MER Article From the Editor (Winter 2000) Langston Hughes famously asked, "What happens to a dream deferred?" As Hughes might have predicted, young Palestinians' long-deferred dreams of self-determination exploded this fall in a new intifada -- an uprising against both the Israeli occupation and the Oslo "peace process" that has done so The Editors • 3 min read
Current Analysis The Peres-Arafat Agreement: Can It Work? Within hours of the November 2 announcement that PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and the Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation, Shimon Peres, had agreed to implement the understandings reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) at the October Sharm al-Sheikh summit, Israeli soldiers sho Mouin Rabbani • 7 min read
Current Analysis Shows of Solidarity Forever Egyptian President Husni Mubarak and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Asad will convene an Arab summit in Cairo this weekend to formulate a common stance against the harsh Israeli response to the ongoing Palestinian uprising in the Occupied Territories and within Israel. The summit, the first in ove Isam al-Khafaji • 6 min read
MER Article The 94 Percent Solution Only a decade after the fall of apartheid in South Africa, after we all thought we had seen the end of that hateful system, we are witnessing the emergence of another apartheid-style regime, that of Israel over the incipient Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and parts of Jerusalem. This, at Jeff Halper • 13 min read
Current Analysis Jerusalem and the Illusion of Israeli Sovereignty Despite its ultimate collapse, the Camp David II summit constituted an important breakthrough. Several taboos for Israelis were broken for the first time: the repatriation of Palestinian refugees, the Israeli withdrawal from all settlements in the Gaza Strip and some from the West Bank, the exchange of territory and, finally, Mick Dumper • 4 min read
Current Analysis Camp David II The failure of the Palestinian-Israeli-American summit at Camp David did not surprise most Palestinians or those who understand Palestinian opinion on the issues. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's well-publicized "red lines" going into the negotiations delineated a position very far from the minim Joel Beinin • 4 min read
Current Analysis The Final Approach to Final Status The Israeli-Palestinian summit scheduled for July 11 at Camp David carries high stakes for the principal parties. President Clinton's hoped-for legacy as a statesman rests to a large degree on mediating a comprehensive settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The future of Prime Minister Barak's fragile government Roger Normand • 6 min read
Current Analysis Lebanon's Most Dangerous Summer Lebanon is where Palestinians were most loved and most hated, said Shafiq al-Hout, a former PLO Executive Committee member and now the top PLO official in Lebanon, at the 1983 PNC Algiers meeting. Listeners could not have missed the reference to the cold-blooded massacre of about 2,000 Palestinian refugees Ghassan Bishara • 6 min read
Current Analysis Destroying Houses and Lives Salim Shawamreh is a Palestinian living with his family just outside occupied Jerusalem, or not really living, he protests, because "you are always in fear" of the Israeli soldiers marching to "your house hauling your belongings out the street and bulldozing your house." As terrifying and Ghassan Bishara • 7 min read
MER Article An Open Letter to Abu Jerry For two decades, human rights lawyers struggled to publicize that thousands of Palestinians were being tortured under Israeli interrogation. Officials denied these allegations and accused the lawyers of being "terrorist sympathizers." It was a minor vindication when, in 1987, an official commission confirmed that the General Security Services Lea Tsemel • 5 min read
Current Analysis Assessing Israel's New Government When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak presents his coalition government to the Knesset he will receive a vote of confidence from 75 of its 120 members. Seven parties, some with incompatible positions on key issues, support the new government. In addition to Barak's One Israel list (Labor Party plus Joel Beinin • 6 min read
Current Analysis Mubarak in Washington Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visits Washington this week at a time when US-Egyptian relations appear to be harmonious. Yet beneath the surface, relations may not be as cordial as they seem. Particularly discordant notes in the current US-Egyptian relationship concern free trade, regional economi Fareed Ezzedine • 6 min read
