About bitterlemons-dialogue.org

Bitterlemons-dialogue.org is an internet forum for in-depth discussion of Middle East issues by prominent persons from the region or who deal with the region. It aspires to engender greater understanding about the Middle East and to open a new common space for world thinkers and political leaders to present their viewpoints and initiatives on the region. Its audience is the interested public and policymakers. Bitterlemons-dialogue.org is edited by Ghassan Khatib and Yossi Alpher. Approximately once a month two persons with different perspectives are invited to address a relevant issue. Their interaction, over a period of time, generates a series of exchanges of views. The edited result is published on this website and emailed to subscribers. Bitterlemons-dialogue is committed to presenting a range of opinions on the Middle East from a broad spectrum of national interests and social concerns. No intelligent and articulate views are considered taboo.
Each edition of bitterlemons-dialogue.org is posted on our website. Readers can obtain a free subscription by entering their email address in the space provided on the homepage or by writing to subscribehtml@bitterlemons-dialogue.org for the formatted version of the publication. Subscribers who have trouble reading HTML documents may subscribe to the plain text version by writing to subscribetext@bitterlemons-dialogue.org

Ghassan Khatib
was appointed in 2002 to the position of Palestinian Authority minister of labor, and in 2004 to the post of minister of planning. He previously taught cultural studies at Birzeit University, and served as Director of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center, which specializes in research, opinion polling and media affairs. He was a member of the Palestinian delegation for the Madrid Middle East Peace Conference in 1991 and the subsequent bilateral negotiations in Washington from 1991-93. He has an MA in Development Studies from Manchester University in the UK, and is completing his PhD in Middle East Politics at the University of Durham, UK.

Yossi Alpher
is a writer and consultant on Israel-Arab issues, and Director of the Political Security Domain (PSD), an independent NGO. He has served as Director and Acting Head of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University; as Director of the American Jewish Committee's Israel/Middle East Office in Jerusalem; and as a senior official in the Mossad. While at the Jaffee Center, he coordinated and coedited the JCSS research project on options for a Palestinian settlement, and produced "The Alpher Plan" for an Israeli-Palestinian final settlement. Since 1992, he has coordinated several Track II dialogues between Israelis and Arabs. In July 2000, he served as Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister of Israel, concentrating on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.