MER Article Hangover Time in the Gulf After a decade of soaring revenues and frenetic spending, the six “Eldorado” states of the Gulf (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates—the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council) are now in a tight economic and financial squeeze. Experts and analysts in the Gulf and around the w Ghassan Salameh • 14 min read
MER Article Catastrophe in South Yemen How can social tensions be managed and policy differences resolved by ruling socialist parties in poverty-stricken Third World states? On January 13, 1986, this question defeated the Yemeni Socialist Party in a devastating spasm of civil war. Parallels can be drawn between the South Yemeni trauma an Fred Halliday • 11 min read
MER Article The Yemenis of the San Joaquin Musa (“Moses”) Saleh laughs now at his expectations as a new immigrant to the United States. “We were fooled,” he says, reflecting on the first morning when he prepared for his new job as an apricot picker in California. “We didn’t know what kind of work our Yemeni friends had been doing here…. I dr Ron Kelley • 15 min read
MER Article Document: The Mind of the Censor Gaza Ghetto, a documentary film about a Palestinian family in the occupied Gaza Strip by MERIP editor Joan Mandell and Swedish filmmakers Pea Holmquist and Pierre Bjorklund, premiered in Stockholm in November 1984. In January 1985, a Palestinian theater company in Jerusalem, El-Hakawati, purchased a (Author not identified) • 4 min read
MER Article Letters (January/February 1986) To the Editors: In pain and sorrow, we learn at this late date that our friend Mahmoud al-Mughrabi was killed by the Israeli Air Force during its October 1 bombing raid on Tunisia. Mahmud was born in Jerusalem in 1960. By the age of 16 he had already been under detention 12 times, and he was one of (Author not identified) • 3 min read
MER Article Bakhash, Reign of the Ayatollahs Shaul Bakhash, The Reign of the Ayatollahs: Iran and the Islamic Revolution (New York: Basic Books, 1984). After the plethora of books seeking to account for the Iranian revolution, it is refreshing to find a volume which dares to tackle the complexities of the immediate post-revolutionary years an Annabelle Sreberny • 2 min read
MER Article Works on North African Migration Mariarosa Dalla Costa, “Reproduction and Emigration,” Zerowork 3 (1984). Jean Guyot, Ruth Padrun, et al, Des Femmes Immigres Parlent (Paris: L’Harmattan-CETIM, 1977). Michel Oriol, “Sur la dynamique des relations communautaires chez les immigres d’origine Nord-Africaine,” Peuples Mediterraneens 18 David McMurray • 3 min read
MER Article Books on Oman Fredrik Barth, Sohar: Culture and Society in an Omani Town (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1983). Unni Wikan, Behind the Veil in Arabia: Women in Oman (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1982). Nico Kielstra • 4 min read
MER Article Ghalem, A Wife for My Son Ali Ghalem, A Wife for My Son (trans. G. Kazolias) (Chicago: Banner Press, 1985). Pat Aufderheide • 3 min read
MER Article Hundreds of Communities Hold "Speak Out" Activities It was a small but brave demonstration. On October 23, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 20 people marched down a major street during lunch hour, carrying an Israeli and a Palestinian flag. Sponsored by a local coalition of Jews, Palestinians and peace activists, the group distributed leaflets and postcards a Dorie Wilsnack • 3 min read
MER Article The Fall of Safran Nadav Safran will step down as director of Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) this summer, following a three-month investigation into his acceptance of over $150,000 from the Central Intelligence Agency. Michael Spence, dean of faculty for arts and sciences, accepted Safra Jack Trumpbour • 1 min read
MER Article Israeli Spies in the US November 21, 1985, was a remarkable day. FBI agents arrested a civilian terrorism analyst working for the US Navy, Jonathan Jay Pollard, outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, where he had gone seeking political asylum. Six days later, Pollard was arraigned in federal district court on several c Jeff McConnell • 13 min read
