Dr. Arafat Shoukri is Director of the Council for European Palestinian Relations (CEPR). Before joining the CEPR, he worked for 13 years in different European NGOs as PR and lobbying specialist. He is an expert and media commentator on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and is author of Refugee Status in Islam, Concepts of Protection in Islamic Tradition and International Law (London: I. B. Tauris, 2010).
Ramy Abdu is the Assistant to the Director. He was a project and investment coordinator for the World Bank and other internationally-funded projects addressing the financial sector and the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories. He holds two Masters, in Research and Finance. His fields of interests include international aid to developing countries and economic cooperation between EU and the MENA region. He is PhD candidate in Law and Finance at the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.
James Tuite is the Parliamentary Officer. He holds a Master of Arts (MA) in European Studies, specializing in International Relations, from Maastricht University. He obtained a BA from the University of Kent and spent time studying in the Czech Republic. Prior to working for the CEPR, he was a Political Researcher and Assistant to a British Member of Parliament (MP).
Stuart Reigeluth is the Communications Officer. Before joining the CEPR in June 2011, he was Project Coordinator of the Mediterranean and Middle East Programme at the Toledo International Centre for Peace (CITpax) in Madrid, Spain. He has contributed articles about the Arab-Israeli conflict and Palestinian politics to many regional newspapers. He has a column with Gulf News, Dubai, and holds a Master from the Centre of Arab and Middle Eastern Studies at the American University of Beirut (AUB).