Regional Cooperation Under Conflict

In this article, I concentrate on one kind of Middle Eastern structure, which is mostly an ambivalent, but integrated element in that region: Israel and its interactions in the Middle East. Special focus is directed to the economic field and on the actors’ side. After first considering the role of the politicians, attention is given primarily to the business community. Although most of the Arab states formally boycott the State of Israel, its business communities have contacts and business relations with entrepreneurs in Arab and Islamic countries. Because of this, the structural analysis of the Middle East differs from that of other models and goes beyond traditional and dominant stigmata and standards. Finally, options for regional structures including Israel are based on the asymmetrical economic relation between Israel and other Middle Eastern economies and encompass Euro-Mediterranean inter-regionalism, Middle Eastern integration and regional fragmentation.