xiiiP. R. Kumaraswamy is Professor of Contemporary Middle East Studies
in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. From 1992 to 1999
he was a research fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the
Advancement of Peace, Jerusalem. Since joining JNU in September 1999,
he has been researching, teaching and writing on various aspects of the
contemporary Middle East. His works include India’s Israel Policy (2010);
Historical Dictionary of the Arab Israeli Conflict (2015, second edition);
and Squaring the Circle: Mahatma Gandhi and the Jewish National Home
(2018). Prof. Kumaraswamy has edited many of volumes, and his research
articles have been published in a number of refereed and non- refereed
international journals. He regularly contributes to Indian as well as inter-
national media outlets. In February 2010 he set up the virtual Middle East
Institute, New Delhi (www.mei.org.in) and serves as its honorary director.
He is the editor of Contemporary Review of the Middle East and the series
editor of Persian Gulf: India’s Relations with the Region.
Md. Muddassir Quamar is an Associate Fellow in the Institute for
Defence Studies & Analyses, New Delhi. He holds a Ph.D. in Middle East
studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University. His doctoral thesis examined
social developments in Saudi Arabia between 1991 and 2010 within a
conceptual framework of Islamic modernism. Dr. Quamar’s areas of inter-
est include politics and societies in the Gulf, Middle East strategic affairs
and political Islam. His research papers have appeared in leading interna-
tional journals such as Contemporary Arab Affairs, Digest of Middle East
Studies, Journal of Arabian Studies and Journal of South Asian and Middle
About the Authors