This is the most comprehensive book yet to deal with Irish foreign policy in the Middle East and is a wide ranging examination of a number of highly topical issues by leading scholars and commentators in the field. The essays on Ireland's relationship with the countries of the Middle East - Israel, Egypt, Iraq, the oil-producing Gulf States, Afghanistan - are addressed in a number of distinct, but overlapping sections that examine the historical involvement of Ireland in the region. Also covered is the conflict and attempts at peace in Northern Ireland and Iraq, Israel/Palestine and Lebanon; trade relations between Ireland and the Gulf States, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt; as well as common ideological and intellectual issues that have existed over the course of the conflicts in Ireland and the Middle East.