MER Article Editor's Picks (Spring 2005) Abu-Lughod, Lila. Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004). Beck, Lois and Guity Nashat, eds. Women in Iran from 1800 to the Islamic Republic (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2004). Btselem. Forbidden Roads: Israel’s Discrimin The Editors • 1 min read
MER Article Democracy, Deception and the Arms Trade The controversy over Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction, the prime justification for the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq, has apparently been laid to rest. A succession of US-commissioned reports have failed to confirm the Bush administration's claims. irene gendzier • 15 min read
MER Article Transportational Contiguity Israel seems to have gotten the message that Palestinian land, in any final resolution to the conflict, cannot simply be divided into isolated cantons. But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon still intends to hold onto large chunks of the West Bank. How can Israel link Palestinian enclaves and dampen critic Robert Blecher • 3 min read
MER Article The Tar Baby of Foreign Aid In his 2005 State of the Union address, President George W. Bush, hailing “the beginnings of reform and democracy in the Palestinian territories,” pledged $350 million in US aid to the Palestinian Authority. One day before the heralded meeting of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian P Charmaine Seitz • 14 min read
MER Article Faded Dreams of Contracted Democracy Iraq now has an elected provisional national assembly and elected provincial councils. In the end, the $467 million given to a US contractor to build democracy had little to do with these achievements. Kevin Begos • 9 min read
MER Article The Curious Case of Oil-Exporting Jordan From time to time, the boring economic data regurgitated by Jordan’s amply staffed ministries offers up a tantalizing mystery. In the Monthly Statistical Bulletin (May 2004) published by the Central Bank of Jordan, for example, one learns that Jordanian export of refined oil products increased 46 ti Pete Moore • 1 min read
