Paul Lester Stenhouse is a Catholic priest and a member of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Issoudun, France. He has spent all his priestly life as a journalist. A foundation member of the Council of the Societe d'Etudes Samaritaines, he has translated into English the Kitab al-Tarik of the 14th Century Samaritan Priest Abu l-Fath and is the author of a number of monographs on Middle Arabic Grammar and various aspects of Samaritan history, chronology and religion. He writes extensively on Middle Eastern politics and history. His special interest over the past twenty years has been Lebanon/Syria and the Balkans.