Abdel Bari Atwan

Abdel Bari Atwan is a Palestinian writer and journalist. He was the editor-in-chief at the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi for twenty-five years and now edits the Rai al-Youm news website – the Arab world’s first Huffington Post-style outlet. He is a regular contributor to a number of publications, including the Guardian and Scottish Herald, and is a frequent guest on radio and television, including regular stints on the BBC’s Dateline London.Atwan interviewed Osama bin Laden twice in the late 1990s and has cultivated uniquely well-placed sources from within the various branches of al-Qa‘ida and other jihadi groups, including IS, over the last twenty years. His other books include The Secret History of al-Qa‘ida and After bin Laden: Al-Qa‘ida, The Next Generation, as well as a memoir, A Country of Words: A Palestinian Journey from the Refugee Camp to the Front Page.