and other friendly countries; Middle East water resources; and Middle
East arms control. The Center also provides consultation for Israeli pol-
icy makers on matters of strategy, security, and peace in the Middle East
and sponsors conferences and symposia for international and local au-
diences. This academic center may be considered the academic equiva-
lent to the Military Intelligence (MI) unit of the Israel Defense Forces,
though its analyses are based on unclassified sources. The BESA Cen-
ter is directed by Professor Efraim Inbar. See also INTERNATIONAL
POLICY INSTITUTE FOR COUNTERTERRORISM (ICT); JAFFEE
CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES (JCSS); MOSHE DAYAN
CENTER FOR THE MIDDLE EAST.BELKIND, NAAMAN (1889–1917). Born in Palestine, Belkind joined
the NILIespionage group together with his cousin Avshalom Fein-
bergand his brother Eytan Belkind. In September 1917, Naaman
Belkind embarked on a trip to Egypt in order to learn what he could
about Feinberg’s death earlier that year. He was captured by Bedouin
in Sinai and turned over to the Turks, who took him to Damascus.
There Belkind was convicted of spying and was hanged on 16 De-
cember 1917, along with NILI leader Yosef Lishansky.BEN-BARKA AFFAIR.Mehdi Ben-Barka, former tutor of King Has-
san and ex-president of the Moroccan National Consultative Assem-
bly, became an opponent of the Moroccan government from the mid-
1950s, when he founded the Moroccan Socialist party (USFP). He
was involved in plots to topple the Moroccan monarchy and was
twice sentenced to death by the Moroccan courts in absentia. He
lived in exile in Geneva, and King Hassan apparently decided to have
the death sentence carried out wherever Ben-Barka lived. The king
assigned the task to General Muhammad Oufkir, his interior minister,
who was responsible for domestic security. General Oufkir, a close
friend of his counterpart Meir Amit, director of the Mossad, ap-
proached Amit for assistance in this matter. Amit, concerned with the
security of Jews worldwide, including Morocco, feared that refusing
to assist the Moroccan government might adversely affect the Jewish
community there.
Amit and Oufkir met in France in the early fall of 1965 and
reached an agreement whereby Mossad agents would not take part in38 • BELKIND, NAAMAN06-102 (02) A-G.qxd 3/24/06 7:23 AM Page 38