Laila Al-Marayati

Laila Al-Marayati is a Palestinian-American doctor and Islamic activist, and former presidential appointee to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, where she served for two years after being appointed by President Bill Clinton.

Al-Marayati was born in 1963 to Palestinian parents, and was raised in Los Angeles.

She earned her medical degree from UC-Irvine, and received specialty training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Los Angeles County USC Women's Hospital. After, she opened her own practice focusing on gynecology, which she ran for 11 years. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine and Assistant Residency Program Director in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She also serves as the Director of Women's Health at the Eisner Pediatric and Family Medical Center in downtown Los Angeles.

In the 1990s, Al-Marayati served as a member of the US State Department's Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad, and was a member of the official US Delegation to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, alongside former-First Lady Hillary Rodham-Clinton, in 1995.

From 1999 to 2001, she served as a presidential appointee to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), where she was a frequent critic of the United States' policies.

She was highly critical of the 2002 appointment of Elliot Abrams as head of the United States National Security Council's Near East and North African office, arguing that his neo-conservative views him to overlook Israel's alleged violations of the rights of religious minorities.

She is the former head of the KinderUSA foundation, which she shut down during an FBI investigation.

References

* [http://imeu.net/news/article005780.shtml Profile of Laila Al-Marayati at the Institute for Middle East Understanding]
* [http://www.thegreatlecturelibrary.com/index.php?select=speaker&data=545 Biography of Laila Al-Marayati at the Chautauqua Foundation]
* [http://www.mwlusa.org/news/clinton_commission.html "President Clinton names three to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom", "Muslim Women's League", 6 May 1999]
* [http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/images/informationbrief.php?ID=38 "The Commission of International Religious Freedom: Criticism of Israel Stifled", Laila Al-Marayati, "The Jerusalem Fund Information Brief No. 80", 23 July 2001]
* [http://www.counterpunch.org/laila1216.html "The Biases of Elliot Abrams", Laila Al-Marayati, "Counterpunch.org", 16 December 2002]