MER Article From the Editors (September/October 1988) In June, the seventh month of the uprising, two of us -- Joe Stork and Jim Paul -- traveled to the West Bank, Gaza and Israel, along with photographer Rick Reinhard. We saw firsthand the extent to which this unfolding political event has transformed, and continues to transform, a balance of forces w The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article Editor's Bookshelf (May/June 1988) The human dimensions of the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and the social contradictions of Palestinian society under occupation are nowhere better portrayed than in Sahar Khalifeh’s novel Wild Thorns, translated from the Arabic by Trevor LeGassick and Elizabeth Fernea (London: Saqi, 1 Joel Beinin • 2 min read
MER Article Young, Missed Opportunities for Peace Ronald J. Young, Missed Opportunities for Peace (Philadelphia: American Friends Service Committee, 1987). Joe Stork • 1 min read
MER Article Original Sin Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988). Tom Segev, 1949: The First Israelis (New York: The Free Press, 1986). Simha Flapan, The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities (New York: Pantheon, 1987). Zachary Lockman • 29 min read
MER Article Israel and the Palestinians, 1948-1988 Land In 1948 only 8 percent of Palestine was owned by Jewish individuals and concerns. The 1948-1949 armistice gave Israel control over 77.4 percent of all land. Since 1947, Israeli forces have destroyed 385 of the 475 Arab villages inside the “green line” -- Israel’s 1948 borders. Since 1967, Isra Lisa Hajjar, Mouin Rabbani • 15 min read
MER Article What the Uprising Means This article is adapted from a talk Salim Tamari gave at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC on February 25, 1988. Salim Tamari • 20 min read
MER Article The West Bank Rises Up Ramallah’s landscape this February 21 has overtones of a war zone. Residents have dismantled the ancient stone wall across the street for a series of barricades. The smoke of a burning tire rises in the clear early afternoon air over nearby al-Am‘ari refugee camp and army flares light the camp at ni Lee OBrien, Penny Johnson • 20 min read
MER Article From the Editors (May/June 1988) In the land of Palestine-Israel, the “generation of occupation” has rewritten the equations that will describe the dynamics of any future political equilibrium. Israeli rulers are determined to stand against this sea change. Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin insists that the uprising will achieve no P The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article "The State Cannot Make Criminals Of Those Who Want Peace" Reuven Kaminer immigrated to Israel from the United States in the early 1950s and became a prominent figure in Shasi (Israeli Socialist Left). He was a member of the Israeli delegation that met with the PLO in Romania in November 1986. Israeli authorities brought Kaminer and three others to trial fo Joel Beinin • 5 min read
MER Article International Human Rights Organizations and the Palestine Question Unlike the news media, human rights organizations have only limited contact with mass public opinion, but they constitute a primary source of information on human rights conditions around the world. They play a subtle, crucial role in shaping the opinions of political leaders, news commentators and Lisa Hajjar, Nabeel Abraham • 26 min read
MER Article Avishai, The Tragedy of Zionism Bernard Avishai, The Tragedy of Zionism -- Revolution and Democracy in the Land of Israel, (New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1985). Moshé Machover • 7 min read
MER Article Germany's Greens and Israel The German Greens are having a hard time defining a Middle East policy. No wonder. Besides the usual difficulties of the whole European left, they are German. How hard it could be was brought home with a thud by the six Greens who toured Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and the occupied territories i Diana Johnstone • 7 min read
