MER Article

The Kurdish Movement’s Relationship with the Palestinian Struggle

The Palestinian and Kurdish struggles for self-determination share several common features. Both are stateless movements fighting against colonial, apartheid regimes in the Middle East and both have tortured histories of oppression and resistance. Despite the similarities, the relationship between Kurdish and Palestinian political circles is fragmented and tense since both

Elif Genc • 7 min read

Covid-19 Coverage

Palestinian Workers in Israel Caught Between Indispensable and Disposable

While people around the world are under lockdown, Palestinian workers in Israel continue to labor in the now accelerated construction sector. While Israel's project of control and expansion exploits their labor, Palestinians are put at greater risk without proper testing, accommodations or healthcar

Lucy Garbett • 10 min read

Covid-19 Coverage

Voices from the Middle East: Palestinian Refugees in the West Bank Confront the COVID-19 Crisis

Refugees everywhere are particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Palestinian refugees in the West Bank and Gaza are legally under the protection of the UN and Israel. Are these authorities meeting their obligations? Amahl Bishara talks to Badil director Nidal Al-Azza to find out and to lear

Amahl Bishara, Nidal Al-Azza • 9 min read

Toward Religious Zionist Hegemony in Israel

Religious Zionism provides ideological leadership to the ascendant right-wing bloc and increasingly to Jewish Israeli society as a whole.

Yoav Peled • 14 min read

MER Article

Exposing Jordan’s Gas Deal with Israel

The Jordanian government has gone to great lengths to hide information about its 2014 multi-billion dollar gas deal with Israel from the public. But the government’s attempt to keep the public in the dark has only energized a popular campaign demanding full disclosure of its terms.

Hisham Bustani • 11 min read

Current Analysis

How One Palestinian University is Remaking ‘Israel Studies’

At Birzeit University in the Israeli occupied West Bank, students and faculty are fundamentally remaking the dominant paradigm of Israel Studies as it has been configured in the United States with its proud “advocacy” mandate on behalf of the Israeli state. Birzeit’s program turns this paradigm insi

Rebecca L. Stein • 12 min read

Current Analysis

The United States’ Recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel and the Challenge to the International Consensus

On December 6, 2017, US President Donald Trump announced that the US was recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and would be moving its embassy there from Tel Aviv in fulfillment of the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act (henceforth Embassy Act). In one fell swoop, the US has seriously challenged 70

Mahmud Muna, Mandy Turner • 17 min read

Current Analysis

Recognizing Annexation

The White House announcement distinguishes between recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and establishing an embassy there and recognizing “the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem.” In other words, the Trump administration, like all those before it, seeks to avoid acknowledgi

Joel Beinin • 7 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

Les Field • 7 min read

MER Article

Israel Dispatch

Among the numerous ideological affinities and governing styles shared by President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a commitment to the rhetoric of “fake news.” In the last year, Netanyahu has increasingly borrowed this Trumpian formulation in an attempt to quell dissent and un

Rebecca L. Stein • 4 min read

MER Article

From the Editors (Spring 2017)

[su_heading align="left"]For Palestine, 2017 is a year of anniversaries. One hundred years since the Balfour Declaration gave imperial imprimatur to the Zionist project. Fifty years since the beginning of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. And thirty years since the start of

The Editors • 4 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