MER Article Editor's Picks (Fall 2008) Abrahamian, Ervand. A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). Bayoumi, Moustafa. How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America (New York: Penguin, 2008). Bensahel, Nora et al. After Saddam: Prewar Planning and the Occupation of Iraq (Santa Monica, (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article Cohen, Army of Shadows Hillel Cohen, Army of Shadows: Palestinian Collaboration with Zionism, 1917-1948 (translated by Haim Watzman)(Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2008). Sherene Seikaly • 4 min read
MER Article Evans and Phillips, Algeria Martin Evans and John Phillips, Algeria: Anger of the Dispossessed (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007). Jacob Mundy • 6 min read
MER Article The Great Ports Panic of 2006 It is possible, in reviewing opinion polls, to pinpoint the incident that swung a divided US electorate firmly and permanently against President George W. Bush. That occurrence was not Hurricane Katrina—two weeks after the storm hit New Orleans, a CBS News poll found the country remained split on “B Benjamin Smith • 14 min read
MER Article It's Never Time “It is our great and historic responsibility,” intoned Egyptian President Husni Mubarak on December 26, 2006, “to achieve the essential goal of developing our democracy and political life, while avoiding drifting into uncalculated steps that could threaten the stability of our country and the succes Bassam Haddad • 3 min read
MER Article The UAE's Space Race At a 2007 Harvard workshop focusing on sustainable architecture in the Persian Gulf, the assembled academics and practitioners quizzed a public relations official from a large Abu Dhabi real estate developer. The workshop participants, among them experts in the field of sustainable development, were Ahmed Kanna, Arang Keshavarzian • 13 min read
MER Article At the Station of a Train Which Fell Off the Map Grass, dry air, thorns, and cactus on the tracks There, the shape of the object in the absurdity of non-shape is chewing its own shadow There is nothingness there, tied and surrounded by its opposite Two doves flying over the roof of an abandoned room at the station The station is like a tattoo whic Mahmoud Darwish • 5 min read
MER Article Mural I will walk in my footsteps down the old path through the sea air no woman will see me passing under her balcony I have of memories only those necessary for the long journey Days contain all they need of tomorrows I was smaller than my eyelashes and my two dimples So take my sleepiness and hide me i Mahmoud Darwish • 2 min read
MER Article In the Labyrinth of Solitude Our territory is inhabited by a number of races speaking different languages and living on different historical levels…. A variety of epochs live side by side in the same areas or a very few miles apart, ignoring or devouring one another…. Past epochs never vanish completely, and blood still drips f Peter Lagerquist • 21 min read
MER Article Time in a Bottle Olive oil has been a central element of Palestinian agriculture for centuries. It is a relatively durable food commodity, unlike fresh produce such as strawberries or tomatoes, which rot quickly in the sun. Unlike wine, however, olive oil does not improve with age, and is best consumed within a year Anne Meneley • 15 min read
MER Article The Road to Hebron Back before the 1991 Gulf war, Palestinians could move fairly easily between the cities and provinces of the West Bank. The trip from Ramallah, in the north, and Hebron, in the south, lasted 50 minutes at most. These days, the luckiest traveler will spend something like two hours on the road. Khalid Farraj • 6 min read
MER Article Stealing Time “They are stealing our time. Everything takes so long!” Muna lamented, referring to the Israeli system of permits and checkpoints that governs daily mobility in the West Bank and makes the normally short trip from Ramallah to Jerusalem a nightmare of delays. She had just been granted a one-day permi Julie Peteet • 5 min read
