About the authors
Yossi Mekelberg is a professor of international relations at Regent’s University London, where he is the head of the International Relations, Social Sciences and Law Programme. He has been teaching at Regent’s University since 1996, and before that at King’s College, London. Yossi has been with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Programme at Chatham House since 2002, first as an associate fellow and more recently as a senior consulting research fellow. His fields of expertise include the politics of the Middle East, Israeli politics, the Middle East peace process, and US foreign policy towards the region. For four years he wrote a weekly column for the Al Arabiya network before moving to write twice a week for Arab News. He is also a member of the Human Rights Watch London Committee and of the Seeds of Peace Global Advisory Board. In addition, Yossi is a regular contributor to international media on a variety of international affairs issues.
Greg Shapland is an independent researcher and writer on politics, security, resources and the environment (including water) in the MENA region. He has been an associate fellow at Chatham House since September 2015. Greg’s entire career has been focused on the MENA region, whether as a commercial representative, university lecturer, or British government official in the Ministry of Defence, Cabinet Office and Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO). From 1979 until 2015, he served in the MENA Research Group in the FCO. He was also head of Research Analysts in the FCO from July 2010 to July 2013. During his time with the FCO, Greg served in British embassies in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Tel Aviv, and in the consulate general in Jerusalem.