Associates
ISIME draws interest from scholars throughout the state, country and internationally who are impressed by ISIME’s wide range of scholarship and programming, as well as the respect given to diverse points of view.
Current Associates are:
- Zaiden Atashi, Israeli Arab, Member of the Knesset
- Professor Robert Hazan, Metro State College
- Professor Amin Kazak, University of Colorado
- Dr. David Kazzaz, M. D., Author
- Ambassador Babiker Khalifa
- Dr. Herzl Melmed, M.D.
- Deborah Schlueter, Author
- Brent Shapiro
- Dr. Jan Updike Global Health Alliance
- Dr. Phyllis Updike Global Health Alliance
- Dr. Seth Ward
- Ambassador Sam Zakhem
- Mathew Markman, Middle East Research
- David Gillespie, Middle East Research
- Dr. Raed Mualem, Mar Elias Campus, Ibilin, Israel
- Zvi Sever
Zeiden Atashi
Zeiden Atashi is a member of the Israeli-Druze community. He has a B.A in Hebrew Language Studies and Political Science at Haifa University and an M.A. in Political Science from the Hebrew University. In 1972, he was appointed Consul and Head of Information Affairs at the Israeli Consulate General in New York. He then served as a member of the Israeli delegation to the United Nations, becoming the first non-Jewish Israeli to hold such a post. After being elected to the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) he acted as a liaison between the Lebanese Druze in the Golan Heights and the Government of Israel. During his terms in office, he conducted many joint activities with Palestinian leaders in the occupied territories and overseas.
Professor Robert Hazan
Dr. Robert Hazan is Chair and Professor of Political Science at The Metropolitan State College of Denver. He has been an associate at the Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East since Fall 2001. He is a founding member of the Middle East Study Group of the ADL, and a member of the Board of Advisors (Education Committee) of the Mizel Museum.
Dr. Hazan grew up in Istanbul, Turkey and was educated in France and
the United States. He received his doctorate from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. His research and
teaching concentrate on political theory, political economy, international affairs, and the politics of the Middle East. In
conjunction with his ongoing research in political science and
international studies, in recent times Dr. Hazan has participated in
academic conferences in Cuba, Germany, England, Israel, Northern
Ireland, Scotland, and Turkey.
hazanr@mscd.edu
Professor Amin Kazak
Dr. Amin Kazak is a Professor of Middle East Politics at the University of Colorado at Denver. Dr. Kazak is a Palestinian by birth and an American by citizenship. He received his higher education (Master and PhD) from the American University of Beirut (AUB), and the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.
Dr. Kazak has written extensively on the issue of the indigenous peoples and self-determination in the Middle East. In addition to his academic career, he is the Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Committee on U.S.-Arab Relations. Currently he is writing a book about the “Identity of the Palestinians: People in the Making “after he visited the Middle East (including Jordan, the West Bank, Israel, Syria, and Lebanon) during the summer of 2004.
Areas of research interest and specializations:
Ethno-Nationalism (Ethno-religious identities and conflict)
War & Peace (Seeking alternatives to violence)
Middle East & Islamic world (The politics of culture and religion)
amin.kazak@cudenver.edu
Dr. David Kazzaz, M. D.
Dr. David Kazzaz was born in Baghdad , Iraq and attended medical school at the American University in Beirut . He has completed his post doctoral training at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem Israel and subsequently did a residency in Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver , Colorado .
After studying in Denver , Dr. Kazzaz was asked by the Ministry of Health in Israel to develop a pilot program on community mental health centers which was used as a model for subsequent programs.
In 1962, Dr. Kazzaz returned to Denver where he practiced psychiatry for twenty seven years. He retired in 1989 and founded Project Pride, a program focusing on anti-Semitism and racial hatred. In 1995 Dr. Kazzaz founded the Hispano-Crypto-Jewish Resource Center at the University of Denver .
Since 2000 Dr. Kazzaz has been an associate of The Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East (ISIME). He is engaged in the study and analysis of events in Iraq and other countries in the Middle East . He is a regular lecturer in classes at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver as well as a frequent lecturer on Middle East topics in the general community.
Dr. Kazzaz is the author of “Mother of the Pound: Memoirs on the Life and History of the Iraqi Jews.” The book is available for purchase at ISIME.
Position Paper - "The Quest for Preemptive Peace in the Middle East"
Ambassador Babkier Khalifa
Ambassador Babiker Khalifa has had a distinguished career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sudan. He worked for over 25 years within the department in numerous postings, most recently as the Sudanese Ambassador to the Republic of Korea. Ambassador Khalifa has also worked as an Officer and Senior Political Officer for the United Nations, as well as a Professor of Human Rights, International Relations, African and Development studies at Metropolitan State College, the University of Denver, and the University of Colorado at Denver.
Completing a BS in Economics and Social Anthropology at the University of Khartoum (Sudan), Ambassador Khalifa received an MA in International Relations and Comparative Politics, as well as a Certificate in International Law and Diplomacy from the University of St. John’s (New York). Ambassador Khalifa has also received a Certificate in Human Rights and Certificate in Development from GSIS (the University of Denver). His academic interests include Human Rights, Political Economy, International Relations, International Politics, African and Middle Eastern Politics, International Law and Diplomacy, International Organizations, Refugees, and Development Studies.
Dr. Herzl Melmed
Dr. Herzl Melmed joined ISIME as an associate in the fall of 2007. Melmed is a well-known and respected expert on Israel in the Denver area. Born in South Africa, he grew up in Zimbabwe, attended the University of Cape Town where as Head Student he was active in the student struggle against Apartheid.
Dr. Melmed lived in Israel where he trained in Ob-Gyn in Tel Aviv. He completed his medical training in Oxford, England and came to Denver in 1976 as a research Fellow at the University of Colorado Health Science Center. For the past 30 years he has been a physician in Denver specializing in Ob-Gyn.
Melmed has been active in the Jewish community on behalf of Israel and has demonstrated highly skilled speaking and research skills. He is a long-standing Board Member of the Israel and Overseas Committee for the Allied Jewish Federation, chairs the Partnership 2000 committee linking Colorado with the Ramat Negev region in Israel, serves as Chairman of ActionIsrael, a grassroots organization of Jews and Christians working on Israel’s behalf. He also chaired a Jewish-Muslim Dialogue with leaders of the Muslim community in Colorado for nearly two years. In addition, Dr. Melmed has co-chaired a Middle East Study Group with Robert Hazan for ADL for the past 16 years. Professor Robert Hazan is a long-standing ISIME associate.
Professionally he is a Board member of the Arapahoe Medical society & sits on the Board of the Colorado Medical Society. He recently completed a 5 year term as chairman of the USA Representative Committee of the Royal College of OB-GYN in London.
ISIME will have Melmed spearhead an ISIME Interfaith Muslim/Jewish Dialogue Group. In addition, he will continue research in areas of his interests, focusing on finding solutions to the complex issues facing Israel in the Middle East including Palestinian and Jewish refugee dilemmas, such as the “Right of Return”. Currently he is researching topics for a Lecture Series that will be available through ISIME in the Spring of 2008.
Deborah Schlueter, Author
Deborah Rohan Schlueter is a writer, trainer, and speaker on multicultural communication and conflict resolution. She is the author of Moghrabi’s Olives, a historical novel about Palestinian history, and occasionally writes freelance for newspapers and magazines focusing primarily on the Palestinian/Israeli situation. She is currently writing a non-fiction book on women’s worldwide peace efforts and a second novel about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Formerly a Project Manager for ISIME, she remains involved with the organization on special projects.
Publications:
Fragile Hopes for Peace Endure, The Denver Post, July 13, 2003
The Compassionate Listening Project, The World and I, February 2004
Brent Shapiro
Mr. Shapiro is a Research Fellow with the Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East. He is also the sole proprietor of Musashi Consulting. In this role Mr. Shapiro has been a consultant to Federal, State, and private companies concerning Geo-Politics, Homeland Security, and Middle Eastern issues.
Mr. Shapiro received a B.A. in History in 1986 and earned a Post Graduate Degree in International Relations on the strength of his dissertation “The Possible Geo-Political Consequences of the Fall of the Soviet Union” in the Spring of 1988.
More recently he co-founded the Metro-East Interfaith Partnership. In 2002 this group held the inaugural Festival of Faiths and Cultures that paid homage to the first responders in the attacks on the World trade Center and drew 400 individuals. As of 2006, this annual event held in Belleville, Illinois numbered over 5,000 attendees.
In July 2006 Mr. Shapiro worked with the Executive Committee of the Colorado State Assembly on its State Resolution Language concerning the Right of Israel to exist and its government’s sovereign right to protect its citizens.
“It is only through the realization that what we share with our enemy is greater than what divides us, only then can peace ever be achieved"
Dr. Jan Updike
Jan Updike, MD, is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine. His medical residencies were taken at St. Joseph Hospital (Denver), University of Colorado School of Medicine, and University of Nottingham, UK. He has engaged in the active practice of family, emergency, and international health medicine since 1970 in the Rocky Mountain region, South Eastern U.S., Zaire, Vietnam, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Jordan. He has held faculty positions in the Schools of Medicine at the Bowman Gray School of Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, and University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
Dr. Phyllis Updike
Phyllis Updike, RN, MS, DNS, is Professor Emerita at the University of Colorado School of Nursing, where she has focused on teaching acute care and community based care of children and families in the undergraduate and graduate programs for 16 years. She is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Nursing for her BSN and Doctoral studies, which were also completed at the University of Nottingham, England. She has worked as a public health nurse in Colorado and Indiana. She has served as Acting Director of Nursing for WHO in the Pacific Rim, and as a consultant for USAID in Primary Health Care in Jordan. She has worked with her husband in Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Vietnam in Primary Health Care projects with a focus on Maternal-Child Health.
Dr. Seth Ward
Dr. Seth Ward is a visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Wyoming, where he teaches Islam and Middle East. As an associate of the Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, Dr. Ward writes and lectures about Islamic societies, the Middle East Conflict and Jewish communities in Muslim countries. Dr. Ward directed the University of Denver's Institute for Islamic-Judaic Studies for ten years. Ward has also taught at Colorado College and the University of Colorado Denver. He came to the University of Denver, after six years in Israel teaching at the University of Haifa and the Technion. Ward received his academic degrees from Yale University, with additional studies at Hebrew University and at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Ambassador Sam Zakhem
Ambassador Zakhem has distinguished himself as a public servant to both his own country and the international community. He serves as the President of Zakhem International, LLC and as the Vice President for Middle Eastern Operations, MedLink International, Inc.
After completing his undergraduate education in Economics at the American University of Cairo, Ambassador Zakhem went on to complete three graduate degrees, earning first his MBA from the University of Detroit and finishing his education with an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Colorado.
Ambassador Zakhem served as the American Ambassador to Bahrain in 1986-1989, just prior to the Persian Gulf War. He served on the Peace Corps Presidential Advisory Council from 1985-1986 and was an Honorary Chaplain for the United States Navy.
Ambassador Zakhem is the President of Zakhem International, LLC and the Vice President for Middle Eastern Operations; MedLink International, Inc. Zakhem's other business endeavors include, but are not limited to, a stint as the Vice-President for Economic Affairs at the Rocky Mountain Orthodontics Co. in Denver, CO, and a position as a Cost Analyst for Ford Motor Co. in Detroit, MI.
Mathew Markman, Middle East Research
Born in Boulder Colorado, Mathew Markman is finishing a degree in Politics at Oberlin College in Ohio. His focus is in international relations with emphasis on the Arab-Israeli conflict. He has spent time living in both Jordan and Jerusalem, during which he was able to explore both sides of the conflict. While in Jerusalem he was a student at both the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Al-Quds University in the West Bank. Mathew has worked with ISIME for several years and is currently working with Dr. Shaul Gabbay, and Dr. Amin Kazak, to complete a book manuscript focusing on both the Arab and Jewish narratives of the Holy Land, reasons for the conflicts, and potential for peace. His individual research has focused on the relationship between Palestinian Armed Struggle and Israeli Settlement in the West Bank. Mathew, has already at a young age, committed his life to bridging the gap between Jews and Palestinians. He is working hard to show there is common ground between our two peoples and there exists on both sides true partners for peace.
David Gillespie, Middle East Research
A Colorado native, David Gillespie holds a BA in political science from the University of Northern Colorado and an MA in international studies from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. His focus is in international politics, with concentrations in human rights and international development. Recently, he has served as a research assistant to Micheline Ishay, the director of the Human Rights Program at GSIS, and aided in the development of her 2007 book The Human Rights Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches, and Documents from Ancient Times to the Present. He has also served as a researcher and copyeditor for Human Rights and Human Welfare, an online academic journal. New at ISIME this year, David’s studies concern the Muslim world and immigration to the US.
Raed Mualem, Mar Elias, Ibilin, Israel
Dr. Raed Mualem leads Mar-Elias, a dynamic and unique campus of schools in Israel which teach students from preschool through college located in Ibilin, part of the Galilee region of Israel. The comprehensive nature of his educational outreach is distinctive as his students are predominantly Arab Israelis with backgrounds that include Moslem, Christian and Paletinian heritage. Mar Elias College is established as a branch of the University of Indianapolis in the United States. Located on the same campus, he is the Senior Vice President of Mar Elias Educational Institutions that provide elementary through highschool education. In addition Dr. Mualem governs the Center for Teacher Professional Development.
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ZVI Sever Ph.D
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