MER Article AIDS Hotline in Cairo “AIDS is God’s punishment for all those who pollute the country with their sins,” writes the Egyptian weekly newspaper al-Liwa$rsquo; al-Islami (The Islamic Banner) under the headline: “To Follow the Path of Islam Is the Best Way Not to Get Infected.” In the Egyptian media, attacks on people with H Karim El-Gawhary • 6 min read
MER Article Moroccan Youth, Sex and Islam According to official statistics from Morocco’s Ministry of Public Health, from the beginning of the AlDS pandemic to 1997, 450 cases of HIV infection had been recorded in the country. At the same time, a minimum of 100,000 new cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as syphilis, gonorrhe Abdessamad Dialmy • 7 min read
MER Article Commodifying Honor in Female Sexuality Every year, hundreds of women and girls are murdered in the Middle East by male family members. The honor killing -- the execution of a female family member for perceived misuse of her sexuality -- is a thorny social and political issue. Palestinian activists campaigning for equality find it difficu Suzanne Ruggi • 9 min read
MER Article Power and Sexuality in the Middle East In early 1993, news of President Clinton’s proposal to end the US military’s ban on service by homosexuals prompted a young Egyptian man in Cairo, eager to practice his English, to ask me why the president wanted “to ruin the American army” by admitting “those who are not men or women.” When asked i Bruce Dunne • 11 min read
MER Article Legalism and Realism in the Gulf In his State of the Union address in January 1998, President Clinton won thunderous applause for threatening to force Iraq “to comply with the UNSCOM regime and the will of the United Nations.” Stopping UN chemical and biological weapons inspectors from “completing their mission,” declared the presi Sheila Carapico • 7 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Spring 1998) Not all in Clinton’s administration were happy with his grudging acceptance of the UN-Iraqi agreement negotiated by Secretary General Kofi Annan. It is likely, however, that at least some were grateful to have a way out of their self-created political trap. Weeks of escalating rhetoric against the b Phyllis Bennis • 6 min read
MER Article The End of the Counterrevolution? Over the last 50 years, a massive infusion of petrodollars enabled the new monarchies of the Gulf to engage in impressive experiments in counterrevolution. During the 1970s, King Faysal of Saudi Arabia attempted to preserve the traditional social hierarchy of his country by modernizing without indus Yahya Sadowski • 9 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Winter 1997) Abi-Aad, Naji and Michel Grenon. Instability and Conflict in the Middle East: People, Petroleum and Security Threats (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997). Amanat, Abbas. The Pivot of the Universe: Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar and the Iranian Monarchy, 1831-1896 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Pr (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article Letter We are writing to inform you of a Women’s Action Alert for Nuban Women and Children. As MERIP readers know, an unabated civil war has been in progress in Sudan for decades. However, since the National Islamic Front and its military wing took power in 1989, the viciousness of the war has intensified. (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article Modernization and Family Planning in Egypt In the last decade, the Egyptian state in collaboration with international donor agencies has embarked on an ambitious population control program. According to this program, Egypt’s rapid population growth is the prime obstacle to the development goals set by Egyptian authorities. Between 1980 and 1 Kamran Asdar Ali • 11 min read
MER Article The Israeli Peace Movement Mordechai Bar-On, In Pursuit of Peace: A History of the Israeli Peace Movement (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1996). Iman Abdel Megid Hamdy, “Dissenters in Zion: The Bi-nationalist and Partitionist Trends in the Politics of Israel,” unpublished PhD dissertation (Cairo Univ Joel Beinin • 7 min read
MER Article Poetry HAJAR IN AMERICA We came over together I spoke no English He had a mission: grad school, then it’s back to save the masses Here I am now with the baby on my hip, alone in Newark, on foot, looking for milk at the all-night Exxon I hear he’s marrying her, the teaching assistant with the frosted hai Mohja Kahf • 1 min read
