Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

Lori Allen

Lori Allen is reader in anthropology at SOAS University of London. She is the author of The Rise and Fall of Human Rights: Cynicism and Politics in Occupied Palestine (Stanford, 2013) and A History of False Hope: Investigative Commissions in

Current Analysis

The AnthroBoycott Collective and Organizing Against Apartheid—An Interview with Daniel Segal and Jessica Winegar

What we can learn from the American Anthropological Association's historic resolution.

Lori Allen, Jessica Winegar, Daniel Segal • 10 min read

Current Analysis

Farha in the “Unfocused Feelings of the Citizenry”

A new Netflix film stirs up old debates about Palestinian narration.

Lori Allen • 11 min read

Current Analysis

Awakening to the Politics of Israel—An Interview with Sonya Meyerson-Knox of Jewish Voice for Peace

In the context of Israel's newly elected far-right government and ongoing censorship of Palestine in academia and social media, MERIP shares the second of a two-part series of interviews on changing American Jewish attitudes towards Israel and Zionism. In this interview, Lori Allen speaks with Sonya

Lori Allen, Sonya Meyerson-Knox • 9 min read

Current Analysis

Changing Attitudes towards Zionism among American Jews—An Interview with Zachary Lockman

Zachary Lockman speaks to Lori Allen about the history of Jewish support for Israel in the United States. They discuss Lockman’s views on the changing attitudes towards Zionism among American Jews over the course of the twentieth century and the new spaces for criticism that have emerged over the pa

Lori Allen, Zachary Lockman • 15 min read

Current Analysis

A Century of Refusal

On the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, there has been a flurry of commentary about the controversial announcement, contained in a letter sent by British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Lord Walter Rothschild. A Conservative parliamentarian, Rothschild was also a leading British advocate for the establishment of a Jewish

Lori Allen • 8 min read

Current Analysis

Fifty Years of Occupation

June 5, 2017 is the fiftieth anniversary of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, which culminated in the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, among other transformations of regional politics. The post-1967 occupation and its consequences continue to structure the mainstream conversation

Alaa Tartir, Sara Roy, Neve Gordon, Sherene Seikaly, Lori Allen • 23 min read

MER Article

Palestinians Debate "Polite" Resistance to Occupation

When an August 2002 opinion poll released by the US-based NGO Search for Common Ground showed that majorities of Palestinians would support a non-violent intifada, many residents of the Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem greeted the results with suspicion. "They're trying to make us be 'polite,'" one le

Lori Allen • 13 min read

MER Article

There Are Many Reasons Why

Izz al-Din al-Masri, 23, was considered to be an ordinary fellow, until he went to Jerusalem on August 9, 2001, and blew himself up inside a pizzeria, killing 15 Israelis and injuring scores of others. The montage photo produced for his martyr poster shows him in his early twenties, a bit somber, we

Lori Allen • 7 min read