Editorial

In an order of things of a quasi-Copernican nature that used to exist between the United States and Europe there was once a division of labour in the Middle East: with an unrivalled military force, the former exercised political power to impose solutions to conflicts; the latter took care of collecting funds and organising the economic reconstruction of disaster areas. This model was used not only in the Middle East: it also worked with more success in the Balkans. But it was for the Near East, and above all for the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians, that it was defined and implemented during the Clinton era.