John Bell was formerly Middle East Director in Jerusalem for Search for Common Ground, a global conflict resolution organization.  He is also a former United Nations and Canadian diplomat who served as a political officer at Canada’s embassy in Cairo, a member of Canada’s delegation to the Refugee Working Group in the peace process in the 1990s, Political Advisor to the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for southern Lebanon, advisor to the Canadian Government during the Iraq crisis in 2002-03 and Consultant to the International Crisis Group on developments in Jerusalem. 

He is also a founding member of the “Jerusalem Old City Initiative” (University of Toronto and University of Windsor), an effort to find creative options for this contentious issue. Mr. Bell also has extensive experience in communications as spokesperson for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and Communications Coordinator for the Signing Conference for the International Treaty to Ban Landmines in Ottawa, 1997.

Languages: English, French and Arabic.