The current revolutionary atmosphere in the Middle East is encouraging and terrifying at the same time.
As an Israeli, who is surrounded by the events, I can not ignore the paranoid thoughts that Israel is likely to be the scapegoat for desperate Arab leaders and extremists who will find it useful to direct the blame for their frantic situation on their Zionist neighbour.
But as a researcher who has studied the culture and profile of the people in the area I am satisfied with the possibility that change might bring some new thoughts and progress to dominated nations that were denied freedom of expression and rights for decades.
Furthermore, I hope that this breeze of transformation will have some effect on the regions attitude towards Israel and its right to exist, while also opening up communication channels and a willingness to cooperate.
Working in London as a PhD student, and moreover as an Atkin fellow at ICSR, has allowed me to meet and to collaborate with Arabs and Muslims and to understand the conflict from a wider perspective. I realise the complexity of the situation but believe that without freedom of thoughts and actions and the ability to receive wide and diverse information there will be no progress and therefore, especially at this time, the outcomes of revolutions are more likely to be positive ones and I definitely hope that it will be this time.
