MER Article Claiming Jewish Communal Property in Iraq On June 23, 2008, representatives of Iraqi Jewish communities in several countries met in London to form a new group, the World Organization of Jews from Iraq (WOJI). According to a press release issued shortly after the meeting, the purpose of WOJI was to “protect, preserve and promote Jewish commu Michael R. Fischbach • 11 min read
MER Article Separating Image from Substance in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, its image in need of polishing in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, has opened itself up to foreign scrutiny of its notoriously poor human rights record. Members of Congress now make regularly scheduled stops in the kingdom; in February 2008, the Saudis welcomed a second two- Christoph Wilcke, Clarisa Bencomo • 9 min read
MER Article From the Editor (Fall 2008) It’s easy to forget, but the United States has a pressing year-end deadline to meet in Israel-Palestine as well as in Iraq. At Annapolis in November 2007, President George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pledged to “make every effort” to hammer out The Editors • 3 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Summer 2008) Ali, Kecia. Sexual Ethics and Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur’an, Hadith and Jurisprudence (London: Oneworld, 2006). Al-Jawaheri,Yasmin Husein. Women in Iraq: The Gender Impact of International Sanctions (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2008). An-Na‘im, Abdullahi Ahmed. Islam and the Secular State: (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article The Puzzle of Federalism in Iraq Reidar Visser and Gareth Stansfield, eds., An Iraq of Its Regions: Cornerstones of a Federal Democracy? (London: Hurst and Company, 2007). Eric Davis • 11 min read
MER Article Morocco's Imperfect Remedy for Gender Inequality "And now no one wants to get married,” says Muhammad, describing the reaction among men at his mosque to Morocco’s 2004 reform of personal status law. “Everyone is afraid to.” Camilo Gomez-Rivas • 11 min read
MER Article A Kurdish-American in Mosul Herro Kader Mustafa is a Kurdish-American, originally from Iraq, who has built an impressive portfolio of responsibilities in the course of her career at the State Department and the National Security Council of the United States. She is currently the acting chief of staff for the undersecretary for Herro Kader Mustafa • 5 min read
MER Article Iran and the "Kurdish Question" The breakup of the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires in Eastern Europe and the Balkans was the result of a series of nationalist agitations that, at the end of the World War I, ushered in new nation-states. In the Middle East, by contrast, the dissolution of Ottoman dominion was the star Kaveh Bayat • 16 min read
MER Article The Politics of Poverty in Turkey's Southeast “There’s not a kid in this neighborhood who hasn’t shined shoes or sold tissues,” says Mehmet, 19, laughing deeply. His is the black humor born of misfortune: Like so many Kurdish youths in Diyarbakır, seat of Turkey’s troubled southeast, Mehmet slowly made his way to the city with his family after Will Day • 7 min read
MER Article Mapping Euro-Kurdistan By leaving Ankara, we became a party; by going into the Middle East, we became an army; when we go out into the world, we shall achieve a state. ―Abdullah Öcalan Bilgin Ayata • 16 min read
MER Article Letter from Iraqi Kurdistan Landing at the shiny new airport in Erbil, seat of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, I could not help but notice that the cleaning crews are not staffed with locals. The cleaners are from Southeast Asia, giving the impression that Iraqi Kurdistan is blessed with full employme Peri Raouf • 4 min read
MER Article To Protect or to Project? Erstwhile kings of the mountains, Iraq’s Kurdish parties have become kingmakers in Baghdad. No federal government can be established without them—and they know it. Joost Hiltermann • 24 min read
