MER Article Letters (May/June 1988) Human Rights Internet Objects (Author not identified) • 13 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 Tucker, Women in Nineteenth-Century Egypt Judith Tucker, Women in Nineteenth-Century Egypt (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985). This is more than a general treatise about women in Egypt. It is a subtle and adroit analysis of gender and class during the transformation of Egyptian society in the nineteenth century and it is this un Cynthia Nelson • 5 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 Document: Shamir on Terrorism (1943) The following excerpts are from an article by Yitzhak Shamir, prime minister of Israel from 1983-1984 and 1986-1992. The article first appeared in the LEHI underground organization journal Hehazit (The Front) in the summer of 1943. (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article Italian Communists' New Historic Compromise The revolt in the Occupied Territories broke out at a time when support for the Palestinian cause was at a low ebb in Europe. The Italian Communist Party (PCI), for example, had for the past couple of years been giving priority to building relations with the mainstream Israeli left rather than with Diana Johnstone • 5 min read
MER Article "The Ship of Return" Some day, an Israeli intelligence officer will write his memoirs. He will recount his brave deeds and reveal how his cunning strategy thwarted the enemy at every turn. The book will not be banned in Israel. The retired officer will appear on television to promote the book. Some interviewer, whose re Charles Glass • 6 min read
MER Article "Something Was in the Air All of 1987" Mahmoud and Naji, both in their early twenties, are full-time participants in the uprising. Both were politically active before the uprising and, in addition to joining demonstrations, they play leading roles in local neighborhood committees. Both are college students. Mahmoud majors in civil engine Beshara Doumani • 5 min read
MER Article Mosque and Church in the Uprising It was only one of the hundreds of incidents that cumulatively have come to be known as “the uprising.” Here there were no beatings or shootings, no bloodshed, and, as far as I know, no one was arrested. In fact, compared with the dramatic events we have been witnessing nightly on the evening news, Dale Bishop • 6 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
