Current Analysis

A Tribute to the Palestinian Artist Kamal Boullata

We mourn the passing of the great Palestinian artist, Kamal Boullata, who died on August 6, 2019. Kamal was a dear friend and colleague, and closely associated with MERIP from its earliest days. We offer the following tribute.

The Editors • 11 min read

Current Analysis

Fifty Years of Occupation

June 5, 2017 is the fiftieth anniversary of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, which culminated in the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, among other transformations of regional politics. The post-1967 occupation and its consequences continue to structure the mainstream conversation

Alaa Tartir, Sara Roy, Neve Gordon, Sherene Seikaly, Lori Allen • 23 min read

Current Analysis

Fifty Years of Occupation

June 5, 2017 is the fiftieth anniversary of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, which culminated in the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights, among other transformations of regional politics. The post-1967 occupation and its consequences continue to structure the mainstream conversation

Lisa Bhungalia, Kareem Rabie, Mandy Turner, Sobhi Samour, Omar Jabary Salamanca, Gershon Shafir, Andy Clarno • 31 min read

Current Analysis

Fifty Years of Occupation

“Beautiful Israel” and the 1967 War Joel Beinin The 1967 Arab-Israeli war unleashed forces that reshaped Israeli politics and society. But much about the war is rooted in the military tactics, governance practices and political culture of “beautiful Israel,” as liberal Ashkenazi Zionists often nostalgically refer to the pre-1967 state.

Maha Nassar, Ilana Feldman, Zachary Lockman, Noura Erakat, Joel Beinin • 23 min read

Current Analysis

Striking for Dignity and Freedom

More than 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners began a hunger strike on April 17 for better conditions inside Israeli jails. Their demands include access to education, proper medical care and an end to the practice of solitary confinement. They are striking to make their families’ lives easier, too—for regular

Amahl Bishara • 6 min read

Current Analysis

Where Is Israel in the Refugee Crisis?

Last week, SodaStream [http://www.merip.org/mero/mero041814] CEO Daniel Birnbaum and Mayor Talal Al-Krenawi of the Negev Bedouin city Rahat issued a joint statement [http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/SodaStream-offers-to-take-in-Syrian-refugees-417830] offering the absorption of 1,000 refugees from S

Michael Fin, Callie Maidhof • 4 min read

MER Article

Status-less in Cyber City

When refugees from the Syrian war first began to stream into Jordan, the Jordanian Ministry of Interior registered the newcomers and placed them in the care of families, under the kafala system, mainly in the capital of Amman. The kafala or guardianship system has roots in Bedouin customs, but in mo

Maisam Alahmed • 6 min read

MER Article

Resistance Museum in Abu Dis

In the shadow of the Israeli separation wall, and on the bucolic campus of al-Quds University in Abu Dis, a suburb of East Jerusalem, sits a museum dedicated to Palestinian prisoners of Israel. The Abu Jihad Museum for the Prisoners’ Movement is named after the Palestinian political prisoner and mar

Alex Lubin • 3 min read

MER Article

Writing Palestinian Politics in Israel's Prisons Before Oslo

Since Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, around three quarters of a million Palestinians have been arrested, sometimes for actions taken against Israeli soldiers or civilians, but at other times for association with others or for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the early

Rebecca Granato • 9 min read

MER Article

Palestinians and Latin America's Indigenous Peoples

Palestinians have found an ally in the indigenous peoples of Latin America. Over the last decade, indigenous movements have been among the most vocal supporters in the region of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. Bolivia’s Evo Morales, the first self-identified indigenous pre

Cecilia Baeza • 11 min read

Current Analysis

Ferguson to Palestine

The world’s attention again shines on Ferguson, MO, where Michael Brown, an unarmed African-American 18-year old was shot by white police officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014. This time, the occasion is the grand jury’s failure to indict the officer. There will be no trial. There will be no oppor

Stephen Tamari • 5 min read

Current Analysis

Palestine, Adrift at the Met

Opera is dying in New York. Or at least it was until last month.

Bayann Hamid • 7 min read