MER Article Maalouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes Amin Maalouf, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes (London: Al Saqi Books, 1984). Maalouf’s reconstruction of the Crusades (“Frankish invasions”) as seen by Arab historians and chroniclers is a fascinating and instructive narrative of that bitter conflict. He concludes his account with a reflective epilo Shiraz Dossa • 1 min read
MER Article Marr, The Modern History of Iraq Phebe Marr, The Modern History of Iraq, (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1985). Phebe Marr’s The Modern History of Iraq spans the period from the inception of the modern nation-state in 1920 to 1984. Marr has consulted, among others, the authoritative works in Arabic of the Iraqi chronicler ‘Abd al Abdul-Salaam Yousif • 2 min read
MER Article Said, A Bridge Through Time Laila Said, A Bridge Through Time: A Memoir (New York: Summit, 1985). Evelyne Accad • 2 min read
MER Article Images of Iran Roy Mottahedeh, The Mantle of the Prophet: Learning and Power in Modern Iran (NY: Simon & Schuster, 1985). Donne Raffat, The Prison Papers of Bozorg Alavi: A Literary Odyssey (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1985). Haleh Afshar, editor, Iran: A Revolution in Turmoil (Albany, NY: SUNY Pres Fred Halliday • 10 min read
MER Article Political Violence Against Arab-Americans Abdeen Jabara, a lawyer, is a long-time Arab-American activist from Detroit. He recently became president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and is now working at their national office in Washington DC. Joe Stork interviewed him in September 1986 in Washington. Joe Stork • 8 min read
MER Article Libya's Revolution Revisited When the United States sent its warplanes to bomb Libya last spring, a first and then a second invasion of Western journalists descended upon the country. With the media in box seats, the scenario conjured up visions of the 1830 French invasion of Algiers, when well-heeled citizens of the Republic h Dirk Vandewalle • 19 min read
MER Article Thought Control in the US From a comparative perspective, the United States is unusual if not unique in the lack of restraints on freedom of expression. It is also unusual in the range and effectiveness of the methods employed to restrain freedom of thought. The two phenomena are related. Liberal democratic theorists have lo Noam Chomsky • 12 min read
MER Article The PLO and the European Peace Movement In July 1985, the European Nuclear Disarmament movement (END) convened in Amsterdam. One plenary session featured a discussion between Ilan Halevi and Mary Kaldor concerning peace movement support for liberation struggles in the Third World, and for the Palestine Liberation Organization in particula (Author not identified) • 19 min read
MER Article Pakistan's Nuclear Fix Earlier this year, stories citing US intelligence documents reported that Pakistan now had the capacity to enrich uranium to 93 percent. In other words, Pakistan could produce its own weapons-grade nuclear material. This is perhaps the single most difficult step in manufacturing nuclear bombs. Few Joe Stork • 7 min read
MER Article Recipe for an Israeli Nuclear Arsenal Ten years ago, 62 percent of Israelis questioned in a poll were convinced that their nation had the nuclear bomb; 77 percent thought that if it didn’t already have it, it should. Only four percent believed Israel was nuclear-free. [1] In October 1986, an Israeli nuclear technician revealed to the Su Martha Wenger • 19 min read
