SCIENCE AND CIVILISATION: TASKS FOR THE NEXT MILLENNIUM by Prof.Ihsan Dogramaci

Understanding the past is sufficiently difficult, understanding the future almost impossible. The past is where we have to seek clues for the future, and this is partly what I will do.
Today, it has become quite common to think of science and technology as dehumanising and alienating. But, is this thinking intrinsic to the pursuit of knowledge, or is it merely a characteristic of the state of science in our age?

THE EMERGING INFORMATION SOCIETY: A POLITICAL CHALLENGE by Dr.Orhan Güvenen

Over the past few decades, the world has experienced an exponential proliferation of information. Thus, this era has been appropriately termed the 'Information Age' and has been likened in significance to the Industrial Revolution because of its impact on the entire modus operandi of the global system.
Advanced economies have become progressively specialised in the production, distribution and use of information. This specialisation is the source of substantial welfare gains.

THE INTER-ARAB SYSTEM AND THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT: RIPENING FOR RESOLUTION by Dr Bruce Maddy - Weitzman

A combination of sharp conflict and close co-operation has always characterised inter-Arab relations. Historically, they have been shaped by a myriad of factors: pan-Arab ideology, which tended to de-legitimise the very existence of multiple Arab states and demanded conformity to a common standard of political behaviour vis-a-vis the outside world as a minimum price for existence; the reality of multiple, emerging states with competing interests; competition for the role of regional leadership; and various social, economic and personal factors.

THE ARAB-ISRAELI PEACE PROCESS: A REALISTIC ASSESSMENT by Efraim Inbar

This article reviews, first, the main reasons for the entrenchment of Israel in the Middle East and for the shift towards its greater acceptance as a regular international player in regional politics. The second part of the essay argues that the peace process is quite resilient and that it has realised most of its potential. The third part clarifies the peace process's often forgotten limitations, which the strategic and cultural realities of the Middle East impose on Arab states' relations with Israel. The last section offers advice against impatience and diplomatic hyperactivity.

WAGING PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST: AN ISRAELI POINT OF VIEW by Eyal Zisser

For many years, the Israeli-Arab conflict was seen as one of the most complex, lengthy and bloody conflicts that the world has known in the post-World War II era.1 Today, as these lines are being written at the beginning of the new century and the new millennium, this conflict seems to be on the verge of a solution. The achievement of the peoples, and especially the leaders, of the region, is worthy of a special note in view of the fact that the peace process that will hopefully result in the final resolution of the conflict began less than a decade ago, in October 1991, with the convening of the Madrid Conference.

ARAB-ISRAELI DIPLOMACY IN 2000: AN UPHILL BATTLE FOR PEACE by Dr Robert Satloff

To many observers, the stars are aligned to see the final resolution of the century-old Arab-Israeli conflict in the millennium year of 2000. But in a region which too often accents romance over realism, more sober analysts will underscore the wide gaps which still divide the parties, the national and personal interests which militate against compromise, and the still-substantial threats to peace that have the potential to derail the region's diplomacy altogether.

NORWAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS: A JOURNALIST'S VIEWPOINT by Fritz Nilsen

Ata Jaber should have been bitter, but he wasn't. For the third time his house, outside Hebron on the occupied West Bank, had been wrecked by Israeli soldiers. Whilst he was working in a restaurant in Tel Aviv, the Army had returned. The bulldozer had hit the four pillars of his house, which collapsed.

The house was built illegally, the Israeli officer said. He was right. Ata Jaber owns the land, as has his family for generations. He even has Israeli papers confirming this. But he did not have an Israeli building permit for his house.

THE ARAB-ISRAELI PEACE PROCESS: A CRITICAL EVALUATION by Prof. Kamel S. Abu Jaber

Perhaps the most important product of the Arab-Israeli peace process, which commenced at Madrid in 1991, is that the ice has been broken and the previous taboos ignored. To be sure, the process remains in progress and perhaps it will for a very long time to come, even after peace treaties are signed. Yet, the fact remains that it is no longer a zero-sum game, but a process of adversaries adjusting to each other over the terms of the compromise.

A PALESTINIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE PEACE PROCESS by Dr Mahdi Abdul Hadi

Starting with the Madrid Peace Conference almost ten years ago, the Arab-Israeli conflict, at the doorstep of a new millennium, entered a new chapter. The end of the Cold War, which was marked by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the beginning of the perestroika era, and the 1991 Gulf War resulted in a divided Arab World and a significantly weakened Palestinian leadership. These were also the main reasons that led to the success of the US in convening all parties involved in the Middle East conflict at the Madrid Peace Conference on 30 October 1991.

CHANGING RELATIONS:TURKISH - ISRAELI - ARAB TRIANGLE by Dr Ofra Bengio & Dr Gencer Özcan

Since the early 1990s, Turkey has been bent on carving out a new role in the Middle East. The 1996 strategic alignment1 with Israel has been the main embodiment of this aim. The alignment itself-a unique development in the modern history of the region in that it brought together a Muslim and a Jewish state-caused great concern and even alarm among many Arab countries. Some viewed it as Turkey's second betrayal of the Arabs in fifty years: the first being Turkey's recognition of the State of Israel in 1949.

THE POWER OF DECEPTION Yugoslavia in the Aftermath of the Confrontation with NATO by Dr Boran Karadzole

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is an aberration in contemporary Europe. The basis for this claim is not in the fact that its economic indicators and trends are among the lowest on the continent (albeit they are) or in the abhorrent state of international isolation in which the country continues to maintain itself. The justification for the claim at the outset of this paper is in the plain and simple fact that Yugoslavia today is a masterly living example of the almost unlimited force of deceit and manipulation of public opinion.

PATTERNS OF INTEGRATION IN CENTRAL ASIA by Erhan Büyükakinci

One of the most important events of the twentieth century was no doubt the break up of the USSR. The disintegration of the Union opened a new stage of multidimensional interactions both for the successor states and for the other countries involved in this historical evolution. Students of this process of transition, in which all the new independent states are living, prefer to categorise these countries in clusters relating to their geopolitical position and to their social-economic and ethnic structures.

FIGHTING TERRORISM: WHAT CAN INTERNATIONAL LAW DO? by Nicolas Laos

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon. During the last few centuries, humanity has witnessed several patterns of terrorism and the twentieth century added new patterns to terrorism.1 At the same time, the states of the world, individually as well as within the framework of international organisations, continue with various attempts to counter terrorism.