-editor of two anthologies based on Martin Buber’s philosophy: Education for Peace: Testimonies from World Religions and Women’s and Men’s Liberation: Testimonies of Spirit. Dr. Grob has served on the Meretz USA Executive Board since 1992; he is currently a vice president of this organization. In 1983 he served as an observer and participant in an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue project with Jewish and Bedouin children in southern Israel. From 1995-1999, he co-coordinated Fairleigh Dickinson’s Israeli campus in Tel Aviv. In 2006 he edited–with a Palestinian-American partner–a book of interviews with Israeli and Palestinian teenagers, entitled Teen Voices From the Holy Land: Who Am I To You? During the last se

CLARA KHOURY was born in Haifa in 1976. To an artistic family (father Makram J.Khoury a well known actor and Wadea the mother an art teacher). Studied cinema at the Open University in Tel Aviv, her studies lasted for one year making her realize that she wants to be in front of the camera. She went to study acting in Bet-Tsvi school of drama in Tel Aviv (a leading acting school in Israel) .in 2000, finished her 3year of studies in Excellency. Since, she is working in theatre playing in Arabic and Hebrew among her roles in theater were: title role in “Antigone”, by Jean Anouih . Laura in “Glass Menagerie” by Tennessee Williams, title role in “Salome” by Oscar Wild. “Cruel & Tender” by Martin Crimp. Currently she is acting in Tennessee Williams latest play “Period of Adjustment”. In 2002 Clara acted in her fist feature film” Rana’s Wedding” directed by Hany Abu Assad the film was premiered at “Semaine de la Critique” Cannes Film Festival. She was awarded the Best Actress Prize or the role o

Gideon Levy is an Israeli journalist and editor for the Haaretz newspaper. Levy’s weekly column in Haaretz, “The Twilight Zone”, deals with the politically and emotionally charged subject of the hardships of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, and their conflicts with the Israeli military and Jewish settlers. He has been called everything from a “propagandist for the Hamas” to a “heroic journalist”. He has won awards for defending human rights.

DANNY PARAN is one of the leading producers in Israel, responsible for some of the biggest hits on Israeli TV. Paran’s production company was a leader in bringing the telenovela genre to Israel.

Graduate Film and Television, Tel Aviv University. M.A in philosophy, Tel Aviv University. Producer and director of both documentary and feature films, among them: Jerusalem Day, Hats of Jerusalem, The Samaritans – White robes, Blue Jeans and Dogs Are Color Blind

NEIL ROSEN is the entertainment critic/reporter for NY1, having served in that capacity since the station went on the air in 1992. He has won two Emmy Awards for entertainment journalism. He was also nominated for four other Emmy Awards for his celebrity interviews, his film reviews, and for his entertainment reporting. He is a frequent on-camera contributor to CNN, MSNBC, USA Network, A&E, Bravo, American Move Classics, and can also be heard regularly on BBC Radio.He was a regular writer for The New York Post where he showcased his interviews with movie, television and music stars, directors, screenwriters and producers.He hosted the popular weekly radio program “The Movie Show With Neil Rosen” on WABC Radio, where listeners get the opportunity to “call in” and “talk back” to a critic. He also served as WABC’s entertainment reviewer.

YARON SHANI is a graduate of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Film and Television. his thesis film, Disphoria, won the Audience Award at the Babelsberg International Student Film Festival, as well as a Special Jury Mention at Karlovy Vary. The film was broadcast on ARTE and ZDF (Germany), and participated in several other international festivals. He has also directed and edited documentaries and 3D films for Orpan Group, shown in museums and cinemas all over the world.

MARY ANN STEIN is the President of the Moriah Fund, a private foundation seeking to promote human rights and democracy, help disadvantaged people gain self-sufficiency and control over their lives, foster sustainable development, and promote women’s rights and reproductive health. Ms. Stein sits on the boards of the Americans for Peace Now and the New Israel Fund. She represents The Moriah Fund on the international Human Rights Funders Group and is the founding chair of the fund for global human rights organizations around the world that lack access to international funding. A graduate of Wellesley College and George Washington University Law Center, Ms. Stein has chaired several committees, coalitions, and mayoral advisory commissions on family and children’s issues. She served on the D.C. Nominations Commission and has written and published papers on public assistance and child welfare.

SOFI TZDAKA was born and raised in a Samaritan family in Holon, Israel. A graduate of the Yoram Levinstein Acting Studio, Tzdaka hosted and starred numerous TV shows, some on the Israeli Children’s Channel. Her first single, Bereshit, was released in 2007.

Regina Weinreich is a co-producer/ director on the award-winning documentary Paul Bowles: The Complete Outsider and a writer on The Beat Generation: An American Dream. The author of the critical study, Kerouac’s Spontaneous Poetics, she edited and compiled Kerouac’s Book of Haikus. A leading scholar of the Beat Generation, she has contributed to numerous essay collections and literary journals includingThe Paris Review and Five Points. As a journalist, her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Village Voice, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Talk Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, American Book Review, Hamptons Magazine, The Forward, The East Hampton Star, among others. She is a Professor in Humanities & Sciences at The School of Visual Arts in New York. Visit her blog, Gossip Central, a diary of the arts.