Forbidden Territory, Promised Land Ilan Halevi, A History of the Jews (trans. A. M. Berrett) (London: Zed Books, 1987). Shlomo Swirski, Israel: The Oriental Majority (trans. Barbara Swirski) (London: Zed Books, 1989). Ella Shohat, Israeli Cinema: East/West and the Politics of Representation (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1 Ammiel Alcalay • 10 min read
Al Miskin The Law Is the Law! That was the headline of the following news item, published in late December 1989 in the Egyptian opposition newspaper al-Ahali: “The [Egyptian] Passports and Travel Documents Administration refused to issue a travel document and residency permit to Libyan citizen Mus‘ab Muhammad Al Miskin • 4 min read
Consequences of Perestroika Arab progressives tend to view the changes initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika as harmful to the cause of Arab national liberation. One leading pan-Arab statesman privately described the rapprochement between East and West as portending the disintegration of the Communist bloc and the total Mohamed Sid-Ahmed • 6 min read
Jordan's Election The pundits got it wrong. They had predicted that the Jordanian general election of November 8 would result in the overwhelming return of traditional candidates with only a smattering of opposition deputies, enough to provide a vigorous, vocal check on government, but marginal in terms of setting a Philip Robins • 7 min read
Religion and Political Identity in Bayt Sahour In 1989, the West Bank village of Bayt Sahour made international headlines by staging a successful tax strike against Israeli military authorities. My introduction to Bayt Sahour came six years earlier, in late December 1983, when I attended Latin Christmas Eve celebrations at Manger Square in neigh Glenn Bowman • 12 min read
A "Miracle" Made in Moscow and Washington If the intifada has been an Israeli nightmare, upsetting a reality with which most Israelis had grown comfortable, the immigration wave of Soviet Jews to Israel which began in December may turn into a “miracle” that will lift the morale of many Israelis for years to come. The Soviet immigration wave Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi • 4 min read
Aspersion and Intrigue Question: What is more popular reading in the West Bank than the UNLU’s leaflets? Answer: Ze’ev Schiff and Ehud Ya’ari’s Intifada: The Palestinian Uprising -- Israel’s Third Front, now translated into Arabic and serialized in the daily al-Quds this spring. Like the fake manifestos written by Israel Joost Hiltermann • 2 min read
Eyeless in Judea One of the major problems confronting the Israeli security forces during the Palestinian uprising was the disintegration, by June 1988, of Israel’s system of penetration and control over the clandestine national movement. First, the apparatus of the military government received a considerable blow w Salim Tamari • 17 min read
'Abd al-Hadi Fights the Big Superpower Never in his life Did he read or write. Never did he fell a tree Or stab a cow. Never did he talk about the New York Times Behind its back. Never did he raise his voice to anyone Except to say: “Welcome! Tafaddal! By God, I won’t take no for an answer!” And in spite of all this? His case is hopeles Taha Muhammad Ali • 1 min read
Sustaining Movement, Creating Space “Up here at the encampment,” said Abu Tha’ir, peering ahead through the windshield, “we cross the Green Line into ’48. If there is a checkpoint and they stop us, they’ll send me back to prison.” He looked at me as if asking for my opinion, but he did not slow down as we approached the army post perc Joost Hiltermann • 16 min read
Our Fate, Our House Many Palestinian stories are the stories of sons: heroes or victims, Everyman or Superman. In the intifada, the rebellious young men, the shabab, have become the sons of all the people and their exploits legendary. Sahar Khalifeh’s stories, like her own life, are the stories of daughters, mothers a Sahar Khalifeh • 8 min read
Women, the Hijab and the Intifada Many accounts have suggested that the intifada has enabled Palestinian women to make great strides toward their social as well as political liberation. While some positive developments have occurred, it is also true that the intifada has been the context for a vicious campaign in Gaza to impose the Rema Hammami • 15 min read
