MER Article The New Orientalism and the Democracy Debate The “collapse of communism” in 1989 and the victory over Iraq in 1991 sparked a wave of triumphal declarations by Western pundits and analysts who believed that all “viable systemic alternatives to Western liberalism” had now been exhausted and discredited. Some then tried to sketch a foreign policy Yahya Sadowski • 31 min read
MER Article The Islamist Movements in the Occupied Territories Iyad Barghouti, professor of sociology at al-Najah University in Nablus, is the author of The Palestinian Islamic Movement and the New World Order (1992) and Islamization and Politics in the Palestinian Territories (1990). He spoke with Lisa Hajjar on May 5, 1993. How would you describe the appeal Lisa Hajjar • 8 min read
MER Article Islamist Notions of Democracy Most observers, in attempting to explain why the movement toward pluralism, liberalism and democracy has been relatively weak in the Arab world, have concluded that it must have something to do with culture, and more particularly with Islam. Growing interest and research in the subject have not shak Gudrun Kramer • 19 min read
MER Article From the Editors (July/August 1993) The board and editorial committee of MERIP met over the first weekend of June. The main item on our agenda was structural adjustment -- not a detached analysis of Egypt and the World Bank, but a wrenching confrontation with our need to bring the costs of this organization and magazine in line with t The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article Pushing Israel's Boundaries of Debate Since expelling 415 Palestinians alleged to have been radical Islamic activists last December, the Israeli government, mass media and much of the Middle East studies establishment have intensified their campaign to demonize all forms of political Islam. On the academic front, Tel Aviv University’s Dayan Center for Middle East Joel Beinin • 4 min read
MER Article Managing News and Iraqi Nukes MANAGING NEWS In the Logic textbook that my students use there is a chapter entitled “Managing The News.” Henceforth your lead article “Power Structure of the American Media” (January-February 1993) will become obligatory reading. The guided tour by Joe Stork and Laura Flanders behind the media cur (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article Friedman, Zealots for Zion Robert I. Friedman, Zealots for Zion (Random House, 1992). Palestinians and Israeli leftists shared high hopes at the time of Yitzhak Rabin’s inauguration, but optimism quickly began to fade. Robert Friedman’s new book, published shortly after Rabin took office, participates in that early, post-Lik Rebecca L. Stein • 4 min read
MER Article Another Time, Another Deportation “The rule of repression will fail. The tsars did not succeed in repressing the Russian people’s aspiration for freedom by exiling thousands of its fighting sons to Siberia; the Nazis did not succeed in breaking the enslaved peoples’ spirit of resistance by exiling and destroying the best of their yo Al Miskin • 4 min read
MER Article Russian Jewish Immigration and the Future of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Russian Jewish migration to Israel, like other international streams of the late 1980s and early 1990s, is a mass phenomenon that can be explained primarily by traditional factors. Migration occurs when people are pulled to a new country where conditions appear better, or are pushed to escape from difficult circumstances. Bernard Sabella • 11 min read
MER Article Rabin's Gaza "Goodwill Gesture" Gazans stand in the wreckage of their home, destroyed by Israeli anti-tank missiles and dynamite. Some 20 families in the al-Amal quarter of Khan Yunis were made homeless on February 11 when more than 200 Israeli soldiers and border police carried out a 13-hour military assault in search of “terrori (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article Improvisation and Continuity Sabreen is considered the premier Palestinian musical group performing today. Influenced by Western rock and jazz, their distinctive style blends traditional Arab rhythms and instruments with subtly political lyrics reflecting the current active resistance to Israeli occupation. Two members of Sabre Kamal Boullata, Joost Hiltermann • 7 min read
MER Article Jerusalem Voices Editor’s Note: In preparing this special issue, we asked a number of Jerusalem residents to share their thoughts about the significance of the city to them and about ways of thinking about Jerusalem’s future. AZMI BISHARA Azmi Bishara teaches philosophy at Birzeit University in the West Bank. (Author not identified) • 7 min read
