The Center initiated a series of events especially geared to interpreting the Intifada to Israeli audiences. While Israeli-Palestinian relations deteriorated, some eyes turned to Damascus in search of a viable Syrian option. The S leyman Demirel Program for Contemporary Turkish Studies at the Dayan Center promotes the study of contemporary Turkey in Israel. During the academic year, this takes the form of conferences, symposia, and guest lectures by distinguished Turkish scholars and public figures. The Middle East Forum is a meeting place for distinguished figures from academe, government, business, diplomacy, and the military, who share an interest in Middle Eastern affairs.
Membership is by invitation.
The first months of 2001 marked a decade since the Gulf war. Ten years after, Saddam Hussein is still in power, UN sanctions have eroded, and no inspectors stand between Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. The Dayan Center took the opportunity to look back, in various ways, at the successes and failures of a decade of war, diplomacy, and sanctions. Winter's Treat Prof. Bernard Lewis , professor emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, again wintered at the Moshe Dayan Center, at the invitation of the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute for Advanced Studies at Tel Aviv University. As usual, he participated in seminars and met with students and faculty to discuss their work.