Opening Remarks

Prospects for Democratic Transformation in the Middle East: Government Perspectives

Representative of the US State Department (invited)

Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, German Ambassador to the US (confirmed)

Democratization with or without intervention-lessons learned and challenges ahead

What are the challenges in supporting civil society after the regime change? What lessons can we draw from the post war experience with the civil societies in Afghanistan and Iraq? In how much can promotion of non-state actors and civil society work have a positive impact on the development of a democratic society and what can we learn from the experiences made by activists in the Middle East, for example in Egypt?

Proposed Panelists

Conrad Schetter, Zentrum Fur Europaische Integrationsforschung (ZEI), Bonn (invited)

Oberst Axel Georg Binder, Bundeswehr, Provinicial Reconstruction Teams, Afghanistan (confirmed)

Robert Kagan (invited)

Amr Hamzawy, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Washington (confirmed)

The Gaza Challenge-How to strengthen state institutions and civil societies

What is the role of civil society in promoting democracy in the Palestinian Territories and how do they affect the process of building democratic institutions in the Gaza strip? What kinds of cooperation models exist between Israeli and Palestinian NGO’s in this area? What kind of assistance from Europe and from the United States for Local NGO’s is Necessary and desirable?

What is the role of Hamas in the process of building the civil society in the region?

Proposed Panelists:

Mahdi Abdul Hadi, Jerusalem , Director of PASSIA (Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs) (confirmed)

David Witzthum, Channel1, Israel (confirmed)

Katharina Lack, “Wolfensohn Team”, Gaza (invited)

Penny Pritzker, The Chicago Ten (invited)

Godel Rosenberg ,, Daimler Chrysler, Israel (invited)