Asher Kaufman is a research fellow at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He also teaches at the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Hebrew University. His book, Reviving Phoenicia: The Search for Identity in Lebanon, was recently published by I. B. Tauris in London.
While the argument over which country the Shebaa farms belongs to may seem trivial, it has the potential to fan the flames of larger disputes in the region.