Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Lori Allen

Lori Allen is a writer and editor based in London and the author, most recently, of A History of False Hope: Investigative Commissions in Palestine.

Palestine 36 and the Hard Facts of History — Film still from Palestine 36. Courtesy of Watermelon Pictures.

Palestine

Palestine 36 and the Hard Facts of History

Annemarie Jacir’s epic portrayal of the revolt that never ended.

Lori Allen • 13 min read

The AnthroBoycott Collective and Organizing Against Apartheid—An Interview with Daniel Segal and Jessica Winegar — Protesters supporting the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaign. Columbus, Ohio, June 2021. Stephen Zenner/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

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

Farha in the “Unfocused Feelings of the Citizenry” — Still from the 2021 film Farha, directed by Darin J. Sallam.Original movie poster by Saul Bass for Exodus, 1960.

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

Awakening to the Politics of Israel—An Interview with Sonya Meyerson-Knox of Jewish Voice for Peace — Demonstrators with Jewish Voice for Peace Chicago protest President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on December 14, 2017. Scott Olson/Getty Images

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

Changing Attitudes towards Zionism among American Jews—An Interview with Zachary Lockman — A gathering of American Jews at the departure of the Train of Food Aid to Israel In 1949. [Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images]

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

Current Analysis

Inquiring Into International Commissions of Inquiry

A Palestinian political prisoner, Arafat Jaradat, died in Israeli custody on February 22. The Shinbet, Israel’s internal intelligence service, claims that Jaradat, 30, died of natural causes. Palestinian authorities suspect foul play, and the Palestinian prime minister in the West Bank, Salam Fayya

Lori Allen • 4 min read

Current Analysis

After the Bomb in Beirut

As a recent arrival in Beirut, I quickly learned the Lebanese map, geographic and political, when the bomb hit Ashrafiyya on October 19, killing eight and injuring more than 100. A friend in the US e-mailed to ask if the bomb was close, but since I didn’t hear it explode or smell the smoke, gauging

Lori Allen • 4 min read

Current Analysis

Israel's Occupation Remains Poisonous

There is an oft-told Palestinian allegory about a family who complained their house was small and cramped. In response, the father brought the farm animals inside -- the goat, the sheep and the chickens all crowded into the house. Then, one by one, he moved the animals back outside. By the time the

Lori Allen • 2 min read

Current Analysis

Forty Years of Occupation

An outpouring of retrospectives—good, bad and indifferent—has marked the fortieth anniversary of the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Predictably, and perhaps appropriately, most looks backward have also attempted to peer forward, and consequently most have focused on the impasse between Israel and the P

Jeremy Pressman, Samera Esmeir, Yoav Peled, Mouin Rabbani, Robert Blecher, Lori Allen • 14 min read

Current Analysis

Israeli Siege is Undermining Peace

Since Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent Middle East tour concluded without concrete results, and unity talks between Fatah and Hamas remain at a standstill, the possibility of an Israeli-Palestinian political compromise appears bleaker than ever. But Palestinian lives and livelihoods shou

Lori Allen • 2 min read