Ordinary Japanese people think of the Middle East as a somewhat strange and ‘dangerous’ area, mainly because of the daily news on Middle Eastern conflicts. One of the main purposes of the First International Symposium of the Afrasian Center for Peace and Development Studies is to promote the public’s understanding of real-life conditions in the Middle East, by inviting renowned scholars and specialists from various countries including the U.S. and Israel.

The symposium, entitled ‘International Context of Conflicts in the Middle East and Asian Approaches on the Conflict Resolution’, was held 4-5 March 2006 at the Omiya Campus of Ryukoku University in Kyoto. The symposium was part of an AFC (Academic Frontier Center) project called the ‘Afrasian Center for Peace and Development Studies’ sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan.

More than one hundred people attended, which implies an increasing interest of Japanese on the Middle Eastern issues. His Majesty Koshin Ohtani, Head of the Jodo-shinshu Sect of Buddhism, delivered the opening speech. It was a rare opportunity to hear the foremost representative of Japanese Buddhism speak on the importance of mutual understanding between world relations, regardless of differences between monotheism (Islam) and polytheism (Buddhism).

The first session dealt with the Middle Eastern Peace Process (Israeli-Palestinian conflict). Prof. Yezid Sayigh (University of London), a Palestinian scholar, gave a detailed forecast on the future development of the Palestinian-Israeli issue after the victory of Hamas, discussing the possibility of the Hamas government eventually choosing pragmatic policies toward Israel. On the other hand, Prof. Elie Podeh (the Hebrew University of Jerusalem), an Israeli scholar, spoke about Israeli policies toward the issues like borders, Jerusalem, and refugees, stressing on the compromising stance of Centralists (Kadima and Labor party).

The second session discussed Iranian, Kurdish, and Pakistani issues. After I delivered a paper on the modern history of Iranian nationalism, Prof. Menashri (Tel Aviv University) lectured on the political development of Islamic Republic of Iran. Especially impressive was his forecast on the new ‘ultra-right’ government of President Ahmadinejad, who, according to him, seems more radical than other conservatives in Iran. After that, Prof. Takahashi (the University of the Air), and Prof. Ayesha Jalal (Tufts University), explained respectively Kurdish and Pakistani issues mainly from historical perspective.

A reception was held at the end of the first day, in which His Majesty Koshin Ohtani and others delivered informal speeches. On the whole, the two sessions on the Middle East were a good opportunity for the audience to be introduced to the basic backgrounds of contemporary Middle Eastern issues.

The following day, we held two sessions on oil issues in the Middle East, and South Asian issues including India and Sri Lanka. In the latter, Prof. Nagasaki (Ryukoku University) provided a critical analysis of the key concept of Gandhi’s thought, so called ‘Satyagraha’, as an effective non-violent means applicable to modern conflicts in the world. In response, Prof. Sugata Bose (Harvard University) explained Indian attempts at keeping order and peace, on the basis of his perspective on historical development of ‘hegemony’ after the imperialistic period. We also heard from Mr. Herman Franssen, President of International Energy Associates, Prof.Nakamura (Ryukoku University) on the conflict in Sri Lanka, and Mr. Yasushi Akashi, Former Undersecretary-General of the UN. Through these sessions, we obtained a broader, and to some extent ‘comparative’ perspective on various world conflicts and attempts at their resolutions.

Although two days were very short for such broad subjects, the symposium was successful as an introduction to the future activities of Afrasian Center. Above all, the audience seemed satisfied with hearing directly the detailed lectures of each scholar from the world.

Scene of Discussion (from right to left in the first row: Prof. Sugata Bose, Prof. Nobuko Nagasaki, Prof. Hisashi Nakamura, Prof. Laksiri Fernand, and Mr. Motohide Yoshikawa, Director-General, Middle Eastern and African Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan)