Mideast in Transition Conference at Hebrew U Next Week

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem will hold its first annual conference on “The Middle East in Transition” Monday and Tuesday. Conference organizer Reuven Amitai says the conference will provide a unique opportunity to examine a spectrum of current socio-political issues in Middle Eastern countries, both related and unrelated to the relationship with Israel by bringing together leading experts in the field, beginning with a keynote speech by Prof. Bernard Lewis, the doyen of the world’s Middle Eastern scholars, who will talk on “What Next in the Middle East?” at the opening session.

Anthony H. Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., and natural security analyst for ABC News in America will discuss the world's growing dependency on Middle Eastern oil supplies, coupled with growing threats to those supplies. The university's own Dr. Liora Hendelman-Baavur will speak on the protest movement against the regime in Iran, which, she says, “is still simmering under the surface, causing much unrest for the Islamic Republic’s conservative ruling elite.”

The final session will feature Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni.