BEIRUT: There were no grand ambitions to come to a point of agreement, nor was there any plan to issue a unified set of conclusions or recommendations when experts from Europe and the Arab world recently came together during a conference in Beirut. Rather, the objective was to have a fruitful discussion. The title of the two-day moot was: The Islamic World and Europe: From Dialogue Towards Understanding.

"The first step was to involve the public, which we've done," said Leslie Tramoniti, a research fellow at the German Institute for Orient Studies in Beirut, one of the four organizers of the conference. "Both sides have clarified their points of view. So even if an agreement hasn't been reached, we are at least all clear on how the other thinks."

During the conference, which was also organized by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftun, the University of Birmingham and the Consultative Centre for Studies and Documentation, participants and audience members debated and discussed issues that have global significance: democracy, freedom and human rights occupation and resistance, neo-colonialism and the "war on terror".

"Differences will be there, it's inevitable," says Jorgen Nielsen, director of the Graduate Institute for Theology and Religions at the University of Birmingham.

"Does that mean you stop having a dialogue? If so, everybody retreats and we have warfare. We're not trying to arrive at a common position: we're aiming for a common understanding. We agree to disagree, understand why, and not fear the other's position.

"I'll tell my students and colleagues what came under discussion here, and this will ultimately help," he said. "We're not just individuals; each one of us is part of a network and we feed into that."

Despite its overarching appellation, for many, the conference was reduced to a dialogue between Hezbollah and the West. The overwhelming Hezbollah representation at the conference served to reinforce this idea. Perhaps that explains why, on the eve of the conference, some organizers were being accused of reinforcing anti-Semitic beliefs.

"Despite the pressure from Jewish groups in Germany that accused the conference of being anti-Semitic, the German embassy supported us spiritually," said a participant.