Ziad J. Asali

Ziad J. Asali, M.D., is the President and founder of the American Task Force on Palestine, a 501(c) 3 non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, DC.

Dr. Asali is a long-time activist on Middle East issues. He has been a member of the Chairman's Council of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) since 1982, and has served as ADC's President from 2001-2003. He served as the President of the Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG) from 1993-1995, and was Chairman of the American Committee on Jerusalem (ACJ), which he co-founded, from 1995-2003.

He has been featured in Al Ahram Weekly, the Washington Times, and in The Forward. He has contributed and written for the Los Angeles Times, Detroit Free Press, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, and The Daily Star. He has provided television commentary and interviews for CNN, CBS, Charlie Rose, MSNBC, FOX News, BBC, C-Span, Voice of America and numerous syndicated cable programs. Dr. Asali has also appeared on several Arabic television networks, including Al Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra, Nile TV, ART, Egyptian TV, Abu Dhabi TV, and the Dubai satellite channel. His opinions have also appeared in newspapers throughout the Arab World including Al-Hayat, Al-Ahram, Al-Rai, Al Khaleej, Jordan Times and Akhbar Al-Arab. In addition, he is a regular speaker at international conferences, Arab-American conventions and academic groups (he has spoken at Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Cornell Universities, George Washington, Georgetown University and Harvard). Dr. Asali is the author of several publications that include: "From Crusades to Zionism" (1993), "Zionist Studies of the Crusades" (1992), and "Expedition to Jerusalem" (1990).

Dr. Asali was born in Jerusalem, where he completed his elementary and secondary education. He received an M.D. from the American University of Beirut (AUB) Medical School in 1967. He completed his residency in Salt Lake City, Utah, and then practiced medicine in Jerusalem before returning to the US in 1973. Dr. Asali was the Medical Director and Chairman of the Board at the Christian County Medical Clinic in Taylorville, Illinois and he served as Chairman of the Board of Physicians Health Association of Illinois before he retired in 2000. He is a Diplomat of the Board of Internal Medicine and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Asali has testified before the Senate on the issue of Palestinian education. He recently testified at a hearing before the full U.S. House Committee on International Relations on the topic of "The Way Forward in the Middle East Peace Process." He served as a member of the United States official delegation to the funeral of Chairman Yasser Arafat and as a member of the United States official delegation to observe the Palestinian Presidential elections in January 2005. He also was a delegate with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to monitor the Palestinian Legislative election in January 2006. He was named "Arab American of the Year" by the Arab American Community Center for Economic and Social Services (AACCESS) of Ohio in 2006.

In August 2007 Dr. Asali traveled with Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes to Palestine as a member of the official delegation of the U.S. Department of State to monitor the launch of the Middle East Investment Initiative Program. On December 3rd, 2007 Dr. Asali was appointed one of four co-chairs of the U.S. Public-Private Partnership. This Partnership was launched by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to promote economic and educational opportunities for the Palestinian People with the goal of improving the Palestinian economy, building institutions and helping to educate Palestinian youth in good governance and good citizenship.