Formentor/Mallorca, Spain — If there is a place on earth that could be an idyllic vision of paradise – albeit one limited for the wealthy – it would be the gardens of the Formentor Hotel in Mallorca.

Nestled between a cove, whose Mediterranean waves gently beating against the shore produce a sleepy spell, and the craggy, pine-studded cliffs of the Formentor Cape, rests the Formentor Hotel and its flower-stuffed gardens.

Amidst these surroundings, political, economical, and diplomatic world leaders met for the VI Formentor Forum to address their quest for a new Eden titled, "Neighborhood: A new concept".

The Formentor Forum was conceived as vehicle for world leaders to freely express their opinions and find solutions to problems affecting the Mediterranean Basin. But it's also a place where policy-makers "let-down-their-hair."

On the hotel's terraced gardens, or during the buffet dinners, representatives of countries with 'strained-relations' cordially ask about each others' families.  There is also the occasional diplomat hitting on the young stewardesses. But the participants are intent on one thing: finding a peaceful solution to current conflicts wracking the Mediterranean.

In this year´s list of dignitaries were representatives from many countries including, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Israel, Palestine, Malta, Morocco and the United States.

Not surprisingly, the hot-topics this year were the Middle-East peace process, or lack there-of, and terrorism.

The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Miguel Angel Moratinos, who first expressed his condolences for the victims and their families of the recent terrorist attack in Sinai, told attendees that there is no justification for terrorism whatsoever, and that security problems must be met with action, and cooperation, and take into account the factors that feed radicalism and violence.

Moratinos is an EU heavyweight.  He was the Ambassador of Spain in Israel from June 28 to December 4, 1996, and the EU Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process from December 1996 until his recent appointment when the Socialist party won elections in March.

Despite continued violence in the region, Moratinos stressed, "We are positively superceding the old concept of a North-South relationship, and we are substituting that with a focus that is centered on the creation of a common space, where joint solutions can be found for our shared problems."

In that vein, this year's Forum had two guests of honor to more adequately address subjects regarding North-South relations: Jorge Sampaio, Prime Minister of the Republic of Portugal, and Driss Jettou, the Prime Minister of Morocco.

Invariably the role of Islam was a matter of discussion, particularly the perception of its role in fomenting fundamentalism and terrorism in the region.

Participants, however, were quite clear that a distinct line needs to be drawn between Islam, and terrorism.

Jorge Sampaio commented, "Al Qaida attacks the West but the ultimate aim of its activity is revolution in the Islamic world."

"To achieve this," said Sampaio, Al Qaida wants "to impose a total cultural separation between the West and Islam so that later it can seize power in the Muslim world and impose on it its fanatical and retrograde designs. That is why it is both absurd and dangerous to confuse the fight against international terrorism with a confrontation between the West and Islam."