UNIVERSITY NEWS - OCTOBER 2003

MEDIA CONTACTS: Randy Goin, Jr.
954-762-5275, rgoin@fau.edu
Nancy Rosen
954-236-1056, nrosen@fau.edu

FAU Presents Israel's Expert on "The Iraq Complex"

DAVIE, FL (August 28, 2003) - As tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate, Florida Atlantic University and the Florida Israel Institute will present a lecture on the topic of "The Iraq Complex." Israel's top Iraq expert and advisor to the United States government, Dr. Amatzia Baram, will discuss the history, reality and potential for Iraq's development and its affect on the middle east. This free public lecture will be Friday, September 12 from 1 - 2:30 p.m. at Florida Atlantic University's Davie Campus, 2912 College Avenue.

Baram, a guest researcher at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., studies the political, social, economic and cultural history of the Ba'ath regimes in Iraq and Syria, enabling him to advise western governments about Iraq and the Persian Gulf region. Born, raised and educated in Israel, Baram focused his early research on the history, society, politics and culture of the Arab and Islamic countries while at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Since 1980, he has taught in the Department of Middle Eastern History at the University of Haifa. In 1999, he was named director of the Jewish-Arab Center and the Gustav Heinemann Institute for Middle East Studies at the University of Haifa - a Sister City to Fort Lauderdale.

This lecture is part of the series entitled "Israel in Context" and is made possible by support from FAU, Broward Community College and a grant from the Executive Office of the Governor of Florida. For further information, contact Nancy Rosen at 954- 236-1056 or email nrosen@fau.edu.

- FAU -

A photo of Dr. Amatzia Baram may be downloaded at http://www.broward.fau.edu/images/FAU-baram.jpg