Middle Eastern Transition and the Foreign Policy Challenge

Monday,  March 17th

Tel Aviv
Arrival at Ben-Gurion Airport
Transfer and check-in at the Dan Hotel, Tel Aviv

6:30 pm: Depart for the Yitzhak Rabin Center

7:00 pm: Greetings:

Ms. Dalia Rabin, Chair of the Yitzhak Rabin Center
Charles Kupchan, Chair of the Academic Board of Academic Exchange
Susan Shirk, UC San Diego

7:15 pm: Domestic Change in the Middle East and Implications for Chinese Policy

Dinner and discussion with Wang Jisi, Peking University

9:30 pm:  Dinner concludes/Return to hotel

Overnight at the Dan Tel Aviv

Tuesday, March 18th

8:30 am:  Depart for the Rabin Center

9:00 – 10:15 am:  Arab awakening: a historical perspective

Speaker:
Asher Susser, Tel Aviv University

10:15 – 10:30 am:  Coffee Break

10:30 – 11:45 am:  Transitions in comparative and historical perspectives

Speaker:
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

12:00 – 1:30 pm:  Lunch – Rabin Center

1:30  – 3:00 pm:  Transitions in other regions and at other times

Speakers:
Stephan Haggard, UCSD
Sam Popkin, UCSD

3:00 – 3:15 pm: Coffee Break

3:15 – 5:15 pm: Change and conflict in the Middle East: Egypt and Syria

Speakers:
Maj. Gen (res) Amos Gilad, Israeli Minisrty of Defense
Liao Baizhi, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations

5:15 pm: Depart for the Dan Tel Aviv

7:30 pm: Depart for Dinner at “Lilyot” restaurant

9:30 pm Dinner Concludes / Overnight at the Dan Tel Aviv

Wednesday, March 19

8:30 am: Depart for the Rabin Center

9:00 -11:00am:  Does Intervention Work: The Case of Libya

Speakers:
Qu Xing, China Institute of Int’l Studies
Prof. Yehudit Ronen, Bar-Ilan Univerity
Charles Kupchan, Georgetown
Allison Stanger, Middlebury College

11:00 – 11:15 am:  Coffee Break

11:15  – 12:30 pm:  Iran: Stasis or Change?

Speakers:
Wang Jisi, Peking University
Dr. Eli (Ariel) Levite, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Zha Daojiong, Peking University

12:00 – 2:00 pm:  Lunch  presentation and discussion – Rabin Center

Topic: Can China Lead> Strengths and Challenges of the Chinese Model

William Kirby, Harvard University

2:00 – 4:00 pm: Roundtable on China’s Evolving Role in the Middle East

I. Roundtable speakers:
Susan Shirk, UCSD
Qu Xing, China Institute of Int’l Studies
Dov(Fufi) Sedaka, Brigadier General (res.)
William Kirby, Harvard University
Zha Daojiong, Peking University
Yoram Meital, Ben-Gurion University
Liao Baizhi, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations
4:00 – 4:15 pm:  Coffee Break

4:15 – 05:30 pm:  II. Roundtable discussion

5:30 pm  Conclusion

7:30 pm Depart for dinner at “Regina” restaurant