André Azoulay was born in Essaouira-Mogador (Morocco) in 1941 and educated in Paris where he studied Economics, International Relations and Journalism. He has held the position of Advisor to H.M the King of Morocco since 1991, first to H.M Hassan II with whom he initially handled the economic and financial reforms and records of the Kingdom. André Azoulay previously had a long career with Paribas Bank in Paris (1968-1990) where, as Executive Vice-President, he covered Middle Eastern and North African as well as heading the Public Affairs department. In addition to his professional responsibilities André Azoulay has always fought for peace and dialogue between the Arab Muslim world and that of the Jewish communities in Europe, the United States, Morocco as well as the Arab and Jewish diasporas worldwide. In this vein he created the “Identité et Dialogue” group in 1974 in Paris. This NGO was at that time, the first organism to be formed consisting of Jewish intellectuals calling for a Palestinian State living in peace alongside Israel. For over 30 years, André Azoulay has taken an active part in supporting the activities of different movements and associations whose vocation is to help the process of dialogue and reconciliation between Jews and Muslims. He is President of the Executive Committee of the Foundation of the Three Cultures and the Three Religions based in Seville (Spain). He is also Member of the Board of the Euro-Mediterranean Forum, the Shimon Peres Center for Peace, the Foundation for the Protection of Judeo-Moroccan Heritage as well as the C-100 (Davos Forum) for the Dialogue of Civilizations and Religions.

Nadia Chaabane is a linguist, ‘Enseignante Membre du Collectif national pour le Droit des femmes’ and a militant feminist. She is also the vice-president of the Association of Tunisians in France and the initiator of Appeal of the women of Tunisia on January 23, 2011.

Jean-Jacques Roche (1956) is professor of International Relations and director of the Institute for Defense and Armament Studies (ISAD) at Université de Paris 2. He is the authors of several works on international relations, security and the post-cold war period. In addition, Jean-Jacques Roche is the author of four novels.

Aly Maher El Sayed graduated at the Faculty of Law, Cairo University, then studied at the Institute of Diplomatic Studies in Cairo and the International Institute for Public Administration in Paris. He joined the Egyptian Foreign Service and served in the Egyptian embassies in London, Tehran, Canberra, and Paris. He was appointed as Ambassador to Tunisia (1987-1992), Egypt's permanent representative to the Arab League (1988-1992) which was then temporarily in Tunisia, then Ambassador to France (1993-2002). He was an assistant to Minister Boutros Boutros Ghali from 1983 to 1987. Also became Director of the Cabinet of Foreign Minister Amr Mousa in 2002-2003. Mr Maher was also appointed as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs. Then he held the post of Secretary General of the Arab Thought Foundation, an Arab NGO in Beirut (2003-2006). In 2006, he was appointed Director of the Institute for Peace Studies, until he, in 2009, became an Advisor to the director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria.

Georges Fahmi is from Egypt and at present a ph.d student at The European University Institute in Firenze, Italy. His ph.d. project is entitled “Toward an Islamic Aggiornamento: Islamic Ideas and Institutions and the Processes of Democratization in the Middle East”.

Shahram Chubin is a nonresident senior associate in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Based in Geneva, Chubin’s research focuses on nonproliferation, terrorism, and Middle East security issues. Chubin was director of studies at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, Switzerland, from 1996 to 2009. A specialist in the security problems of the Middle East region, he has been a consultant to the U.S. Dept. of Defense, the RAND Corporation, and the UN. He has been director of regional security studies at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a resident fellow at the Wilson Center, and a fellow at the Hudson Institute.

Chubin has taught at various universities including the Graduate School of International Studies in Geneva and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He has lectured at Oxford, Harvard, and Columbia universities as well as military staff colleges. He has published widely in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, International Security, Washington Quarterly, Survival, Daedalus, the Middle East Journal, the World Today and the Adelphi Paper series. A Swiss national, Chubin was born in Iran and was educated in Britain and the United States.

Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh is a member of the Palestinian Delegation to the final status Talks with Israel and a former Minister of Public Works and Housing and is the current Minister for the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR), Dr. Shtayyeh has a decorated career in Palestinian public service. He has previously headed the Palestinian Delegation to the Multilateral Talks on Regional Economic Cooperation and served as Secretary General of the Palestinian Central Elections Commission. In addition to official offices held, he was also president of the Palestinian Center for Regional Studies. Dr. Shtayyeh is the president of the Board of Trustees of the Arab-American University and the vice-president of the Board of Trustees of Al-Quds University. Dr. Shtayyeh received his ph.d. in Development Studies from Sussex University in England.

Ami Ayalon was born in Tiberias, Israel in 1945. He has a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Bar Ilan University and an M.A. in Public Administration from Harvard University. Ayalon served his entire military service in the Israeli Navy, from his enlistment in 1963, volunteering for the navy commando unit. In 1969, Ayalon was decorated with the Medal of Valor, Israel's highest award. In 1979, Ayalon was appointed commander of the navy commando. Receiving the rank of admiral, he served as commander of the Israel Navy from 1992-1996. From 1996-2000 Ayalon was Director of the Israel Security Agency, and from 2001-2005, Chairman of the Board of the Netafim irrigation company. A Member of the Knesset since April 2006, he served as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense, Ethics, State Control, Labor, Welfare, & Health, and Foreign Workers committees. Ami Ayalon served as Minister without Portfolio from September 2007 until March 2009. He has published various articles on national policy, terror, and peace.

A.S. Fatemi is professor at the American Graduate School in Paris and president of the European Center of Advanced International Studies there. Professor Fatemi has published several books and among his fields of expertise are international trade theory, international finance and micro and macroeconomics.

Yildiz Akdogan (1973) was born in Turkey and has an MSc in Political Science from Aarhus University. She is a Member of the Danish Folketing for the Social Democratic Party and also member of the European Affairs Committee, the Cultural Affairs Committee and the Housing Committee.