MER Article The Exile Bourgeoisie of Palestine ‘Umar ‘Aqqad is planning to export bottled water from Saudi Arabia. Not the kind of project you might expect in a desert kingdom where water is scarce. But then, ‘Aqqad is one of the shrewdest and most successful businessmen in the region. Not coincidentally, he is also a Palestinian. For Palestinia Pamela Ann Smith • 14 min read
MER Article Ekin, Enduring Witness Larry Ekin, Enduring Witness: The Churches and the Palestinians (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1985). Dale Bishop • 2 min read
MER Article Before Their Diaspora Before Their Diaspora: A Photographic History of the Palestinians 1876-1948, introduction and commentary by Walid Khalidi, (Washington, DC: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1984). Before Their Diaspora gathers some 400 photographs to present a portrait of Palestine, its people and their culture, fr Sarah J Graham-Brown • 5 min read
MER Article No Going Back? During the early stages of national political formation in the Middle East, when crises prevail and mass mobilization is a major organizing strategy, political movements often recruit women and the domestic sector into the political arena. Continuous crises, from which the domestic sector is not imm Julie Peteet • 15 min read
Hart, Arafat: Terrorist or Peacemaker? Alan Hart, Arafat: Terrorist or Peacemaker? (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1984). (Author not identified) • 1 min read
Graham-Brown, Education, Repression and Liberation Sarah Graham-Brown, Education, Repression and Liberation: Palestinians (London: World University Service, 1984). “Whenever I hear the word culture,” said an occupying officer during the Spanish conquest of South America, “I pull out my gun.” Foreign invaders are often quick on the trigger, and quic Munir Fasheh • 5 min read
Ma'oz, Palestinian Leadership on the West Bank Moshe Ma’oz, Palestinian Leadership on the West Bank: The Changing Role of the Mayors Under Jordan and Israel (London: Frank Cass, 1984). Moshe Ma’oz is a current favorite in Israel and the US to guest lecture on the subject of Palestinian politics, and the Israeli media regularly defers to him as Anita Vitullo Khoury • 5 min read
Shadowplay Alain Gresh, The PLO: The Struggle Within (London: Zed Press, 1985). Over the past several years in the Occupied Territories, Palestinian intellectuals and activists close to the PLO mainstream have met with Israelis from a number of political factions represented in the Knesset. Their apparent aim Penny Johnson • 10 min read
The Emerging Trade Union Movement in the West Bank The last several months have witnessed an intensive Israeli crackdown against Palestinian political activists in the Occupied Territories. Since the summer, at least 21 Palestinians have been deported, and more than 80 arrested. Although the military authorities have attributed their renewed “iron f Joost Hiltermann • 19 min read
"Poverty Is Not the Issue" Henry Selz was for the last nine years the Middle East representative of American Near East Refugee Aid, based in East Jerusalem. He spoke with Joe Stork and Tom Russell in Washington in late August 1985. You worked in the West Bank for nine years. How has your assessment of the situation changed f Joe Stork • 4 min read
Gaza: Israel's Soweto Gaza is Israel’s Soweto. Each has its own lexicon but similar reference points. The “township” becomes here the refugee camp. Military occupation, like apartheid, means segregation in residence, employment, politics, education and law. In Gaza, the pass card is known as an identity card. Here “remov Joan Mandell • 42 min read
Palestinians in Damascus The assault on the Palestinian camps in Beirut ended in a truce signed in Damascus on June 17, which reflected the failure of Amal to defeat the Palestinian militias. The agreement also reflected Syria’s role in the battles by having the Palestinian side represented only by the Palestine National Sa (Author not identified) • 5 min read
