The Middle East Regional Cooperation Program

My old friend and colleague, David O'Brien writes about the Middle East Regional Cooperation Program (MERC):

Many of the Arab-Israeli partnerships that began or matured under MERC grants have gone on to receive grants together under other funding mechanisms, just like other scientists around the world. Many apply to MERC again, and their proposals frequently cite these other grants they have received together in the interim. Furthermore, the cross-border relationships the grantees develop often lead to collaboration with additional scientists from the other side who were not even on their MERC grant. Some MERC partnerships have continued to collaborate without any outside funding, and several have expanded their collaboration beyond just the science into community outreach, etc.

Comment: This program was a Congressional Earmark some three decades ago which illustrates that sometimes the Congressional mandate for specific scientific activities works. I was involved from the start, and was actually responsible for the management of the grantmaking for a few years. Overall the program clearly demonstrated to a large number of people that Israelis and Arabs could work together productively and with good will. JAD