MER Article Unsettling the Categories of Displacement The Middle East has long had the dubious distinction of being one of the world’s major producers of refugees. By the beginning of 2007, the Middle East was generating 5,931,000 refugees out of a world total of 13,948,800. Over the past century, not just conflict but development projects, environment Julie Peteet • 18 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Fall 2007) A grim irony of MERIP’s history is that demand for our work rises at times of extraordinary turmoil in the region we cover. This was true during the 1987-1993 Palestinian uprising and the 1990-1991 Gulf war, and it is true today. By almost every measure, from subscriptions to Middle (Author not identified) • 2 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Summer 2007) Akçam, Taner. A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006). Ansari, Ali M. Iran, Islam and Democracy: The Politics of Managing Change (second edition) (London: Chatham House, 2006). Benvenisti, Meron. Son of the Cypresses (Be (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article "The Israel Lobby" in Perspective John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt’s 82-page paper “The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy” has entered the canon of contemporary political culture in the United States. So much, positive and negative, has been written about the March 2006 essay that the phrase “the Mearsheimer-Walt argument” is now Chris Toensing, Mitchell Plitnick • 19 min read
MER Article The Second Time as Farce Following Israel’s intense bombardment in the summer of 2006, Lebanon had to undertake a new reconstruction effort before it had made a dent in paying for rebuilding damage done by the 1975-1990 civil war. The government swore to pursue reconstruction policies that would strengthen the state—an open Lysandra Ohrstrom, Jim Quilty • 29 min read
MER Article Dubai in a Jagged World Surprisingly, what first strikes one upon landing in Dubai is not the skyscrapers going up at a dizzying pace. It is the sheer bustle of humanity. Ahmed Kanna • 13 min read
MER Article Iraqi Unions vs. Big Oil On February 26, 2007, the Iraqi cabinet passed and recommended for parliamentary approval a new law governing the country’s immense and largely untapped supplies of oil and natural gas. Grasping at straws for any sign of success in Iraq, the law’s international sponsors hailed a major accomplishment Shawna Bader-Blau • 19 min read
MER Article The War Economy of Iraq On May 26, 2003, L. Paul Bremer declared Iraq “open for business.” Four years on, business is booming, albeit not as the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority intended. Iraqis find themselves at the center of a regional political economy transformed by war. Instability has generated sky Christopher Parker, Pete Moore • 30 min read
MER Article They’re Hounding Bishara Because He’s Right In April, Azmi Bishara, a contributing editor of this magazine and a member of the Israeli Knesset, left Israel and did not return as planned. Toward the end of the month, Israel’s General Security Services (Shabak) announced charges against Bishara of “aiding the enemy” during Israel’s summer 2006 Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin • 13 min read
MER Article From the Editors (Summer 2007) Both political parties in Washington seem determined not to end the US occupation of Iraq until they are convinced the other party will get blamed for the consequences. It is charmless political theater and grotesque public policy. The occupation cannot end too soon. The Editors • 2 min read
MER Article Editor's Picks (Spring 2007) B’Tselem. Act of Vengeance: Israel’s Bombing of the Gaza Power Plant and Its Effects (Jerusalem, September 2006). B’Tselem. Barred from Contact: Violation of the Right to Visit Palestinians Held in Israeli Prisons (Jerusalem,September2006). Eyal, Gil. The Disenchantment of the Orient: Expertise in (Author not identified) • 1 min read
MER Article Thinner Than Air Rachel Bronson, Thicker Than Oil: America’s Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006) Robert Vitalis • 6 min read
