As we are entering 2022, the world once again has been facing an alarming upsurge of threats to peace in the form of terrorism, insurgencies, and outbreaks of full-scale wars. Some of the expanding manifestations of violence have been aggravated by ideological extremism, nationalistic fanaticism, ethnic hatred, racial prejudices, religious animosities and justified in the name of “rights,” “justice” and even “peace.”
The current security challenges amid the relenting Covid-19 pandemic include the renewed Palestinian-Israeli hostilities in Gaza, the raging conflicts throughout the region in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, as well as Iran’s continuing terrorism threats and nuclear ambitions.
The stopping of the unfolding violence and building a lasting peace is critical. Thus, the academic community has an obligation to participate in the international effort to advance the cause of peace in the Middle East and elsewhere.
In this connection it is important to note several relevant studies that were undertaken over the years. First is a book titled Crescent and Star: Arab and Israeli Perspectives on the Middle East Conflict edited by Yonah Alexander and Nicholas N. Kittrie and published by AMS Press in New York and Toronto in 1973. This volume focused on various questions that underlie the regional and global challenges. Some of the issues addressed were the following: a conflict between two antagonistic nationalisms; religious and ethnical tensions; violations of minority and human rights; expansionism and boundary disputes; conflict over the control of Jerusalem and the Holy Places; hostilities concerning the use of the Jordan River and freedom of navigation in the Gulf of Aqaba and Suez Canal; a competition among world powers.
The second academic effort was a study on The Role of Communications in the Middle East Conflict: Ideological and Religious Aspects by Yonah Alexander that was released by Praeger Publishers (New York, Washington, London) in 1973. This volume was conducted as part of a larger project on the role of mass communication in the advancement of international understanding sponsored by the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. The main questions which were analyzed included the following:
First, is the confrontation between Arab nationalism and Zionism inevitable and therefore insurmountable? Or does it indicate a certain historical stage between Arabs and Israeli Jews and is likely to disappear?
Second, are the antagonists and their partisans using religion-based communications to fan the flames of conflict and thereby advance the cause of war? To what extent do they dampen the passion of strife and consequently promote the cause of peace?
Third, can religion serve as a more effective tool for peace communications and help to ease the frictions and lessen the tension in the Middle East and beyond?
Another relevant work is Palestinian Religious Terrorism: Hamas and Islamic Jihad authored by Yonah Alexander and released by Transnational Publishers in Ardsley, New York in 2002. This particular book exposes much of the mystique of these organizations and places them as two of the many other challenges facing not only Israel but also the entire international community in its war against terrorism, whether it is waged in the Middle East or elsewhere.
In addition to the forgoing studies, the Inter-University Center for Terrorism Studies (IUCTS), organized numerous other academic research activities. Suffice to mention the publication of multiple selected books since 9/11 including: Usama bin Laden’s al-Qaida: Profile of a Terrorist Network (Brill Nijhoff, 2001) by Yonah Alexander and Michael S. Swetnam; The New Iranian Leadership: Ahmadinejad, Terrorism, Nuclear Ambition, and the Middle East (Praeger, 2007) by Yonah Alexander and Milton Hoenig; Al-Qa'ida: Ten Years After 9/11 and Beyond (Potomac Institute Press, 2012) by Yonah Alexander and Michael S. Swetnam; The Islamic State: Combating the Caliphate Without Borders (Lexington Books, 2015) by Yonah Alexander and Dean Alexander.
Among the other numerous reports released by the IUCTS include: “Arab Spring: A Year Later and Beyond” (March 2012); “Combating Hizballah’s Global Network” (October 2013); “Tehran’s Bomb Challenge: Crossroads, Roadblocks, and Roadmaps to Rapprochement?” (March 2014); “Israeli- Palestinian Peace Process: Endless or Endgame?” (July 2014); “Combating the Islamic State: Is a New Strategic Blueprint Needed?” (January 2016); “Russia’s Strategic Puzzle: Past Lessons, Current Assessment, and Future Outlook” (March 2016); “Syria: Quo Vadis?” (October 2015); “The Holy Jerusalem: A Key to Middle East War or Peace?” (December 2016); “Terrorism in North Africa and the Sahel in 2016” (March 2017); “Preventing WMD Terrorism: Ten Perspectives” (August 2017); “The Role of Diplomacy in Combating Terrorism: Selected Perspectives” (March 2018); “Biological Terrorism: International Dimensions” (June 2019).
As the Covid-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020, our colleagues at the International Law Institute (ILI) and the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies (PIPS) organized a Special Ambassadors’ Forum on the “Middle East Security Challenges: Past Lessons and Future Outlook” held on February 6, 2020 at the International Law Institute in Washington, DC.
This event featured Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, a four decades-long policy maker, diplomat, scholar, attorney, and author who discussed his highly acclaimed book President Carter: The White House Years (St. Martin’s Press, 2018). The video of the entire program is accessible here:
.It is our honor to incorporate Ambassador Eizenstat’s contribution in the current report, “War or Peace in the Middle East: Quo Vadis?” We are including a selection of Ambassador Eizenstat’s remarks related to the Middle East prior to incorporating our colleagues’ presentations from the July 22, 2021 event.
The program of this event began with opening remarks by Professor Don Wallace (Chairman, International Law Institute). The virtual Forum was moderated by Professor Yonah Alexander (Director of the International Center for Terrorism Studies and Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies). Presentations and discussion were offered by Ambassador (Ret.) Gerald Feierstein (Senior Vice President, Middle East Institute); Dr. David Pollock (Bernstein Fellow, The Washington Institute); Dr. Wayne Zaideman (Retired Special Agent and Legal AttacheĢ at the FBI, Middle East); Dr. Mir Sadat (Former Policy Director, U.S. National Security Council); Dr. Nicholas Rostow (Senior Research Scholar, Yale Law School); Dr. Ford Rowan (Chairman of the National Center for Critical Incident Analysis).