Israeli New VP for Science Project that Includes Iran

A Jordan-based scientific research project whose members include Iran and the Palestinian Authority has chosen an Israeli as vice president, the candidate's university confirmed.

Scientists from states participating in the project elected Eliezer Rabinovici, a physics professor at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, as vice-president of the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME), the university told AFP.

Rabinovici will serve alongside a second vice president from Egypt, according to newspaper Haaretz, which did not give his or her name.

SESAME aims to build a particle accelerator, based on the huge facility near Geneva operated by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), near Al-Balqa University west of Amman.

Rabinovici said the SESAME project allowed scientists throughout the region to collaborate despite hostile relations between some of their countries.

"This program has scientific value and is also a platform that allows many states in the region to collaborate towards scientific goals.

"We work together towards goals that advance the interests of the entire region... thanks to the trust built between us over many years and without the pressures that dominate the political arena," he told AFP.

SESAME's members include Iran, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Bahrain, Turkey and Israel as well "observer" states from Europe, Britain, the US and Japan, according to its website.