Before perestroika, the Soviet academic world had been content with the stereotypes about Israel and Israelis. It simply "boycotted" Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict, rather than research and deal with these subjects. By ignoring these, Soviet academics "willed" them away, so to speak, says Prof. Gabriel Gorodetsky, director of the Center for Russian and East European Studies at Tel Aviv University.

About three years ago, the Soviet attitude toward Israel took a turn. Now, Gorodetsky says, they are exhibiting a sincere curiosity about Israel, and are eager to collaborate with Israeli scholars, especially in the areas of Middle East studies, Soviet history, Jewish studies and linguistics.

Gorodetsky has just returned from his third visit in the Soviet Union, where he signed several joint research agreements with the different institutes in the Academy of Sciences. One such agreement involves a joint research project run by a team from Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with the Dayan Center) and a Soviet team from the Oriental Institute. The Tel Aviv University team will be headed by Prof. Yaacov Ro'i; the Soviet team will be headed by Prof. Vitaly Naumkin.