It is quite obvious that the concept of' coexistence arose with the emergence of societies, and grew out of the affinities between its members, but soon afterwards coexistence evolved to the point of arising as a result of necessity. Consequently, it is clear that whenever the number of members of any human society grows larger, the element of resemblance becomes weaker, in spite of its importance, and the element of necessity becomes stronger and leads to a situation whereby coexistence becomes imperative.

While this notion of coexistence in its general linguistic meaning and according to the requirements of the Arabic grammatical stem tafaa'ul, refers to the fact that one (group) has to five with the others, in its modern conventional meaning, this notion refers to the idea that such a coexistence has to be founded on peacefulness and quietude. This is confirmed by the fact that the word coexistence most often collocates with the attribute peaceful.

When one ponders over the depth of the meaning of the expression peaceful coexistence, as well as its morphology and syntax in various languages, one reaches the conclusion that the expression reflects somewhat an uneasy position, fluctuating between peace in its clear and straightforward meaning and war in its traditional and well-known meaning.

In reality, the new dimension, that the notion of coexistence has taken, has been acquired during the period of and as a result of the emergence of atomic armament, which has given rise after the two world wars to two world powers, each one with its allies, which fought over world supremacy. This competition was taking place within a new context, which preserves their diplomatic relations, as well as some aspects of co-operation resulting from the need of a feeling of overall security and the necessity to counter any attempts of potential attack. This situation has led at the same time to the achievement of desired common interests and has made the two superpowers endeavor to avoid the conventional head on confrontation, which may otherwise lead to mutual