MER Article Editor's Picks (Summer 2013) Abrahamian, Ervand. The Coup: 1953, the CIA and the Roots of Modern US-Iranian Relations (New York: New Press, 2012). Allen, Lori. The Rise and Fall of Human Rights: Cynicism and Politics in Palestine (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2013). Boroujerdi, Mehrzad, ed., Mirror for the Muslim (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article Mikhail, Water on Sand Alan Mikhail, ed., Water on Sand: Environmental Histories of the Middle East and North Africa (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012). This fascinating volume provides an excellent overview of how environmental perspectives can enrich Middle East studies, thanks to contributions from leading schola Jeannie Sowers • 3 min read
MER Article Antoon, Ya Maryam Sinan Antoon, Ya Maryam (Beirut/Baghdad: Dar al-Jamal, 2012). Isis Nusair • 3 min read
MER Article Jordan's Military-Industrial Complex and the Middle East's New Model Army Raise the subject of Arab military-industrial production and the country that springs to mind is Egypt. A historian might recall Iraq’s early arms industry; a Gulf analyst might think of the weapons development projects being financed by the United Arab Emirates. Few would think of Jordan. But accor Shana Marshall • 12 min read
Featured Between Grievances and State Violence On June 16, 2012, female students at the University of Khartoum mounted a demonstration that released a wave of protest on campuses and major towns across Sudan. The young women exited the university gates chanting “Freedom, freedom,” demanding the “liberation” of their campus from the grip of the N Khalid Mustafa Medani • 20 min read
MER Article Becoming Armenian in Lebanon Each year in April, the municipality of Burj Hammoud, a densely populated residential and commercial city just east of Beirut, hosts a three-day festival called Badguer, the Armenian word for “image.” Free and open to the public, the event has variously been staged in an old concrete factory, a bloc Joanne Randa Nucho • 14 min read
MER Article With Friends Like These In June 2010, amidst escalating controversy over the construction of a mosque and Islamic community center near the former site of the World Trade Center, two Egyptians found themselves on the receiving end of xenophobic abuse as a crowd accosted them with calls to “go home.” Unbeknownst to the angr Michael Wahid Hanna • 10 min read
MER Article Copts Under Mursi Throughout his 2012 presidential campaign, Muhammad Mursi was keen to emphasize that he would be a president for all Egyptians, not just supporters of the Society of Muslim Brothers, and that he believed in equal citizenship for all, irrespective of religious affiliation. The majority of Egypt’s Cop Mariz Tadros • 11 min read
MER Article Iraqi Christians: A Primer Media coverage in the West can overstate the degree to which Christians are “disappearing” from the Middle East. But one place where such characterizations have merit is Iraq. In the years since the 2003 invasion led by the United States, at least half of Iraq’s Christians have fled the country to e Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 5 min read
MER Article Nazareth Dispatch They are Israel’s Siamese twin cities, forced into an uncomfortable pairing more than half a century ago. Nazareth and Natzrat Illit, or Upper Nazareth in English, almost share a name. Although formally separated by a ring road, Israel has tied their fates together. Each is engaged in a battle with Jonathan Cook • 10 min read
MER Article Covering the Christians of the Holy Land Every year around Christmas and Easter, a kind of meta-ritual takes place in which American journalists describe how these holidays are celebrated in the “Holy Land.” It is a long-running story, never stripped of politics. In 1923 , for example, the New York Times published a classically Oriental Amahl Bishara • 15 min read
MER Article The Greek-Turkish Population Exchange The photographs are compelling: Greek Orthodox Christians are gathered in small groups on the Aegean coast of what is now Turkey, wearing too much clothing for the hot day, whatever possessions they could carry sitting at their feet, their faces drawn with worry as they stare at the water, awaiting Sarah Shields • 11 min read
