The
Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) was
established in 1971. The original conception of MERIP was
to provide information and analysis on the Middle East
that would be picked up by the existing media. Issue number
one of MERIP Reports, published in May 1971, was
a six-page mimeographed publication with three brief articles.
Throughout 1971 and 1972, the Report appeared irregularly,
and it was only in 1973 that the group made a commitment
to publish it on a regular basis. Since then, MERIP has
never looked back and, in the words of French journalist
Eric Rouleau, "No person, specializing or not in Middle
Eastern affairs, can afford ignoring Middle East Report." Professor
Rashid Khalidi, a leading American scholar, says "Middle
East Report is the best periodical (in English) on
the Middle East -- bar none." MERIP is a non-profit, non-governmental
organization based in Washington, DC. A completely independent
organization, it has no links to any religious, educational
or political organizations in the US or elsewhere. Income
needed to produce the magazine is earned from subscriptions
to Middle East Report, small grants from European
and American foundations and gifts from readers and subscribers.
By virtue of its tax status as a registered 501 (c) (3)
non-profit organization in the US, MERIP is exempt from
the payment of income taxes to the US federal government.
Individuals who donate money to MERIP can deduct these
gifts from their federal taxes to the extent allowed under
the law.
Since
1996, MERIP has maintained one of the most informative
websites on Middle East politics, culture and society. Tikkun magazine
said of the website: “The tone is eminently professional….
The site's simple (and small) layout is a pleasure to navigate.”
MERIP
is governed by a board of five directors who reside throughout
North America and serve three-year terms of office. They
meet twice annually and provide managerial and financial
guidance and oversight to MERIP's professional staff. MERIP’s
editorial committee, composed of twenty scholar-activists,
meets three times annually to plan, with the editor, upcoming
issues of Middle East Report. A three-person development
committee advises the staff on financial matters. Board
members and committee members serve voluntarily and are
not compensated for their work.
About Middle
East Report
Middle
East Report provides news and perspectives about
the Middle East not available from mainstream news sources.
The magazine has developed a reputation for independent
analysis of events and developments in the Middle East.
Understanding of the Middle East in the United States
and Europe is limited and plagued by stereotypes and
misconceptions. MERIP successfully addresses these limitations
by addressing a broad range of social, political and
cultural issues, and by soliciting writings and views
from authors from the Middle East not often read in the
West. A leading diplomat, Mohamed Sahnoun (former Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Somalia)
says, "Middle East Report's independent and well-informed
coverage of issues of governance, social trends and economic
development make is a unique resource for people who
need to keep abreast with the situation in the Middle
East..." Middle East Report does not hesitate
to be critical of US foreign policy in the region and
is respected for its independence. According to a leading
analyst, Graham Fuller of the Rand Corporation, "Middle
East Report is the single most valuable periodical
I receive on Middle East affairs, offering a wealth of
material unavailable elsewhere. This outstanding journal
provides truly fresh, unconventional, insightful information
and views that are still essential to my research even
years after publication." Middle East Report has
thousands of subscribers, and a readership considerably
enlarged by more than 700 subscriptions to university
libraries and other institutions. Additional copies of
the magazine are sold in bookstores and newsstands throughout
the US and Europe. While the circulation of Middle
East Report is limited in the Middle East, the magazine
has developed a loyal following among prominent scholars
and intellectuals from the region. Middle East Report is
published four times a year, and most 48-page issues
focus on a specific theme. The magazine serves as a resource
for academic specialists but is also accessible to the
general public. Many issues include "primers" which provide
basic but essential background on a theme or a country.
Every year, American university professors order back
issues of Middle East Report to assign readings
to their students. The electronic arm of the magazine, Middle
East Report Online, provides timely analyses of breaking
news stories, distributed via e-mail and archived at
MERIP’s website.
Media
Outreach and Public Education
The
magazine is half of MERIP’s work; the other is sustained
media outreach and public education. MERIP’s media
coordinator works to inject informed and engaged perspective
on contemporary Middle East affairs and US policy toward
the region into mainstream media coverage. Since 2006,
in cooperation with the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near
Eastern Studies at New York University, MERIP has maintained
Middle East Desk, an online gateway for journalists to
progressive analysis and commentary on important Middle
East stories. MERIP and its network of associates provide
the print and electronic media with interviews on a wide
range of topics. After the September 11 attacks focused
world attention on the Middle East and US policy there,
MERIP staff handled hundreds of calls from journalists
from around the world. MERIP also has produced a substantial
number of special educational materials. During the 1991
Gulf war, MERIP distributed thousands of primers on US-Saudi
military relations and on the history of the Iraq-Kuwait
conflict to high schools and colleges in the United States.
MERIP has also posted on its website primers on the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict, and a backgrounder on the US-led war in Iraq
in 2003. MERIP continually responds to requests for information
from students, churches, community organizers, librarians,
journalists, scholars and teachers as well as business
analysts and consultants.
In
addition to these activities, MERIP and its network of
associates are frequently able to respond to invitations
to speak on both general and specialized topics. Finally,
MERIP’s professional staff helps train college students
and recent graduates interested in Middle East peace and
justice issues through summer- and semester-long internships.
Bob
Woodward’s four books chronicling the wars of President
George W. Bush are sensitive barometers of conventional wisdom in Washington.
Whereas the first volume, published in 2002 at the height of the self-righteous
nationalism gripping the capital after the September 11, 2001 attacks,
hailed Bush’s self-confidence in acting to protect the homeland,
the 2008 installment depicts the same man as cocksure and incurious.
This much is not news. More educational are Woodward’s hints
about the worldviews that will outlast this unpopular administration,
embedded in the organs of the national security state. Full
Story>>
The Egyptian
regime has once again succeeded in stifling freedom of speech, this
time not in Egypt, but in the US. Earlier this month, an Egyptian court
convicted a prominent Egyptian-American activist for his outspoken
criticism of the regime’s poor human
rights record in American public fora. The court accused Saad Eddin
Ibrahim, of "tarnishing Egypt's image" abroad. The conviction
referred primarily to writings he published in the foreign press; most
notably among them an August 2007 op-ed in the Washington Post in which
he criticized Egypt's human rights record and questioned the reasons
behind US aid to Egypt. Full
Story>>
Militant
Islam is under global scrutiny for clues to conditions that foster
its rise, and to strategies for reversing that growth. But the key
is not in Islamic doctrine, US foreign policy or formal ties to various
nations, as many analysts have asserted. It lies at the community
level, with clan and local leaders. Full
Story>>
Kurdish
parties have become kingmakers in Baghdad , and they know it. As
no federal government can work without them, they are pulling every
available political lever to expand the territory and resources they
control, trying to build the foundation of an independent Kurdish state.
But even more than territory, they need security. If everyone acts
quickly and wisely, that understanding could help resolve one of the
Iraq war’s thorniest issues. Full
Story>>
The
debate over the war in Iraq follows a yellowing script: The minute
someone suggests that the US move to withdraw its troops, war supporters
cry “Havoc!”
True to form, when no less a figure than Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki stated he wants a timeline for a US pullout, John McCain
summoned the specter of dire consequences. “I’ve always
said we’ll come home with honor and with victory and not through
a set timetable,” McCain said. In his major foreign policy speech
on July 15, Barack Obama affirmed his support for a withdrawal timetable,
adding that the US must “get out as carefully as we were careless
getting in.” Obama’s position is the correct one, but he,
like many other war critics, has done too little to counter the refrain
that withdrawal is simply
“cutting and running,” a recipe for disaster. Full
Story>>
At
the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee (AIPAC) earlier this month, presidential candidates
John McCain and Barack Obama competed over who would become the “candidate
for Israel.” The match came to a draw when both candidates
pledged undying and unconditional support for Israel. While their
support for “Israel right or wrong” was unquestionable,
at the end of all the commotion, the most pertinent question for
Americans and the world remained unasked and unanswered: Who is
the candidate for peace? Full
Story>>
