Abdel Bari Atwan is a Palestinian writer and journalist. The former editor-in-chief of the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi for twenty-five years, he now edits the Rai al-Youm news website, the Arab worlds first Huffington Post-style outlet. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, often appearing 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.