Middle East: home of three of the world's major religions

Former journalist Alison Weir is the executive director of If Americans Knew, a nonprofit organization that provides information and media analysis on Israel-Palestine. Several of her articles have been included in anthologies on the subject, and she speaks nationally and internationally, including briefings on Capitol Hill, presentations at the Asia Media Summit in Kuala Lumpur and at the Jerusalem Media Center Conference in the West Bank, and lectures at Harvard Law School, Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Georgetown, and numerous other campuses.

Former U.S. Congressman Tom Campbell said: “Ms. Weir presents a powerful, well documented view of the Middle East today. She is intelligent, careful, and critical. American policy makers would benefit greatly from hearing her first-hand observations and attempting to answer the questions she poses.”

A New York Times article about a talk in Greenwich, CT reported: “When the speech ended, Ms. Weir was met with thunderous applause, and across the room there was a widespread sense of satisfaction that someone was saying what needed to be said.”

In 2004, Alison was inducted into honorary membership of Phi Alpha Literary Society, founded in 1845 at Illinois College. The award cited her as a: "Courageous journalist-lecturer on behalf of human rights. The first woman to receive an honorary membership in Phi Alpha history."