The Mt. Scopus Research Center of the Hebrew University has marked its first anniversary with the announcement of a project to discover “what the Arabs think rather than what they do.” The Center was established a year ago by the University’s Institute of Asian and African Studies and the Harry S. Truman Research Institute. It is directed by Prof. Moshe Maoz, chairman of the Institute of Asian and African Studies.
Dr. Yehoshaphat Harkabi, a spokesman for the unit, told newsmen that the Center would function “as a corrective” to Israeli newspapers which, he said, display a preoccupation with what the Arab states are doing in contrast with the way Arab intellectuals think of themselves and of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Dr. Harkabi said the Center would provide documents and translated material on cultural and intellectual subjects in the Arab world for study by Israeli scholars.
Dr. Harkabi, who was once director of intelligence for Israel’s defense forces, said the Center did not intend to study Arab terrorist groups. He said it would be useless for it to try to duplicate the work of Army intelligence.
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