NEW BRITAIN - Norton Mezvinsky, professor of history at Central Connecticut State University, will be named head of a newly formed Middle East think tank in Washington this fall.

Mezvinsky, who returned last week from a fact-finding trip to Syria, said the venture will be an offshoot of the International Law Institute. With headquarters in Washington, DC, ILI's mission is "to raise levels of professional competence and capacity in all nations so that professionals everywhere may achieve practical solutions to common problems in ways that suit their nation's own needs."

Purpose of the yet unnamed think tank is to work on specific projects regarding the Middle East i.e., exchange academics, sponsor conferences and programs.

Mezvinsky, who has coordinated faculty and student exchages between CCSU and foreign universities, said the new institute will bring academics and others to the U.S. and concentrate on interfaith exchanges among Islamic, Christian and Jewish academics

"We will talk about the future of the Holy Land from different points of view," Mezvinsky said. "We hope to involve Georgetown University, George Washington University, perhaps American and Catholic Universities. We will involve leading academics and politicos from the U.S. and other countries."

The idea for the new think tank evolved from Mezvinsky's trip to Syria and the Middle East. The four-member academic delegation was determined to improve relations with Syria. The delegation included professor Don Wallace, chairman of the International Law Institute and professor of law at Georgetown University; American and Israeli citizen and author, professor Yonah Alexander, director, International Center for Terrorism Studies (Mezvinsky calls Alexander "a distinguished academic and authority on terrorism and strategic studies"); Issam Saliba, head of legal documentation in the Library of Congress in Washington for Lebanon and Syria; and Fernando Jimenez, first representative of Spain for the Inter-American Development Bank, an overseeing bank for Latin and South America.

Mezvinsky said the four will meet in Washington on the Aug. 26 to refine the details of the new institute. "We may have a name for it after the meeting," he said.

In Syria, the delegation met with the speaker of the People's Assembly (the Syrian Parliament) Mahmoud Al Abrash and president of Damascus University Dr. Wael Mua'lla. The delegation promised to do its best to strengthen relations between Syria and the United States.

"We went there to talk with people, to learn and suggest," Mezvinsky said. "We want to bring Syrian academics to the United States and encourage American academics to go to Syria for lectures - semester or year-long exchanges."

Currently, 25 American students are studying at Damascus University and Aleppo University. Mezvinsky said the students are from prestigious American universities and are studying on grant pro-grams from the U.S. government.

Mezvinsky lectured at the Al-Fatih Institute, Syria's largest Islamic institute, on "Jews. Judiasm. Israel and Zionism." The delegation participated in a roundtable discussion with Syria's leading academics and met with top people in the American embassy for "a frank and open discussion" on U.S. policy in the Middle East. Mezvinsky, Wallace and Alexander also taped one-hour interviews for Syrian television.

"Each of us spoke for ourselves and paid our own way," said Mezvinsky. He acknowledged that part of his visit was paid for by a research grant from the American Association of University Professors.

Mezvinsky believes the cause for tension in the region is oppression of the Palestinians.

"That's the major reason for Palestinian suicide bombers and those who support them," he said. "We have to understand that and do something about the major cause, not just stamp out terrorism, but act for broad, humanitarian reasons."