MERIP Media Resource List, August 16, 2004

AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEWS on the following topics:

- Iraqi National Conference and fighting in Najaf
- International response to Darfur
- Crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

CHRIS TOENSING

Chris Toensing is executive director of the Middle East Research and
Information Project and editor of Middle East Report. Commenting on Iraq,
Toensing said: "The recent fighting in Najaf and the delegate revolt at the
Iraqi National Conference both demonstrate that the crucial political
realities in Iraq are still opposition to US-led military occupation and the
illegitimacy of US-sponsored Iraqi politicians."

ABDULLAHI AN-NAIM

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im is Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory
Law School. An internationally recognized scholar of Islam and human right,
he is the director of the Religion and Human Rights Program of the Law and
Religion program at Emory University School of Law. Commenting on the
international response to Darfur, An-Naim said: “Although the crisis in
Darfur requires immediate action by the international community to provide
humanitarian relief and security, it would be a grave betrayal of the
countless victims not to address the root causes of the conflict. Decades of
ecological degradation coupled with the militarization of Darfurian society
have ravaged Darfur, with the government in Khartoum using crass political
opportunism to manipulate the crisis to its own authoritarian ends. Food
drops need to be followed by sustained attention to these issues. As the
Sudanese proverb says, ‘you can't feed your donkey only when you need to
ride it.’”

GLENN ROBINSON

Glenn Robinson is an associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in
Monterey, CA, and is currently on leave as a senior political scientist at
RAND Corporation. He is the author of Building a Palestinian State: The
Incomplete Revolution (Indiana University Press, 1997). Commenting on the
current crisis in the Gaza Strip, Robinson said: "Sharon's strategy of
fragmenting Palestinian society is bearing fruit. The current infighting
among Palestinians is the most serious to date and will preclude the
Palestinians from formulating an effective counter-strategy for the
foreseeable future."

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