Mark Perry

Mark Perry "is a military, intelligence and foreign affairs analyst and writer. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications: The Nation, The Washington Post, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Newsday, and The Los Angeles Times. He is the author of six books: Four Stars: The Inside Story of the Forty-Year Battle Between the JCS and America’s Civilian Leaders (1987), Eclipse: The Last Days of the CIA (1990), A Fire In Zion, Inside the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process (1994), Conceived In Liberty (1996), Lift Up Thy Voice, The Grimke Family’s Journey from Slaveholders to Civil Rights Leaders (2000) and Grant and Twain (2004). He is currently working on his seventh book (Penguin Press), which is a history of the Marshall-Eisenhower military partnership during World War Two.

"During the late 1970s and early and mid-1980s, Perry has served as editor and Washington bureau chief for a number of publications. He served as editor for Washington D.C.’s City Paper. He also served, for six years, as editor of The Veteran, the largest circulation newspaper for veterans in the nation. Perry authored an article for Regardies magazine on the CIA’s program to destabilize Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, which was nominated for a National Magazine Award. He helped research and write the BBC’s award-winning “Panorama” production of “The Intelligence War Against Iraq” in 1991 and has served as chief researcher on a number of other BBC productions. A Fire In Zion was the recipient of the 1995 Jewish-American Community Book Award.

"Perry has appeared in many media and national forums: as an commentator on Cable News Network’s “Special Assignment,” as a guest on CNN’s “The International Hour.” He has served as a consultant to CNN on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is the recipient of the University of California’s prestigious “Censored Award.” He is currently Washington correspondent for The Palestine Report, a foreign policy internet magazine focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He founded and was President of the Institute for Conflict Resolution Studies. He is a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center. Most recently he helped to establish and is the co-Director of Conflicts Forum, an international organization working for peace in the Middle East. Perry is a leading expert on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, and has worked for long periods over two decades in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

"Perry served as a senior foreign policy analyst for Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, a leading international humanitarian organization; VVAF co-founded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winning international landmine campaign. Perry served as the poliltical director of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines from 1992 to 2001. Perry also served as Vice President of Jefferson Waterman International, a Washington, D.C. political consulting firm from 2001 to 2005. He resigned his position to take up his duties at Conflicts Forum."

• Member, Middle East Policy Initiative Forum