Qatar’s commitment to an informed society brings Doha Debates to Georgetown University

In another advancement of Qatar’s far-reaching initiative to provide its students with world-class educations, the Doha Debates, the top-rated BBC World News program that addresses and vigorously debates the critically important topics of interest to the Middle East, took place on the Washington campus of Georgetown University last Wednesday evening, March 25.

A panel of four renowned experts on U.S. policy in the Middle East came together to take on a motion chosen specifically for the Washington host environment: “This House believes that it is time for the U.S. administration to get tough on Israel.” Since a major aim of the Doha Debates is to encourage Middle Eastern students to think critically and confidently voice their opinions in public forums, a select group of students from Georgetown University’s branch campus in Doha, Qatar, traveled to Washington to take part in the event, joining Georgetown’s already widely diverse local student body.

Although the presence of some of world’s most prominent experts on Middle Eastern topics was undeniably a draw, the real action in the Doha Debates always centers on the students, and this was again the case at last Wednesday’s event. “It’s all about you,” Doha Debates series producer Ali Willis told the audience, composed predominantly of students, at the beginning of the debate. All debates are structured so that the students drive the dialogue, forcing the speakers to answer to the students. After each speaker gives a two-minute opening in support of his or her argument, with some cross-questioning by moderator Tim Sebastian, the remainder of the two-hour event is dominated by questions from the audience.
As with other debates, the students at last week’s debate took their cue and jumped right in, pushing the speakers to explore the issue in ways that made some of them second-guess their originally stated positions.

Renowned experts address probing questions
Like all Doha Debates, the Washington event featured four panelists: two arguing for the motion and two against. For the motion were Michael Scheuer, the former head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Bin Laden Unit and author of a number of publications including “Imperial Hubris: Why the West is Losing the War on Terrorism,” and Avraham Burg, a senior member of the Israeli Labour Party and former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset. Burg has also served as Deputy Chairman of the World Jewish Congress and is the author of “The Holocaust is over; we must rise from its ashes.”

On the other side of the table were two renowned figures in the world of Middle Eastern policy debate: Alan Dershowitz, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a well-known civil liberties lawyer and author of numerous publications including “The Case for Israel” and “The Case Against Israel’s Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand in the Way of Peace” and Dore Gold, who served as Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations from 1997 to 1999 and was an advisor to two former prime ministers. Gold is a member of the Israeli Likud Party and has been a key member of several peace initiatives, including the 1998 Wye River negotiations and the Madrid Peace Conference.
The debate proved to be lively as the panelists and the audience grappled with the very meaning of the motion. Speaker Burg remarked that “there was some confusion over who (on the panel) was on which side of the motion.” Due to tough student questioning, at times it appeared that Burg and speaker Dershowitz, on opposite sides of the motion, were more in agreement than were Burg and speaker Scheuer, who were on the same side of the table.

A balanced outcome
“In our debates we don’t look for the votes on our motions to come out 99-1, but something a bit closer,” says moderator Sebastian, referring to one of the interesting features of the debate format. Each member of the audience is given a digital vote-recording device upon entering, and at the end of the debate votes are cast either for or against the motion. Within half a minute following the tabulation of votes, the results are announced on screen.
On this particular evening Sebastian got his wish – a very close outcome that reflected the diverse make-up of the audience. The vote was 63% in favor of the motion with 37% against. “It was a good debate,” said Sebastian afterwards. “This was a lively exchange – perhaps a bit livelier than average, and I am pleased that we were able to have the debate here at Georgetown.”

When asked about the appeal of this particular forum, speaker Gold noted that “it was a good format, but I would also like to take this discussion back to Doha or elsewhere in the region where we might perhaps get even a better reception than here.” Speaker Burg noted that complex topics like this do not lend themselves well to a single, narrowly constructed motion with a “for” or “against” point of view, and this is what perhaps led to some of the confusion. Burg cautioned, however, “to remember that this is not a formal policy debate with a wide spectrum of issues to address with the necessary nuances. This is TV. And it is TV at its best, and for that reason a very good educational process.”

This view was echoed by Asif Ahsan, a senior at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service majoring in International Political Economy and originally from Pakistan. “It was an interesting and engaging debate,” said Ahsan, while reiterating Burg’s notion that the forum did not necessarily lend itself to fully addressing and exploring the nuances of the complex range of topics involved. But, as the Doha Debates are intended to do, this debate did seem to get the students in the audience engaged in the topic of discussion – a crucial step in getting them to take an active interest in the Middle East peace process and other pressing issues in the Middle East and beyond.

The Georgetown University Doha Debate will be aired by the BBC World network over the weekend of April 4-5, reaching over 300 million potential viewers in over 200 countries.