User:Samerabulibdeh

Samer Libdeh, or Abu Libdeh, (born 1974). , is a London-based researcher and policy analyst. He covers issues related to democracy in the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli peace process and US foreign policy. His article and papers have appeared in many regional publications, including the Jerusalem Post, Jordan Times and Daily Star.

Libdeh received his MA from Bradford University, his diploma from Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, and his BA from Jordan University. He also holds a Policy Analysis certificate from State University of New York.

In 2005, he received a prestigious Fulbright scholarship from US State Department, where he served as a Visiting Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and US Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY). He then became a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Center for Liberty in the Middle East.

He serves as a board member of Cyber Dissidents Organization.

Second track peace process
He began his career in 1998 as a reporter in Alaswaq Business Daily in Jordan. He moved up the ranks to become a foreign desk editor in 2001. He covered the second Palestinian Intifada, the war in Iraq as well as domestic issues in Jordan. Samer became involved in the second track peace process in 1999 by establishing Interaction Forum, an NGO dedicated for advancing means of people-to-people peace in the region. The Forum hosted number of seminars and conferences for Arabs and Israelis in Jordan, with the sponsorship of the EU and the Danish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It was the first NGO to invite the prominent peace studies professor Johan Galtung to speak before peace activists in year 2000.

His activism led to his membership in the International Alliance for Arab-Israeli Peace, (Copenhagen Declaration), which saw the first move to normalize relations between Arabs and Israelis. He participated in number of meetings with senior Israeli politicians from the Likud, Labour, and Kadima parties – advocating for a final solution for the problem.

Writing career
Libdeh wrote extensively in Middle Eastern and international publications and journals, including the Yale Politic Journal, Jerusalem Post, Alaswaq Business Daily, Overseas Journal, the Daily Star, and Jordan Times. He appeared in number of TV station in US and the Middle East and was quoted in many, including the Council on Foreign Relations, the Jerusalem Post and The Guardian. His latest op-ed in the Jerusalem Post, entitled The Hashemite Kingdom of Apartheid Page text. has triggered a massive reaction from the Jordanian government run media, which accordingly a human rights organization issued a statement related.

Publications

 * Jordan municipal Elections – Middle East Memo. Center for Liberty in the Middle East. 2007
 * Jordan and Palestine. Jerusalem Post. 2006
 * Jordan Looks Inward: The Hashemite Kingdom in the wake of Zarqawi and Hamas-Israeli clash. The Washington Institute. 2006
 * Terror Attacks Highlight Case for Reform in Jordan. The Washington Institute. 2005
 * Previewing Jordan's National Agenda: strategies for reform. The Washington Institute. 2005.