GAPP Tahrir Dialogue #106 - Gaza and the Future of the Middle East

Nabil Fahmy

Founding Dean of the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and Distinguished University Professor of Practice in International Diplomacy

School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, The American University in Cairo

As a career diplomat for over three decades and  Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2013-2014, he unwaveringly committed to ensuring that Egypt had a vibrant principled foreign policy in addressing strategic challenges and seizing auspicious opportunities. He has held numerous leadership positions, including as Ambassador to the United States (1999-2008) & Japan (1997-1999) while focusing on international security, disarmament, conflict resolutions and Arab-Israeli diplomacy. He was chairman of the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, vice chairman of the UNGA’s First Committee on Disarmament & International Security, and represented Egypt at numerous conferences, including Review Conferences of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the United Nations Conference on Promoting International Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy and the 1991 Madrid Middle East Peace Conference. 

He is Dean Emeritus at The American University in Cairo, where he established and led the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy from 2009-2013 and 2014-2022. 

Nabil Fahmy is Chairman of LYNX Strategic Advisors which supports international and domestic firms in pursuing best business practices, and has served on numerous International Advisory Boards of Multinational Corporations. 

He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and was bestowed with the Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun by Japanese Emperor Naruhito. He is a member of the Supreme Advisory Board of the Beijing Forum. 

Marwan Muasher

Marwan Muasher is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment, where he oversees the Endowment’s research in Washington and Beirut on the Middle East. Muasher served as foreign minister (2002–2004) and deputy prime minister (2004–2005) of Jordan, and his career has spanned the areas of diplomacy, development, civil society, and communications. He was also a senior fellow at Yale University in 2010-2011.

Muasher began his career as a journalist for the Jordan Times. He then served at the Ministry of Planning, at the prime minister’s office as press adviser, and as director of the Jordan Information Bureau in Washington.

In 1996 he became minister of information and the government spokesperson. From 1997 to 2002, he served in Washington again as ambassador, negotiating the first free trade agreement between the United States and an Arab nation. He then returned to Jordan to serve as foreign minister, where he played a central role in developing the Arab Peace Initiative and the Middle East Road Map.

In 2004 he became deputy prime minister responsible for reform and government performance, and led the effort to produce a ten-year plan for political, economic, and social reform. From 2006 to 2007, he was at the Jordanian Senate.

Most recently, he was senior vice president of external affairs at the World Bank from 2007 to 2010.

He is the author of The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation (Yale University Press, 2008), and  The Second Arab Awakening and the Battle for Pluralism,  (Yale University Press, 2014).

Muasher is a trustee of the American University of Beirut, and an ex-member of the board of directors of the Global Centre for Pluralism.

Nassif Hitti