His first weekly talk show 5\7 became Tele Liban's longest-running talk show in the 1990s, and scored the highest rating for a single talk-show episode in 1996. That year, Zaven was granted the Honors Certificate of the Lebanese Press Order for his coverage of Israel's 'Grapes of Wrath' offensive.

In 1997, he received the Appreciation Certificate of the UN Development Programme for Sustainable Development for his work in 5\7. That year, Zaven was granted the honourary key of the Bourj Hammoud area in Beirut.

In 2000, he was voted the third-best talk-show host for his current show Sire Wenfatahit on Future TV, in a survey by the Lebanese National Council of Audio-Visual Media.

Zaven received the Arab Media Award 2002 of the UK International College – London for "his efforts in creating a pan-Arab dialogue on social issues." That year, he received the best social talk-show award of the Media Festival – Beirut.

In 2003, Zaven was rated second-best talk show host in the Middle East, in a survey by Zahret El Khalij magazine. A year later, he was rated in the same magazine as best talk-show host and best talk show in the region.

As such, the NDA combines the struggle for national rights and democracy into one political programme: supporting Israeli-Arabs' right to run their own cultural affairs, and the right of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza to have an independent Palestinian state.

Azmi's political programme is informed by his experience as a student activist and academic. In 1974, he established the first National Committee of High School students, and in 1976 was instrumental in setting up the Committee for the Defense of Arab Lands and the first National Arab Student Union.

Upon completing his PhD in philosophy at Humbodt University in Germany, he joined the faculty of Bir Zeit University in 1986, and went on to head the philosophy and political science departments. Azmi was the director of research at the Van Leer Institute between 1990 and 1996, and was active in propagating the Palestinian cause during the intifada.

He publishes in Arabic, English, German and Hebrew, writing articles and editing books on issues of nationalism, national minority rights in Israel, democracy and civil society, Islam and democracy, and the Palestinian question. He is author of two books: A Contribution to the Criticism of Civil Society, and A Reading in a Ruptured Political Discourse.

After graduating in Russian and German from Oxford University, she joined the BBC World Service and moved from there to The Times as editorial writer on foreign affairs. From 1989 to 1992, she was The Times' Moscow bureau chief, covering the collapse of communism and the rise of Russia. 

Mary moved to The Independent as comment editor in 1993, becoming bureau chief in Paris and then Washington. She returned to London as The Independent's diplomatic editor in 2001, and was appointed the paper's chief editorial writer in 2005. 

She speaks on Russian and European affairs at international debates and seminars, and broadcasts regularly on British and US radio and TV. Mary speaks German, Russian, French and a little Mandarin, and is a member of Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, in London.

Ghassan is best known in Syria for his appearance in many Syrian-made films, and writing and directing the theatre play Diplomasiyyoun. He was part of the Syrian Ministry of Culture's National Theatre 2002 season. 

Married with a son and daughter, Massoud teaches drama at the Damascus Music and Drama School, and the High Institution of Theatrical Arts. He has appeared in the Syrian films The Chant of Rain and in Haytham Hakky's well-known work Memories of the Forthcoming Age, and on the Syrian stage was an actor in August Strindberg's Miss Julie.

Today, Ian is one of the most sought-after comedians on the scene, not because of the amount of money he owes but because, in the words of Time Out: "He looks and sounds very good indeed." He has performed worldwide, including Germany – not many Jewish comedians have performed there in the last 50 years! In 1998, he performed to 55,000 people in 40 days (more than Wimbledon). 

That year, TV and radio beckoned. Since then, he has appeared on The Stand-Up Show (BBC 1), Saturday Live (ITV), The Comedy Store (Channel 5), Live at Jongleurs (ITV), Good Stuff (ITV), The 11 O'clock Show (Channel 4) and BBC Radio 1 Live. He is also a regular panelist on BBC Radio 5's The Treatment.

He joined BBC Greater London Radio in 1998 to host his own chat show The Big Schmooze, where he has interviewed the likes of Jeremy Issacs, Terry Hall, Anthony Sher and Esther Rantzen who, live on air, proposed marriage to his long-term girlfriend on his behalf. An answer has not as yet been forthcoming.

He has presented most of the regular daytime and evening shows, as well as their 1999 Notting Hill Carnival coverage and a one-off special celebrating 20 years of The Comedy Store. He can also be seen bickering with Alan Davies in a major BBC 1 documentary series about stand-up comedy.

Ian's Edinburgh Festival show A Little Piece of Kike caused offence to the festival organisers last year, to the extent that they banned the word Kike from the official programme. Ian did not realise that by using the word, he would be treading on the toes of political correctness: "I saw a description of it. It said a low-class, ill-mannered Jew and I thought, that's me!"

Ian now lives in North London with his partner, child and two cats, and would like to state publicly that Arsenal's poor disciplinary record is a direct result of pro-Manchester United bias in the media.

"...funnier than a shopful of remaindered David Baddiel novels." - The Independent

His experience and talents are vast. Having been devoted to dance since the age of eight, he has worked in theatres and shows all over Egypt. As an ex-Reda troupe member, his experience and training are well-recognised and respected in the field. 

Rapidly making his name in the UK after only nine months, he has already performed and taught at the country's biggest Arabic dance events. Shafeek is considered a master of Arabic dance, and was recently a judge for the BBC's Big Dance Mass, the biggest recorded dance event in history. 

Naglaa's rise to fame was almost immediate. She was soon making around 15 films a year, playing the love interest in almost every one, but since the 1980s she has been more interested in movies dealing with social issues.

Aziz Aini is about a Coptic woman vacationing with her husband and two-year-old son in Lebanon. The year is 1975, the civil war breaks out, and she loses her son. Her husband loses hope, but she does not. After 15 years she finds her son, who has joined the Lebanese resistance movement.

Naglaa feels very passionate about the Palestinian cause: "Something inside me was broken when I saw Mohamed Al-Dorra being killed. I know he is not the first and he will not be the last, but he has become a symbol."

She has been honoured at local and international film festivals, and received over 20 awards. She is married to veteran broadcaster and writer Hamdy Kandil.