When: 16/12/2009

Where: Spiro Ark Centre

Time: 19.30

Contact: 020 7723 9991

Price: £10 + £1 booking fee

This event has now passed.

It is impossible to open a paper, switch on the television or peruse the internet without being deluged with information about the Middle East. It especially intrigues Jews because this was where our faith and sende of people-hood was born; where Mizrachim honed their culture during 2,000 years of Diaspora; and where the State of Israel is located. The main focus of this lecture will not be the Arab-Israeli conflict; instead this conflict will be seen within a broader regional context among other equally vital topics: water, regime change, possibility of democracy, disputed boundaries, oil politics, post-colonial demarcations, the Middle East as a plaything of Cold War rivalries, and the site of many social and religious tensions.
Lawrence Joffe, a committee member on Meretz UK and the Arab-Jewish Forum, was born in South Africa, 1962. In 1996 he wrote "Keesings Guide to the Middle East Peace Process" (1996) and he is a renowned specialist on the broad subject of the Middle East region. He made political analyses for Jewish Quarterly and The Middle East, contributed c.120 obituaries to The Guardian, used to appear as analyst in Sky News, BBC News 24 and lectured at Meretz UK on the Iraq situation and analysis of 2003 Israel election.
Topics and dates:
1. Bible, Koran and the Crusades - how historical memory still dictates our present--28 October
2. The British footprint in the Middle East--18 November
3. Oil - blessing or curse? -- 16 December