The phenomenon of selective perception shapes life. We see what we want to see, what suits our interests to see. And we act accordingly. This is obviously true on a personal level, but no less so on the community and national scale. Bounded by past history as well as present perceived needs, the group and its representatives often stereotype their world, omitting the inconvenient, so that the future can be shaped according to their desire.

In 1994, fifteen years have passed since the Iranian revolution: the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty and the establishment of a theocratic, mulla-dominated, Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Yemen civil war, which devastated the country from early May until early July, offers many lessons: lessons about how to achieve unity between two differing states (and most of all, how not to do it), lessons ab

"When Islam upsets the traditions you have to set it aside," said Haj Bastami, a 60-year-old sharif (a man who claims descent from the Prophet's family) when a mediator tried to convince him to consent to his daughter's marriage to a non-sharif man. This happened in the southern Egyptian city of Qena, a place increasingly becoming one of the major centers of Islamic activities in Egypt.

The Syrian decision to respond positively to the American initiative in July 1991 and to participate in a peace conference-under the joint chairmanship of the United States and the Soviet Union-was either received with surprise or, at best, with mixed feelings.

Some have argued that although the concept of human rights originated in the West, the world should not renounce declaring or enforcing human rights.