'This House believes Hezbollah had no right to fight a war on Lebanon's behalf.'

Oussama Safa is the General Director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, a public policy think tank based in Beirut. As an expert on Lebanese and Arab political issues, he supervises the development and implementation of democracy, good governance and anti-corruption programmes and research in Lebanon and the Arab region.

Before joining the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, Mr. Safa was adviser to the secretariat of the World Economic Forum's Council of 100 Leaders where he co-led a project on Christian-Muslim Dialogue aimed at bridging the divide between cultures and religions.

Until April 2004, he lived in Rabat, Morocco, where he launched and managed community peace-building programmes, labour medication initiatives and Alternative Dispute Resolution programmes with the Ministry of Justice. Prior to relocating to Morocco in 2001, he was a senior trainer and founding member of the executive committee of the Lebanon Conflict Resolution Network. In 1995 while living in Washington DC, he helped develop civil society programmes in Lebanon and directly participated in post-war recovery efforts there.

Mr. Safa has written commentaries, analyses and studies of major trends and issues in the Arab region. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in political science and international relations from the American University of Beirut and the American University in Washington DC.

Mona Makram-Ebeid is a former member of the Egyptian parliament. She is currently a Professor of Political Science at the American University in Cairo. She is also President of the Association for the Advancement of Education - a position she took up in 1995.

Professor Makram-Ebeid has taught political science and sociology at the American University of Cairo since 1983. She is also a lecturer of Contemporary Politics in the Middle East Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo.

She was a Member of Parliament in the People's Assembly of Egypt from 1990 to 1995 and was a parliamentary candidate in the 2005 elections.

Professor Makram-Ebeid has written articles for numerous publications including Al Masry Al-Youm, Al Ahram Weekly, and Lebanon's Daily Star. She has also been an advisor to the World Bank for the Middle East and North Africa Region and executive member of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights. She also serves on the boards of several policy groups, including the National Center for Middle East Studies and is the recipient of numerous awards.

She studied at Cairo University, the American University in Cairo, Harvard University in the USA and London University in the UK.

Hisham Kassem is the Vice Chairman and CEO of Al Masry Al-Youm, the first independent daily newspaper in Egypt since 1954. The paper joined the ranks of the country's liberal press when it was launched in June 2004.

Mr. Kassem has been a member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs since 2002 and Chairman of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights since 2000. He was a board member for the human rights group for two years before becoming its chairman. In November 2004, he also took on the role of Vice President of Foreign Affairs for the Al Ghad Party.

He was the founder and publisher of the Cairo Times which launched in 1996 and suspended publishing in July 2004.

Mr. Kassem has a BA in English Literature from Alexandria University.

Ibrahim El Moussaoui is the head of political programmes at Al Manar TV in Lebanon. He also supervises the channel's English and French news bulletins.

Mr El Moussaoui was chief editor of the English news bulletin for two years at the television channel before taking up his current position. Before joining Al Manar, Mr. Moussaoui was chief editor of Al Intiqad weekly in Beirut for two years and he has worked as a head master at secondary schools.

During his journalistic career, he has conducted interviews and talk shows with leading figures in Lebanon and the Arab world. He has also given lectures and presentations throughout Europe and in Malaysia.

Mr El Moussaoui is a PHD candidate and is currently writing a dissertation on the compatibility of Islam and democracy. He has a master's degree in political science from the American University in Beirut. He has two BAs in Journalism and English literature from the Lebanese University.

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