Mediterranean Programme - [12/13/2006]

The journal "Àmbits de Política i Societat" is presented at the CIDOB Foundation

The CIDOB Foundation hosted the presentation of Oriente Medio en eclosión [The Dawning of the Middle East], a monograph included in issue 35 of the journal Àmbits de Política i Societat. CIDOB, which has been very involved in this publication, organised the act together with the Official Association of Holders of Bachelor’s and Doctoral Degrees in Political Science and Sociology of Catalonia.

The Director of the CIDOB Foundation’s Mediterranean Programme, Eduard Soler, co-ordinated Oriente Medio en eclosión, in addition to writing one of the articles in the monograph on the crisis of the caricatures and the European reaction to the conflict in Lebanon. Gemma Pinyol, Co-ordinator of the CIDOB Foundation’s Migrations Programme, is also the author of another article in the monograph, dedicated in this case to the human movements in the region. In her article, Pinyol analyses the volume and nature of the flows of refugees and economic migrants.

The presentation, in which Josep Ribera, the Director of the CIDOB Foundation, and Anna Parés, Dean of the Official Association of Holders of Bachelor’s and Doctoral Degrees in Political Science and Sociology of Catalonia, participated, featured a lecture by another one of the authors of the monograph, Ignacio Álvarez-Ossorio, lecturer in Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Alacant.

Dr Álvarez-Ossorio analysed the strategy of the United States in the Middle East, emphasising that the Hamilton-Baker report on Iraq called into question the policy the Americans have followed up until now in the region. In his intervention, Álvarez-Ossorio dealt with the domestic and international problems of six Middle Eastern countries: Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Israel, Iran and Iraq. He pointed out the risks of maintaining or accentuating the current instability. He also discussed the deterioration of the peace process in the Middle East and reminded the audience that the negotiation is no longer between Palestinians and Israelis, but between Israelis and the United States. Moreover, he alerted his listeners of the risks of a fragmented Iraq, the danger of a new civil confrontation in Lebanon, the situation of the Shi’a population in Saudi Arabia and the growing tension between Iran and the United States, which could culminate in selective attacks.

For further information: Àmbits de Política i Societat