MER Article "Sometimes I Have a Feeling of Foreignness" Erez Bitton’s second collection of Hebrew poems, The Book of Mint, appeared in Israel last summer, three years after Moroccan Afternoon. Bitton is an unusual man by any standard. He was born in Oran, Algeria, in 1942 and immigrated to Israel shortly after the establishment of the state in 1948. His Ken Brown • 7 min read
MER Article Oriental Jews in Israeli Society The revolt of the Black Panthers in 1971 underlined the depth of the ethnic conflicts in Israel’s Jewish population and dramatized the danger that the crystallization of ‘two nations’ could represent for Israeli national unity. Sociologists and study commissions went to work, just as they had after Mikhael Elbaz • 24 min read
MER Article Ideology and Strategy of the Settlements Movement The issue of settlement has been at the center of the political Zionist movement since its inception. The settlers have played a major role in shaping the political fabric of Israel. Since “the conquest of the land” has been intrinsic to political Zionism, the settlers engaged in that process enjoy Don Will • 14 min read
MER Article Challenge from Israel's Military The Israeli army -- or the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) -- has assumed since the 1967 war an increasingly prominent role in Israeli society. Today the IDF is the single largest factor in Israel’s economy. Its officer corps, once a highly motivated and ideologically cohesive elite trained in the ideol Joel Beinin • 7 min read
MER Article Israel at a Turning Point Israel in mid-1980 was caught in the throes of a crisis whose final consequences cannot yet be foreseen. Manifestations of this crisis include a sharp decline in public support for the government, confusion about the meaning and significance of recent events, and growing uncertainty about the future Zachary Lockman • 10 min read
MER Article From the Editors (November/December 1980) The Iraq-Iran war and the September 12 military coup in Turkey brought our attention to the October travel itineraries of some high-level US military policy planners. Gen. David Jones, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was conveniently in Saudi Arabia to phone Washington for the dispatch of AWA The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article What the Carter Doctrine Means to Me The following document is edited from the official transcript of a speech by Secretary of Defense Harold Brown to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City on March 6, 1980. The 1970s closed with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The 1980s opened with the ensuing debate, both in this coun (Author not identified) • 12 min read
MER Article Chronology: US-Egyptian Military Relationship 1974 February 28 Kissinger and Sadat, in Cairo, announce US-Egyptian diplomatic relations to resume, following June 1967 rupture. March 18 State Department announces US Navy will help clear mines from Suez Canal. April 18 Sadat announces Egypt ending 18 years of reliance on Soviet arms. April 19 Danny Reachard, Joe Stork • 9 min read
MER Article Pakistan and US Strategy How would you characterize the situation in Pakistan today? The most striking thing about the present regime is the extraordinary degree of its isolation. It is a regime which, from one end of the country to another, does not seem to have any popular support. It lacks even the support of vested int Eqbal Ahmad • 21 min read
MER Article War Games for the Eighties For most of the 1970s, the possibility of US military intervention in the Persian Gulf region inspired military training exercises designed to simulate combat experience in a hot, desert environment. The course of events in Iran, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in 1979 has lent a new urgency to these int Michael Klare • 6 min read
MER Article The Carter Doctrine and US Bases in the Middle East On Thursday, July 10, a squadron of 12 brown and green camouflaged F-4E Phantom fighter-bombers landed at Cairo West Air Base after a non-stop 13-hour flight from Moody Air Base in Georgia. A week earlier five C-141s and 28 C-5s airlifted some 4 million pounds of equipment and supplies and more than Joe Stork • 38 min read
MER Article From the Editors (September/October 1980) We had just sent our February issue on the Gulf off to the printer when Jimmy Carter, in his State of the Union message of January 23, announced that any challenge to the historic US sphere of influence in the Gulf region would provoke US military intervention. In this issue we document and analyze The Editors • 2 min read
