MERIP Media Resource List, June 6, 2006

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS on the following topics:
- Exiting Iraq
- US policy changes toward Iran
- Internal Palestinian politics and the Prisoners' Document
- Joel Beinin files suit against David Horowitz's Center for the Study of Popular Culture

CHRIS TOENSING
Chris Toensing is editor of Middle East Report and executive director of the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP). His article " Why Exiting Iraq Won't Be Easy " appears in the June issue of In These Times . He commented today: "The US has midwifed both an anti-occupation guerrilla war and an unconventional civil war in Iraq. The longer the US stays, the more both these intertwined wars will grow in ferocity."

ERVAND ABRAHAMIAN
Ervand Abrahamian is a CUNY Distinguished Professor in the department of history, Baruch College and the Graduate Center in the City University of New York. He has written a number of books on modern Iran, including Iran Between Two Revolutions , The Iranian Mojahedin , Khomeinism , Tortured Confessions and most recently Inventing the Axis of Evil: The Truth About North Korea, Iran and Syria , coauthored with Bruce Cumings and Moshe Mo'az. He said today: "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent statement about America's willingness to talk to Iran has another more important modification in US position, that the US is willing to accept Iran's civil nuclear program. This is different from the earlier US position that Iran could not be trusted with any nuclear program. Iran may take the opportunity to explore this modification."

NADIA HIJAB
Nadia Hijab is a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies. A former journalist, UN development officer and frequent speaker on the Middle East, she manages the Policy Notes project at the Institute for Palestine Studies. She commented today: " The deadline set by President Mahmoud Abbas for Hamas to accept the plan agreed by Palestinian leaders in Israeli jails, due to expire last night, was extended for three days after the PLO met in Tunisia today. Will the Prisoners' Document offer a way out of the present crisis or worsen civil strife? Israel dismisses it as an 'internal Palestinian affair.' But if Abbas can deliver an agreement this should provide the basis for the resumption of aid flows and international contacts. It should also be welcomed as an opportunity to move to serious Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, with a freeze on settlements pending withdrawal to international boundaries. "

JOEL BEININ
Joel Beinin teaches Middle East history at Stanford University and is on the editorial committee of Middle East Report . His research and writing focuses on the history of the modern Middle East, especially Egypt, Israel, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict. His most recent book is Workers and Peasants in the Modern Middle East (Cambridge University Press 2001). In March 2006, Joel Beinin filed suit against David Horowitz's Center for the Study of Popular Culture for the unauthorized, copyright-infringing use of his photograph on the cover of CSPC's inflammatory booklet misleadingly titled "Campus Support for Terrorism." In this way, the false message was conveyed that Beinin supports terrorism -- a charge meant to punish and intimidate those who hold different views from the US government on the Middle East, terrorism and the war in Iraq. 

Background :

+ Chris Toensing, "Why Exiting Iraq Won't Be Easy," In These Times , June 2006.

+ Policy Note #3, June 6.
Bi-monthly analysis and insights on current developments in the Israeli-Arab conflict.

+ Ervand Abrahamian, "Iran: The Next Target?" Global Agenda , official magazine of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, 2005.

+ Lisa Krieger, "Professor fights portrayal as supporter of terrorism," San Jose Mercury News , May 10, 2006.
Joel Beinin's case against David Horowitz

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For more information, contact Michelle Woodward, MERIP Media Coordinator, at (202) 223-3677, or merip.media@merip.org.  Media Resource Lists are an initiative of the MERIP Media Outreach Program.

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