People buy food after Jordan announced it would relax the curfew to allow people to go on foot to buy groceries in neighborhood shops, amid concerns over the spread of COVID-19, Amman. March 25, 2020. Muhammad Hamed/Reuters Covid-19 Coverage Voices from the Middle East: Providing Urgent Aid to Refugees in Amman, Jordan Jordan's strict nationwide curfew and ban on car traffic in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is complicating crucial aid delivery to refugees. Amanda Lane, executive director of the Collateral Repair Project, explains how they are coping with the new restrictions and why the situation was already s Amanda • 6 min read
MER Article Anti-Semitism and Pro-Israel Politics in the Trump Era Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s silence following the neo-Nazi, white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017 was deafening, and revealing. For three days following the parade of anti-Jewish slogans and swastikas, Netanyahu—often characterized as an outspoken critic of anti-Semitism worldwide—made no comment. [1] The Amanda • 7 min read
MER Article The Syrian Uprising and Mobilization of the Syrian Diaspora in South America The Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Asad’s government that began in 2011, and the armed conflict that followed, has generated a strong reaction among the large populations of Arabic-speaking immigrants and their descendants in both Brazil and Argentina. Institutions and community members mobilized in the past around political issues Amanda • 13 min read
MER Article South-South Solidarity and the Summit of South American-Arab Countries A sense of deep connection has reverberated between South America and Arab countries since the early waves of Arab migrations to South America in the late nineteenth century. The Arabic language also played an important role in Brazil’s history. Most of the Muslim African anti-slavery activists and revolutionaries in Amanda • 6 min read
Current Analysis An Open Letter by Senior Middle East Scholars to the New York Times Regarding its Thomas Friedman's column, "Saudi Arabia's Arab Spring, At Last." We write as scholars of the Middle East and the Muslim world with long, collective experience on Gulf and Arabian Peninsula policy issues to express our amazement, concern and anger that the New York Times would publish Thomas Friedman's recent essay "Saudi Arabia's Arab Spring, Amanda • 3 min read
MER Article Oman’s Consultative Council Elections The scant international coverage of Oman’s 2015 Consultative Council elections is not surprising. An absolute monarchy widely perceived as a bastion of political stability, Oman rarely features in world news. The sultanate’s strong ties with both Iran and the Arab Gulf monarchies allow it to play an Amanda • 8 min read
Current Analysis Some Initial Thoughts on the Chilcot Report We asked a few MERIP friends and Iraq scholars for their reflections on what they have read so far of the report now regarded as the official assessment of British involvement in the Iraq war. Amanda • 10 min read
Current Analysis Letter to UN Secretary-General Regarding Saudi Arabia's Removal from List of Armies Charged with War Crimes "The ruling Saudi regime obviously knows how to use its wealth to manipulate dysfunctional international bodies such as the UN. However, in the eyes of the global community it stands charged with overwhelming evidence of war crimes and of fundamental human indecency." Amanda • 4 min read
Current Analysis After Orlando The media has been full of misleading and politically charged speculation about the massacre of 49 people at Orlando's Pulse nightclub. We asked some MERIP friends to comment on the misinformation and the telling silences in the coverage. Amanda • 13 min read
278_wilson MER Article North Africa's Invisible Refugees It is December 2014, and on a chilly desert night in a refugee camp, a family sits in a circle inside their tent. Each family member wraps as much of his or her person as possible in a shared blanket. The mother, Almuadala, is making tea on a charcoal furnace. Amanda • 9 min read
Current Analysis Suspend US Military Aid to Egypt Scholars of the Egypt and the Middle East call on President Obama to stop the longstanding US support for Egypt's undemocratic military regime. Amanda • 3 min read
Current Analysis Open Letter from Scholars of Yemen Scholars write for the third time to condemn the actions of the US-Saudi-French alliance violating international humanitarian law in the southern Arabian Peninsula. Amanda • 2 min read