MER Article Imperialism and the Middle East Bill Warren, Imperialism: Pioneer of Capitalism (London: Verso, 1980). Fred Halliday • 17 min read
MER Article US Aid to Israel The General Accounting Office (GAO), often referred to as “the congressional watchdog agency,” began a full-scale investigation of US aid to Israel in early 1982, without any public announcement or official congressional sponsor. The report was completed in early 1983 and circulated to the relevant Martha Wenger, Joe Stork • 9 min read
MER Article Sadat's Legacy, Mubarak's Dilemma For most countries in the Arab oil economy, the years 1982 and 1983 have marked an important moment of truth. The most obvious reason for this has been the decline in oil revenues as a result of falling world demand, cuts in production and the failure to hold the OPEC base price at $34 a barrel. As Roger Owen • 25 min read
MER Article International Finance and the Third World The foreign debt of the less developed countries (LDCs) of the Third World now stands at around $600 billion. More than half of this—about $350 billion—is owed to private international banks. Events like the strikes and demonstrations in Brazil this summer, or the labor unrest that triggered the mil Jeff Frieden • 20 min read
MER Article From the Editors (September 1983) ”We oppose the militarization of internal conflicts, often abetted and even encouraged by massive US arms exports, in areas of the world such as the Middle East and Central America, while their basic human problems are neglected.” Most people, we believe, would readily support such a straightforward The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article Books on Palestine and Human Rights Raja Shehadeh and Jonathan Kuttab, The West Bank and the Rule of Law (Geneva: International Commission of Jurists, 1980). David H. Ott, Palestine in Perspective: Politics, Human Rights and the West Bank (London: Quartet Books, 1980). Tim Coone • 1 min read
MER Article Owen, Studies in the Economic and Social History of Palestine Roger Owen, ed., Studies in the Economic and Social History of Palestine in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1982). James A. Reilly • 6 min read
MER Article Egypt Gropes for Political Direction No one in Cairo seems at all clear about the present direction of Egyptian politics. The signs are contradictory and difficult to read. On the one hand, the press is freer than at any time since 1952 (and perhaps before), there is a wide-ranging public discussion about major issues, and all recogniz Roger Owen • 7 min read
MER Article Looking for Sadat Square Visiting Egypt this spring -- my first since the assassination of Anwar al-Sadat -- I was immediately struck by the extent to which symbols of the Sadat era had already faded or been pushed into oblivion. Only one small, inconspicuous plaque informs the passerby that Cairo’s main square is “Anwar al Judith Tucker • 3 min read
MER Article Water and Israel's Occupation Strategy The long conflict involving Israel, the Palestinians and neighboring Arab states has revolved around the elementary bonds of people and territory. Water is perhaps the single most important material resource determining the relationship of people to land. From the beginnings of the Zionist project t Joe Stork • 18 min read
MER Article "The People Have Refused to Back Down" Azmi Shuaibi is a dentist and a leading member of al-Bira municipal council, now disbanded by the Israeli military government. He comes from a peasant background, from the village of Dayr Ghassana in the West Bank, and was educated at Cairo University. He was elected to al-Bira municipal council on Beshara Doumani, Salim Tamari • 13 min read
MER Article Israeli Settlement Policy Today Israeli settlements in the occupied territories have recently become much more central to the whole Israeli-Arab conflict. Massive loss of land by West Bank Palestinians, and an upsurge in Jewish settlements and in the number of settlers, have attracted international attention to Israeli colonizatio Peter Demant • 36 min read
