Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Normalization

The Houthis’ ‘Sovereign Solidarity’ with Palestine — Yemenis drive past a large billboard with a picture depicting the navy destroyers of foreign countries including the US and UK, and the words “Navy coalition will be defeated,” December 31, 2023, in Sana’a, Yemen. Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images

MER Article

The Houthis’ ‘Sovereign Solidarity’ with Palestine

Since October 7, Yemen has made an unexpected return from the margins of global attention. The Houthi movement’s seemingly ad hoc seizure of shipping vessels in the Red Sea, which began in early November in response to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, quickly became a concerted campaign to disrupt

Stacey Philbrick Yadav • 5 min read

From the Oil Weapon to Boycott, Mobilizing in Support of Palestine in the Gulf — Protesters during a solidarity sit-in with the Gaza Strip, in Manama, Bahrain, on November 17, 2023. Mazen Mahdi/AFP via Getty ImagesAn Instagram post by BDS Kuwait calling on people in the region to use the “weapon of boycott” against global companies enabling Israel’s war on Gaza.

MER Article

From the Oil Weapon to Boycott, Mobilizing in Support of Palestine in the Gulf

50 years after the 1973 oil embargo, some Gulf citizens oppose normalization with their wallets.

Samar Alwan • 5 min read

The Egyptian Public and the War on Gaza — President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s image on the side of an aid truck crossing the Rafah border from the Egyptian side into Gaza on November 6, 2023. Mahmoud Khaled/Getty Images

MER Article

The Egyptian Public and the War on Gaza

The government's delicate balancing act around Palestine.

Hesham Sallam • 5 min read

The Houthis’ ‘Sovereign Solidarity’ with Palestine — Yemenis drive past a large billboard with a picture depicting the navy destroyers of foreign countries including the US and UK, and the words “Navy coalition will be defeated,” December 31, 2023, in Sana’a, Yemen. Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images

Current Analysis

The Houthis’ ‘Sovereign Solidarity’ with Palestine

Situating the Red Sea campaign in Yemen’s past and present.

Stacey Philbrick Yadav • 5 min read

Selling Normalization in the Gulf — Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed participate in the signing of the Abraham Accords, September 15, 2020. Tom Brenner/Reuters

Current Analysis

Selling Normalization in the Gulf

When the UAE and Bahrain normalized their relations with Israel, the countries' leaders justified their actions as beneficial to the Palestinian struggle for statehood. Elham Fakhro explains how this rationale quickly fell apart and shifted, revealing deeper economic and strategic goals. Fakhro also

Elham Fakhro • 14 min read