Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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MER Article

Artificial Humanitarianism—The Data-Driven Future of Refugee Responses
A Sudanese girl who fled the war in Sudan gets her iris scanned using a biometric registration machine at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, South Sudan, on February 13, 2024. Luis Tato/AFP via Getty ImagesSophia at the AI for Good Global Summit 2018, Geneva. Photo courtesy of the UN’s ITU ((International Telecommunication Union). Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.
MER Article

Artificial Humanitarianism—The Data-Driven Future of Refugee Responses

In Jordan’s Za’atari refugee camp, to pay for food at one of the World Food Programme (WFP)’s distribution centers, Syrian refugees must lean into an iris scanner that registers their biometrics. The scanner then logs their transaction onto the program’s blockchain network: Building Blocks. Za’atari
Samer Abboud • 9 min read
Narratives of 'the Oppressed'—The Dialectic of Resistance Behind the Axis
Iranian Ambassador in Syria Mohammad Hassan Akhtari (2nd L) and Ahmed Jibril (2nd R), the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), lead a demonstration January 23, 1998, at the Yarmouk Palestinian camp, near Damascus to mark International Quds Day in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Louai Behsara/AFP via Getty Images
MER Article

Narratives of 'the Oppressed'—The Dialectic of Resistance Behind the Axis

Since its formation, the Axis of Resistance has embodied a defiant stance against imperialism and Zionism. The phrase itself first circulated in the English-language media, in the early 2000s—a response to then-President George W. Bush’s ominous talk of the “axis of evil.” By 2010, at the latest, the
Olmo Gölz, Ruth Vollmer • 10 min read
Hanging by a Thread—The Red Sea Blockade and Jordan's Fragile Garment Industry
Bangladeshi women at work in a Chinese-owned garment factory in Jordan, 2024. Katharina GrüeneislFig.1 Changing import and export routes in Jordan’s garment sector in reaction to the Red Sea blockade. (Source: Lagarde, Grüeneisl and Labadi 2024)View over the Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT) in June 2024. Katharina GrüeneislMigrant workers walk back to their dormitories in the Al-Hassan (Irbid) industrial zone, 2024. Katharina Grüeneisl
MER Article

Hanging by a Thread—The Red Sea Blockade and Jordan's Fragile Garment Industry

Houthi attacks have revealed an industrial paradox.
Katharina Grüneisl, Taher Labadi • 15 min read
Power Struggles—Energy as a Weapon of War, Domination and Resistance in Palestine
Palestinians living with limited electricity in Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip, December 24, 2024. Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty ImagesOffice of the Quartet Energy Infrastructure Map, from Office of the Quartet Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, November 17, 2021.A Palestinian man charges phones at a station fed by a solar panel in a refugee camp in Rafah, January 2024. Due to worsening economic conditions and the lack of electricity, some young men who have solar panels are using them to run small businesses. Mohammed Talatene/dpa via Getty Images
MER Article

Power Struggles—Energy as a Weapon of War, Domination and Resistance in Palestine

The role of the grid in Israel's colonial domination.
Zachary Cuyler • 17 min read
Iran, Palestine and the Axis of Resistance
In Tehran’s Palestine Square the far mural on the tall building displays slogans on a map pointing at Israeli cities that read in Hebrew: “All targets are within reach, we choose” (top) and in Farsi: “All the targets are available, we will choose” on December 4, 2024. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images
MER Article

Iran, Palestine and the Axis of Resistance

Tehran's meydan-e Felestin—Palestine Square—is a historic site when it comes to the country's relations with Israel and Palestine. Before the 1979 revolution, it hosted Israel’s embassy and went by a different name: Kakh (Palace) Square. In February of 1979, days after the revolution&
Maryam Alemzadeh • 10 min read
Joseph (Joe) Stork—A Tribute
Joe Stork (L), Beshara Doumani (holding MER) and Jim Paul (top right) visiting Beita village in June 1988. The cover image of issue number 152, held up by Doumani, was taken in Beita earlier in the year. Photo by Rick Reinhard.Joe Stork (second from left) with MERIP comrades Priscilla Norris (L), Esther Merves (R of Joe), and MERIP interns at a demonstration in the 1990s. Photo courtesy of Esther Merves.
MER Article

Joseph (Joe) Stork—A Tribute

For much of the first 25 years of his professional life, Joe Stork and MERIP (the Middle East Research and Information Project) were virtual synonyms. He co-founded the organization in 1970 and dedicated himself to its development until he stepped down in 1995. He shaped MERIP as a journal and
Judith Tucker • 8 min read