MER Article The Scourge of Palestinian Moderation In the early 1960s, before the major US escalation of the war in Vietnam, a negotiated settlement to that conflict was in reach. Such a settlement was supported by the leaders of the Soviet Union, China, France, Cambodia and North Vietnam, and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. The Unit Norman Finkelstein • 16 min read
MER Article From Commentary to Tikkun I was describing Tikkun magazine’s “National Conference of Liberal and Progressive Jewish Intellectuals” to a steady political and intellectual comrade of the past 30 years, who is not Jewish. “What would you think,” this friend responded, “about a ’national conference of liberal and progressive gen Allen Graubard • 23 min read
MER Article From Intifada to Independence The nineteenth session of the Palestine National Council, formally entitled the “intifada meeting,” was momentous and, in many great and small ways, unprecedented. There were fewer hangers-on, groupies and “observers” than ever before. Security was tighter and more unpleasant than during the 1987 PN Edward Said • 14 min read
MER Article Editor's Bookshelf (May/June 1989) In 1970 Cambridge University Press defined the state of Orientalism by publishing The Cambridge History of Islam -- a conceptually barren and supremely boring tome whose main claim to distinction may be that Edward W. Said devoted several pages of Orientalism to excoriating it as “an intellectual fa Joel Beinin • 3 min read
MER Article Column Tony’s Price A disturbing characteristic of much of US liberal commentary on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the frequency with which, even when its prescriptions are on target, its framework of interpretation and premises are flawed, if not racist. A good example is Anthony Lewis’ column in the Al Miskin • 3 min read
MER Article Conflicts and Crossroads On February 16, 1989, the leaders of Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and North Yemen signed an agreement forming the Arab Cooperation Council (ACC), a four-country economic trading bloc, and expressed the hope that it would lead to an Arab common market. On the same day, the leaders of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia Mohamed Sid-Ahmed • 4 min read
MER Article Report from Afghanistan The last Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan have gone home, clearing the stage around Kabul and other cities for a major showdown between Soviet-supported government forces and their American-supported guerrilla rivals, the mujahideen. Conventional wisdom has it that the mujahideen are now in position t Jochen Hippler, Steven Galster • 13 min read
MER Article Behind the Chemical Weapons Campaign Once again, world attention is caught by the specter of villainous Arabs, brandishing weapons. In the mid-1970s it was the oil weapon. Today it is chemical weapons. In both cases the weapon is wielded discreetly by the United States itself. In both cases, the main threat is to the people of the Thir Diana Johnstone • 8 min read
MER Article Palestine and Israel in the US Arena Ordinary children, women and men, a million and a half of them, have confounded the state of Israel, Washington’s major military ally in the Middle East, with their incredible courage and resourcefulness. Their resounding demand for political independence then prompted the Palestine Liberation Organ The Editors • 5 min read
MER Article From the Editors (May/June 1989) For all of us in MERIP -- the staff, the editorial committee, the board of directors -- the past few months have been a poignant and exciting time, a mix of fond regrets and great anticipation. With this page, in this issue, we make it official: Jim Paul, who has worked with us on staff for more tha The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article You Can't Go Wrong Pushing Peace The Palestinian intifada is proving a headache to Israel’s image managers on American campuses. “Recent events in the territories in Israel have spilled over on to the US university campuses [and] our work has been made harder,” complains a recent book -- let from the University Service Department o (Author not identified) • 2 min read
