Ziad J. Asali, M.D., is the President and founder of the American Task Force on Palestine, a 501(c)3 non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Washington, DC.
Dr. Asali is a long-time activist on Middle East issues. He has been a member of the Chairman’s Council of American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) since 1982, and has served as ADCs President from 2001-2003. He served as the President of the Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG) from 1993-1995, and was Chairman of the American Committee on Jerusalem (ACJ), which he co-founded, from 1995-2003. He is currently on the Boards of OneVoice, A Different Future and the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
Dr. Asali has been featured in Al Ahram Weekly the Washington Times and in the Forward. He has contributed and written for the Los Angeles Times, Detroit Free Press, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, and The Daily Star. He has provided television commentary and interviews for CNN, Charlie Rose, MSNBC, FOX News, BBC, Voice of America and numerous syndicated cable programs. Dr. Asali has also appeared on several Arabic television networks, including Al Jazeera, Nile TV, ART, Egyptian TV, Abu Dhabi TV, and the Dubai satellite channel. His opinions have also appeared in newspapers throughout the Arab World including Al-Hayat, Al-Ahram, Al-Raii, Jordan Times and Akhbar Al-Arab. In addition, he is a regular speaker at international conferences, Arab-American conventions, academic groups (he has spoken at Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Cornell Universities, George Washington and Harvard) and community gatherings. Dr. Asali is the author of several publications that include: ғFrom Crusades To Zionism (1993) ԓZionist Studies of the Crusades (1992) ԓExpedition to Jerusalem (1990).
Dr. Asali was born in Jerusalem, where he completed his elementary and secondary education. He received an M.D. from the American University of Beirut (AUB) Medical School in 1967. He completed his residency in Salt Lake City, Utah, and then practiced medicine in Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem before returning to the US in 1973. Dr. Asali was the Medical Director and Chairman of the Board at the Christian County Medical Clinic in Taylorville, Illinois, until he retired in 2000. He is a member of several medical societies such as the American Medical Association, the American Society of Internal Medicine and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Asali has testified before the Senate on the issue of Palestinian education. He recently testified at a hearing before the full U.S. House Committee on International Relations on the topic of ԓThe Way Forward in the Middle East Peace Process. He served as a member of the United States official delegation to the funeral of Chairman Yasser Arafat and as a member of the United States official delegation to observe the Palestinian elections