MER Article From the Editors (March/April 1983) Most readers are only too familiar with the litany of harassments endured by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, from restrictions on personal freedoms to attacks on institutions and confiscation of land. Nonetheless, for the purposes of building campaigns to support Palestinian rights, The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article West Bank Journal Raja Shehadeh, The Third Way: A Journal of Life in the West Bank (London: Quartet Books, 1982). My problem with the newspapers is that I can’t settle on the right time to read them. In the morning they darken the day, at noon they kill my appetite, after lunch they make me sick, and in the evening Anita Vitullo Khoury • 3 min read
MER Article Information Services on the Middle East Mideast File (Learned Information, Anderson House, Stokes Road, Medford, NJ 08055) Mideast Press Report (Claremont Research and Publications, 160 Claremont Ave., New York, NY 10027) James Paul • 2 min read
MER Article The Egyptian Arms Industry Egypt, with the earliest industrial economy in the Middle East, has engaged in some military production for many years, supplying its own armed forces with light arms and small naval ships. Such production remained minor until recently, both in terms of the Egyptian economy and in terms of the arms James Paul • 7 min read
MER Article Israel, the Sorcerer's Apprentice President Ronald Reagan had just left Honduras, the last stop on his recent tour of Latin and Central America. Only two days later, on December 6, the red carpet was out again in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. This time the guest of honor was Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. The official e Esther Howard • 28 min read
MER Article Arms Sales and the Militarization of the Middle East Over the last decade, the Middle East has become a focal point of the world arms buildup. Each year, the regional arsenal grows, as the United States, the Soviet Union, France, Britain and others ship billions of dollars worth of weapons to the countries there. During the 1970s, while the world arms James Paul, Joe Stork • 19 min read
MER Article Conventional Arms Sales For years, US leaders have attempted to muffle opposition to overseas arms sales by arguing that transfers of conventional, non-nuclear munitions reduce the risk of nuclear war. If we provide our allies with adequate conventional defenses, the argument goes, they will not be motivated to acquire nuc Michael Klare • 4 min read
MER Article From the Editors (February 1983) Under the screen of the arms race in the Middle East, conditions of life under Israeli military rule in the occupied territories have worsened considerably in recent months. Settlements, land expropriations and attacks against West Bank inhabitants have accelerated dramatically. Settler vigilantes a The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article The Middle East Arms Race Andrew J. Pierre, The Global Politics of Arms Sales (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982). Paul Jabber, Not By War Alone: Security and Arms Control in the Middle East (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981). Steve Weissman and Herbert Krosney, The Islamic Bomb: The Nuclear Thr Eric Davis, James Paul • 7 min read
MER Article Anthropologists Condemn US Lebanon Policy The Council of the American Anthropological Association passed two motions concerning the Middle East at its annual meeting on December 5, 1982, in Washington, DC. With 7,500 members, the Association is the principal professional association for anthropologists in the United States. Motion on Leban (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article Saudi Arabia and the War in Lebanon People here responded to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in a typically quiet fashion. In my day-to-day business contacts with Saudis, the subject of the war rarely came up unless I raised it. One Saudi friend commented, “We don’t yell and shout, but when we’re among ourselves we talk about it and w A Special Correspondent • 3 min read
MER Article Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue One of the lesser known aspects of Palestinian politics over the last eight years has been the steadily growing contacts between a number of Palestinian and Israeli progressive groups and individuals in the occupied territories. Though unreported, those contacts have not always been clandestine. The Salim Tamari • 4 min read
