Rami George Khouri born 22 October 1948, in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to an Arab Palestinian Christian

Palestinian Christian

Palestinian Christians are Arabic-speaking Christians descended from the people of the geographical area of Palestine. Within Palestine, there are churches and believers from many Christian denominations, including Oriental Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholic , Protestant, and others...

 family. His father, George Khouri, a Nazarene journalist in what was the British mandate of Palestine  had traveled with his wife to New York in 1947 to cover the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 (UN) debates about the future of Palestine. Rami is a journalist and editor with joint Palestinian

Palestinian people

The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...

-Jordanian

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

 and US citizenship whose family resides in Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

, Amman

Amman

Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...

, and Nazareth

Nazareth

Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...

. He is also a highly regarded public speaker. After attending secondary school in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 Rami returned to the US to complete his education. Rami has also served for many years as the chief umpire for Little League baseball in Jordan.

Career

In 1971, Rami began his career working as a reporter for the English-language newspaper the Daily Star in Beirut, Lebanon. From 1972 to 1973, Rami continued writing columns for the paper while working as managing editor of Middle East Sketch magazine. Following a year in the United States as program administrator for the Division of International Programs Abroad at Syracuse University, Khouri returned to Beirut to become managing editor of Middle East Money in Beirut from 1973 to 1974. He then moved to Amman, Jordan, where he served as editor-in-chief of Jordan’s English-language daily, the Jordan Times, from 1975 to 1982 and again from 1987

Rami is director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs (IFI) at the American University of Beirut

American University of Beirut

The American University of Beirut is a private, independent university in Beirut, Lebanon. It was founded as the Syrian Protestant College by American missionaries in 1866...

. His journalistic work includes writing books and an internationally syndicated column by progressive commentary agency called Agence Global, founded by Jahan Salehi

Jahan Salehi

Jahan Salehi is an Iranian-American entrepreneur and progressive activist who is best known for his work with , a left-leaning news and commentary syndicate, and for his role as Managing Director of the Los Angeles Times Syndicate's European operations....

. Rami also serves as editor at large of the Beirut-based Daily Star

Daily Star (Lebanon)

The Daily Star is a pan-Middle East English language newspaper edited in Beirut. It was founded in 1952 by Kamel Mrowa, the publisher of the Arabic daily Al-Hayat to serve the growing number of expatriates brought by the oil industry...

 newspaper, published throughout the Middle East with the International Herald Tribune

International Herald Tribune

The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...

. In recent years he hosted "Encounter", a weekly current affairs talk show on Jordan Television, and "Jordan Ancient Cultures", a weekly archaeology program on Radio Jordan.

Rami was a Nieman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 (2001-2002), nonresident senior fellow of the Dubai Initiative

Dubai initiative

The Dubai Initiative is a joint venture between the Dubai School of Government and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University...

 at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and was appointed a member of the Brookings Institution

Brookings Institution

The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. One of Washington's oldest think tanks, Brookings conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, and...

 Task Force on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World. Rami is a research associate at the Program on the Analysis and Resolution of Conflict at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University

Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

 (NY, USA), a Fellow of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs

Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs

The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs was founded in March 1987 by Dr. Mahdi Abdul Hadi and by a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals in Jerusalem. PASSIA is an Arab non-profit institution located in Jerusalem with a financially and legally independent...

, Jerusalem (PASSIA), and a member of the Leadership Council of the Harvard University Divinity School. Rami also serves on the board of the EastWest Institute

EastWest Institute

The EastWest Institute , originally known as the Institute for East West Security Studies, is an international not-for-profit, non-partisan "think and do" tank focusing on international conflict resolution through a variety of means, including track 2 diplomacy and track 1.5 diplomacy , hosting...

, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University and the National Museum of Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

.

He was executive editor of the Daily Star newspaper from 2003-05, and previously was the editor in chief of the Jordan Times

Jordan Times

The Jordan Times is an English daily newspaper in Amman, Jordan. The newspaper was established in 1975 and is owned by the Jordan Press Foundation, which also runs the Arabic-language daily Al-Rai, the Kingdom's best selling daily....

 for seven years. He also wrote for many years from Amman, Jordan for leading international publications, including the Financial Times

Financial Times

The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....

, the Boston Globe and the Washington Post. For 18 years he was general manager of Al Kutba, Publishers, in Amman

Amman

Amman is the capital of Jordan. It is the country's political, cultural and commercial centre and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The Greater Amman area has a population of 2,842,629 as of 2010. The population of Amman is expected to jump from 2.8 million to almost...

, and in recent years served as a consultant to the Jordanian tourism ministry on biblical archaeological sites. He often comments on Mideast issues in the international media, and lectures frequently at conferences and universities throughout the world.

Views on the Arab-Israeli conflict

Khouri believes that "allocating blame" is counterproductive. Writing for the Daily Star (Lebanon)

Daily Star (Lebanon)

The Daily Star is a pan-Middle East English language newspaper edited in Beirut. It was founded in 1952 by Kamel Mrowa, the publisher of the Arabic daily Al-Hayat to serve the growing number of expatriates brought by the oil industry...

, he states that "We end up with a situation in which it becomes easy for Arabs to blame Israel and the Western powers for the problems of our region." he believes that "the truth is in between, with Arab, Israel and Western actors all having to share the blame for contributing to the distressing conditions that define the Arab world."

Awards and personal life

Mr. Khouri was the 2004 winner of the Eliav-Sartawi Awards for Middle East Journalism in the Arab Press category In November 2006, he was the co-recipient of the Pax Christi International Peace Award for his efforts to bring peace and reconciliation to the Middle East. He has BA

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 (1970) and MSc

MSC

- Computers:* Mario Strikers Charged* Microsoft Common Console Document, file for the Microsoft Management Console* Microelectronics Support Centre* Microsoft Corporation* MIDI Show Control* Message Sequence Chart...

 (1998) degrees respectively in political science and mass communications from Syracuse University

Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

, NY, and is married to Ellen Kettaneh, with two grown boys.

Published works

• The Antiquities of the Jordan Rift Valley Published by Al Kutba, 1988 ISBN 0-944940-49-8, 9780944940495
• Petra: A Guide to the Capital of the Nabataeans Published by Longman, 1986 ISBN 0-582-78385-2, 9780582783850
• Jerash: A Frontier City of the Roman East Published by Longman, 1986 ISBN 0-582-78384-4, 9780582783843
• The Jordan Valley: Life and Society Below Sea Level Published by Longman, 1981 ISBN 0-582-78318-6, 9780582783188

• USAID and the Private Sector in Jordan: A Chronicle : the Genesis, August 1985-August 1988 Published by USAID, 1989
• The View from East of the Jordan Published by Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, 1998
• Aqaba: port of Palestine on the China Sea Co-author Rami G. Khouri and Donald S. Whitcomb Published by Al Kutba, 1988
• Islamic Banking: Knotting a New Network Published by Aramco, 1987
• For Those who Share a Will to Live: Perspectives on a Just Peace in the Middle East Published by Resource Center for Nonviolence, 1985

External links

• Column archive at The Daily Star
  Daily Star (Lebanon)
  The Daily Star is a pan-Middle East English language newspaper edited in Beirut. It was founded in 1952 by Kamel Mrowa, the publisher of the Arabic daily Al-Hayat to serve the growing number of expatriates brought by the oil industry...
  
  
• Rami Khouri on U.S. Policy in the Middle East, 15 November 2007