Middle East scholars are forming a new group to promote high standards of teaching and scholarship on the Middle East.

The Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, founded by a noted Middle East scholar at Princeton University, Bernard Lewis, will challenge the Middle East Studies Association, which is dominated by academics who have been critical of Israel and of America’s role in the Middle East. “Because of various political and financial pressures and inducements, the study of the Middle East and of Africa has been politicized to a degree without precedent,” Professor Lewis said in a statement. “Given the importance of these regions, there is an acute need for objective and accurate scholarship and debate, unhampered by entrenched interests and allegiances.”