MER Article Economic Deterioration in the Gaza Strip On February 25, 1996, following several Hamas suicide bombings in West Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel imposed a heightened closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. [1] This most recent heightening of the closure has severely damaged the already precarious economy of the Gaza Strip and caused immense Sara Roy • 14 min read
MER Article Iraqi Sanctions, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Six years of the most severe Security Council sanctions in history have failed to dislodge the regime of President Saddam Hussein. These sanctions, however, have had a devastating impact on the most vulnerable sectors of Iraqi society, especially children. [1] Numerous studies by UN agencies and independent groups, including an Roger Normand • 14 min read
MER Article War, Development and Identity Politics in Sudan Sudan’s colonial history of Turco-Egyptian and Anglo-Egyptian rule paved the way for highly unstable and divisive relations throughout the country. Since independence, civil war between governments based in Khartoum and rebel movements operating in the south has raged for three of the last four deca Lisa Hajjar • 9 min read
MER Article Palestinians in Post-War Lebanon As Lebanon’s elite strategizes post-war reconstruction and national reconciliation, the future of the Palestinian community in the country hinges on the outcome of the Arab-Israeli peace talks, particularly the multilateral talks on refugees. [1] Popular sentiment holds that “peace” will not produce Julie Peteet • 11 min read
MER Article The Modernity of Sectarianism in Lebanon On February 15, 1996, 13 squatters were killed in Beirut when the building they were living in was brought down by demolition workers for Solidere, Lebanon’s reconstruction and development company. Solidere, a brainchild of Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, claimed it was a mistake; the dead were cart Ussama Makdisi • 13 min read
MER Article Copts in the "Egyptian Fabric" To talk about Egyptian Christians as a “minority” is to open a can of worms. The sensitivity of the relationship between Egyptian Muslims and Christians was evident in 1994 when a conference on minorities in the Middle East, supposed to be held in Cairo, included the Copts of Egypt on its agenda. [1 Karim El-Gawhary • 6 min read
MER Article Berber Associations and Cultural Change in Algeria It was another hot August night. Several hundred villagers, for whom this was the third of four late-night weddings in a row, watched with jaded interest as first women, then men, occupied the dancing space -- a circle carved from a dusty village square, around which women spectators sat on Jane Goodman • 13 min read
MER Article Berbers in France and Algeria When the summer 1995 bombings in France brought the Algerian civil war across the Mediterranean, many began to recognize the permeability of political, social and cultural boundaries between the two countries and the extent to which the 1.5 million post-colonial immigrants and their mostly binational children in France functioned Paul Silverstein • 19 min read
MER Article Kurds, Turks and the Alevi Revival in Turkey Until a few years ago, Kurdish nationalism was the only movement in Turkey that openly defied the official doctrine that Turkey is a homogeneous nation-state. Informally, people would freely apply ethnic labels to their acquaintances, [1] but publicly most people were reluctant or afraid to define themselves as anything but Martin Van Bruinessen • 12 min read
MER Article Israel's Interventions Among the Druze The rights of minorities and their relations with majority groups in power give rise to some of the most intractable struggles around the world. In the United States, for example, the affirmative action debate, a legacy of the civil rights struggle, pivots around the principle of “blindness” to coll Lisa Hajjar • 16 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Fall 1996) This, our two-hundredth issue of Middle East Report, addresses the sensitive topic of minorities in the Middle East. The articles examine the relations of power that create and preserve or challenge and displace the politics of difference in a variety of contexts. National, ethnic, religious and sectarian differences make conflict The Editors • 2 min read
