RAPID CITY - A diverse group of scholars, analysts, activists and educators will gather in the shadows of America's Shrine of Democracy in mid-October to discuss the challenges of security, peace, stability and democracy in the Middle East.

The event is being sponsored by the nonprofit Mount Rushmore Institute.

The two-day forum at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, slated for Oct. 16-17, is open to the public and is designed to promote discussion and expand Americans' knowledge of the complex issues surrounding tensions in the Middle East, said James Nelson, president of the Mount Rushmore Institute.

"The Middle East is a tinder box at the center of many of our most vexing global challenges," Nelson said. "Oil, religious extremism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction are a combustible combination."

Nelson said the forum, featuring many distinguished authorities on the region, is intended to create a greater understanding of the challenges that confront everyone.

"It's a chance to ask: 'Is there a solution?'" he said.

Among the panelists participating in the forum will be former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt Daniel Kurtzer, now chair of Middle Eastern Policy Studies at Princeton University; former National Intelligence Council chair Ellen Laipson, now president and CEO of the Henry L. Stimson Center; former deputy assistant to the president for National Security and the National Security chief of staff Mara Rudman, now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a frequent media commentator; and Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and associate professor of political science.

Also slated to take part in the forum are Gen. Eival Gilady (reserves), managing director of The Portland Trust in Tel Aviv, a foundation established to foster peace and stability in the Middle East; former senior advisor to President Clinton, Robert Malley, now Middle East and North Africa program director of the International Crisis Group; and Lamia Matta, director of Middle East International Advocacy at the International Crisis Group.

"The Mount Rushmore Institute has designed this unique two-day forum to encourage learning and to promote dialogue with this diverse group of scholars, analysts, activists, educators and interested citizens in a non-partisan effort to address these lingering questions," Nelson said. "Those who attend will gain a greater understanding of America's policy options in the Middle East."

For more information about the Mideast forum, contact the Mount Rushmore Institute at 1-605-341-8883 or go online at www.mountrushmoresociety.com or www.mountrushmoreinstitute.com.