Former President Jimmy Carter may have brokered a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979, but his latest book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (Simon and Schuster, 2006), isn't likely to win him another Nobel Prize. The root cause of the conflict, Carter states, is "occupation of Arab land" and "mistreatment of the Palestinians," and he suggests that wealthy Jewish lobbyists have purchased the silence of American politicians and the media on the subject.

He mastered the languages of "the East" to become the first Westerner granted access to Turkish archives. He predicted the storm brewing between "Christendom" and radical Islam, coining the phrase "clash of civilizations." Presidents and monarchs have sought the views of 90-year-old historian Bernard Lewis, and some claim he played a prominent role in inspiring the war in Iraq-a war he says should have been executed quite differently: "The entrance into Iraq was not ill conceived, but it was very poorly conducted," he told WORLD after a recent speaking engagement.

Polls show Americans by far viewing the war in Iraq and the war against terror as the most important issue in the Nov. 7 balloting. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman connected last month's spike in violence-October was the deadliest month for U.S forces in Iraq this year-to the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam, a turning point that led President Lyndon Johnson not to seek a second term. "He could be right," President Bush said about Friedman's theory during an October press conference. "There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election."

In Israel, the shrill summer sound of Katyusha rockets has been replaced by the blasts of the shofar horn, signaling the start of the Jewish New Year and the subsequent Ten Days of Repentance. In Lebanon hostile fire is gone, and the streets and alleys are full of vendors peddling dates, sweets, and nuts as the Muslim population begins the holy month of Ramadan.

When war erupted in Israel and Lebanon on July 12, some Arab leaders criticized Hezbollah for its reckless cross-border death raid and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers that sparked the conflict. Now, as a steady stream of graphic images is being published in newspapers and broadcast to a sea of satellite dishes perched randomly on balconies and rooftops across the Middle East, public protests against Israel have drowned any criticism of Hezbollah and its cronies. An old Arab saying has risen from the annals: "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

From his hilltop home on Mount Lebanon, Abbas Halabi reviews the destruction in nearby Beirut. Smoke billows from burning buildings and the once bustling streets now echo with sounds reminiscent of the country's civil war that began in 1975 and finally ended in 1990. The banker, judge, and president of Lebanon's Arab Group for Muslim-Christian Dialogue mourns the destruction of his country's decade-long renaissance and the piles of debt incurred for a dream that seems to be disintegrating before his eyes-roads and bridges destroyed, buildings toppled, and ports demolished.