Participants at the 2007 DACOR conference on the Middle East recently heatedly debated the "frying pan of Iraq, the fire of the Israel and Palestinian conflict."

The Iraq panel discussed the increasing fragmentation within the Arab country, agreeing that tribal affinities would color the future Iraqi economic and geopolitical landscape. ...

Meanwhile, early prognoses on the proposed Annapolis Middle East peace conference ruled the discussion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict panel.

Ghaith Al Omari, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, maintained that the Annapolis summit, without a durable peace process and the diplomatic participation of surrounding Arab states, could not achieve its lofty objectives.

David Levy, a senior fellow and director of the Middle East Programs at the New American Foundation and The Century Foundation, also listed conditions for success at Annapolis, MD. In addition to a viable political process, Levy pointed to the need for the U.S. to present bridging proposals to bring the Israelis and Palestinians together. However, Levy also stressed the need for genuine American initiatives. "If the American ideas, when you unwrap them, start singing 'Hava Nagila,' then they're not American ideas and they don't help Israel either." ...

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