MER Article Editor's Picks (Summer 2000) Banipal Magazine of Modern Arab Literature 7 (Spring 2000). B'Tselem. Builders of Zion: Human Rights Violations of Palestinians from the Occupied Territories Working in Israel and the Settlements (Jerusalem: September 1999). B'Tselem. Legislation Allowing the Use of Physical Force and Mental Coerc The Editors • 1 min read
MER Article Le lute de Bagdad Given the rich lyricism and pointed social quality of contemporary Arabic poetry, it's no accident that politically motivated Arab music is usually vocal rather than instrumental. The close collaborations between Marcel Khalife and Mahmoud Darwish or Egyptian singer Shaykh Imam and Egyptian poet Ahm Elliott Colla • 4 min read
MER Article Betwewen Iraq and a Hard Place The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 triggered the most comprehensive regional realignment since the Sadat peace initiative of 1977. Most Arab states, including Egypt, Syria and all the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), opposed Iraq and joined the US-led coalition. But noticeably absent from that coalition was Curtis Ryan • 9 min read
MER Article Shaykhs and Ideologues The reconstruction and state manipulation of tribes and tribalism are prominent features of contemporary Middle Eastern politics, notably in Jordan and Iraq. Under the totalitarian Ba'thist regime in Iraq, two major patterns have developed. One may be called etatist tribalism -- a process in which tribal lineages and Faleh A. Jabar • 14 min read
MER Article Letter from Kuwait Some ten years after a sudden, brutal occupation, Kuwait gives, at first sight, the appearance of having returned to normal. Virtually all the damage done to buildings has been repaired, the oilfields are functioning and the state has normal diplomatic relations even with states such as Jordan, Yemen and Sudan Fred Halliday • 9 min read
MER Article What About the Incubators? It feels oddly like being at a wake in a funeral home. Our Fellowship of Reconciliation delegation members speak very quietly with one another as we wait for a hospital official to brief us about conditions at the al-Mansour Children's wing of the Saddam City Medical Center. Dr. Mekki, the director, Kathy Kelly • 4 min read
MER Article Americans Against the Sanctions As US policy supporting the continuation of sanctions on Iraq becomes ever more isolated abroad, domestic criticism of sanctions also mounts. Opponents of sanctions gained new visibility in February 1998 at Ohio State University, when pointed questions from the audience disrupted the Clinton adminis (Author not identified) • 7 min read
MER Article Elusive Justice Saddam Hussein's regime has long been one of the world's worst human rights violators. But the international community largely ignored Iraq's record of human rights abuse -- brutal repression of internal dissent, atrocities during the eight-year war with Iran -- until after Hussein crossed the red l Joost Hiltermann • 9 min read
MER Article A Shaky De Facto Kurdistan Surrounded by four states that do not wish it well, officially embargoed, still divided by internal conflicts, Iraqi Kurdistan hasn't had it this good for years. Paradoxically, Kurds in northern Iraq are hoping everything stays exactly the way it is. "If the government comes back we lose everything Quil Lawrence • 7 min read
MER Article The Politics of Consensus in the Gulf As American and British warplanes flew into action over Iraq in December 1998, they blasted away not only Iraqi targets but also the remnants of international consensus. After the Gulf war, the Security Council authorized economic sanctions and intrusive inspections aimed at the elimination of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) Marc Lynch • 10 min read
MER Article The Public Health Impact of Sanctions Throughout the 1990s, social conditions in Iraq have deteriorated to levels last experienced three and four decades ago. This decline is associated with a dramatic reduction of the gross national product from around $3,500 to under $700 per capita, but changes in the GNP do not tell the entire story Richard Garfield • 12 min read
MER Article Depleted Uranium Haunts Kosovo and Iraq Iraq and Kosovo may be thousands of miles apart, but they share the dubious distinction of contamination with radioactive residue from depleted uranium (DU) bullets used in American air strikes. After several years of silence, US officials finally admitted that 340 tons of DU were fired during the G Scott Peterson • 3 min read
