ANN ARBOR—With Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat gravely ill, Israeli and Palestinian officials have held emergency meetings uncertain about the impact his condition could have on the future of the Middle East.

The University of Michigan, home to the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, the Center for Arab-American Studies and the International Institute, has several experts. They include:

Juan Cole, history professor, specializes in Modern Middle East and Muslim South Asia. He has studied the politics, culture and history of Shi’ite and Sunni Islam, and is familiar with Islamic radicalism in both branches. In addition, he’s written about modern Iraq’s history and Muslim movements against -mail: the West. He can be reached at (734) 763-1599 or (734) 747-8211, or jrcole@umich.edu.

For more on Cole, visit: http://ipumich.temppublish.com/public/experts/ExpDisplay.php?ExpID=148

Lawrence Pintak, lecturer in journalism and public policy, knew Arafat during Pintak’s years as a CBS News Middle East correspondent. He can be reached at (508) 963-2088 or lpintak@umich.edu.For additional information on Pintak, visit http://ipumich.temppublish.com/public/experts/ExpDisplay.php?ExpID=932

Ron Stockton, researcher for the Center for Arab-American Studies and principal investigator for the Detroit Arab-American Study, is the author of many guides to teaching the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at high school and college levels, conflicts in the Middle East and the life of Arabs in America. He can be reached at (313) 593-5384 or (313) 581-5284 or rstock@umd.umich.edmu.

For more on Stockton, visit: http://ipumich.temppublish.com/public/experts/ExpDisplay.php?ExpID=767

Mark Tessler, professor of political science, is director of the International Institute. Tessler is an expert on the Middle East and North Africa, particularly with regard to policies and strategies of its governments and political leaders. He is one of the very few American scholars to have studied and lived for extended periods in both the Arab world and Israel. Tessler can be reached at (734) 763-9200 or tessler@umich.edu.

For more on Tessler, visit: http://ipumich.temppublish.com/public/experts/ExpDisplay.php?ExpID=875

Raymond Tanter, professor emeritus of political science, is a noted authority on the Arab-Israeli conflict, American foreign policy, national security affairs, politics of the Middle East, and international political economy and relations. He can be reached at (202) 333-7346 or rtanter@umich.edu.

For more on Tanter, visit: http://ipumich.temppublish.com/public/experts/ExpDisplay.php?ExpID=746

More resources:

The U-M International Institute comprises one of the nation’s broadest assemblies of interdisciplinary centers and programs organized around area studies. It supports a range of innovative collaborations and sponsored projects in international studies that cross traditional intellectual boundaries. For more details on its programs and experts, visit: http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/index.html

For more on the Center for Arab-American Studies, based at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, visit: http://casl.umd.umich.edu/caas/

For more on the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, visit: http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/cmenas/

The U-M Documents Center offers access to many documents and resources related to the conflicts in the Middle East. Please visit: http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/arabis.html

Producers: U-M has professional TV studios and uplink capabilities.