MER Article Editor's Picks (Spring 2000) Abdella Doumato, Eleanor. Getting God's Ear: Women, Islam and Healing in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000). Adelkhah, Fariba. Being Modern in Iran (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000). Alcalay, Ammiel. Memories of Our Future (San Francisco: City Lights Bo The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article Women, War and Exile Miriam Cooke, War's Other Voices: Women Writers on the Lebanese Civil War (Syracuse University Press, 1996). May Ghousoub, Leaving Beirut (London: Saqi Books, 1998). Emily Nasrallah, Flight Against Time (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997). Anita Vitullo Khoury • 5 min read
MER Article Al-Haq On a crisp November day in 1984, I first stepped into the small apartment on Ramallah's main street that housed the offices of what was then known as Law in the Service of Man (a somewhat ungainly translation of the more universal al-qanoun min ajal al-insan -- Law in the Service of the Human Being) Joost Hiltermann • 8 min read
MER Article Egyptian Advocacy NGOs Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been touted as a cure for almost every malady afflicting developing societies. Western governments, international organizations and regional activists expect NGOs to help fill the gap left by underfunded, ineffective state bureaucracies. NGOs are viewed as antidotes to authoritarian and corrupt rule and considered more efficient Krista Masonis El-Gawhary • 10 min read
MER Article NGOs' Dilemmas In the late fall of 1996, a key committee of the Arab League met to discuss a matter of utmost importance. One of the few committees that meet regularly -- the Ministries of the Interior Committee -- it convened in Tunis to strategize about one of the most dire national Julia Pitner • 10 min read
MER Article The Importance of Self-Reliance Shortly before Eritrea's declaration of independence from Ethiopia in May 1993, members of the Eritrean security forces arrived on the doorstep of the Regional Center for Human Rights and Development (RCHRD) in downtown Asmara, the capital. The center's director knew precisely why they had come -- t Dan Connell • 16 min read
MER Article The Transformation of Islamist NGOs in Palestine "It's over for this generation of Islamic activists. We tried and failed, but time is on our side. We must plant the seeds for an Islamic future in the next generation through social change. We must alter the mindset and mentality of people through an Islamic value system. We do this through example Sara Roy • 9 min read
MER Article Problems of Dependency On January 7, 2000, Lisa Hajjar spoke with Abdallahi An-Na'im, a lawyer from Sudan and a prominent human rights scholar and activist. He is professor of law at Emory University. Transcription was provided by Zachary Kidd and funded by the Morehouse College sociology department. Can you highlight so Lisa Hajjar • 16 min read
MER Article Gaza Dispatch The observance of International Women's Day this year led me to reflect upon celebrations past, which have frequently revealed huge gaps in reality: a wine and cheese reception at UNESCO headquarters in Paris where well-meaning bureaucrats sang feminist anthems modeled on "The Internationale," or a Hadani Ditmars • 4 min read
MER Article Palestinian NGOs Since Oslo The post-Oslo debate on Palestinian NGOs in the West Bank and Gaza recently came full circle in two respects: An earlier debate that had envisioned NGOs as possible democratic alternatives to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was largely laid to rest by the NGO movement itself. At the same time, Rema Hammami • 15 min read
