MERIP
Media Resource List, January 23, 2004
AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS on the following topics:
- Proposed legislation affecting US Middle East studies (HR
3077)
-
US policy toward Israel-Palestine
ZACHARY
LOCKMAN
Zachary Lockman
is professor of modern Middle East history and director of the
Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York
University. He is a contributing editor of Middle East Report
and author of ñBehind the Battles Over US Middle East
Studiesî (http://www.merip.org/mero/interventions/lockman_interv.html).
Commenting on proposed legislation that provides for the creation
of an International Higher Education Advisory Board with the
power to ñmonitor and evaluateî federally funded area studies
programs, including Middle East studies, Lockman said today:
ñWhile the fate of HR 3077 is still undecided, its provisions
raise the specter of an unprecedented degree of partisan political
intrusion into university-based area studies. Given the ideological
origins of the legislation, along with the McCarthyite attacks
which some of its biggest boosters have launched on respected
scholars, many within and outside academic Middle East studies
view this legislation as an attempt to stifle critical voices
and a threat to the autonomy of American institutions of higher
education and long-established principles of academic freedom.î
MICHAEL
BROWN
Michael Brown
is executive director of Partners for Peace in Washington, DC
(http://www.partnersforpeace.org).
Commenting on US policy towards Israel-Palestine, Brown said
today: ñ Last June, President Bush proclaimed he was going to
ïride herd' on the Palestinians and Israelis following the launching
of the road map initiative. While Israeli politicians from the
left, center and right contemplate whether Israel is moving
toward apartheid, our own government sits on its hands. Meanwhile,
up goes Sharon's separation barrier, up go the number of settlers
and down go the chances for peace. If this is ïriding herd,'
how oblivious will the administration be when we get into the
heat of the election in the second half of the year?î
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