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Issue 9/June 1998
Editor, Prof. Barry Rubin
Issue 9/June 1998
Editor, Prof. Barry Rubin
IMPORTANT NEWS: PLEASE SUPPORT MERIA
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NEW FEATURE, CURRENT CONTENTS OF PERIODICALS ON THE MIDDLE EAST
The latest addition to our wide range of services is the extremely useful "Current Contents of Periodicals on the Middle East," prepared by the library of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, Tel Aviv University. Check this list for new reading; compile all the issues as a superb bibliography for use in research, teaching, and writing. Current Contents will appear in MERIA Journal and an additional two times annually as a special issue of MERIA News. All issues will be permanently available in a database on our website.
BOOKS:
The International Institute for Strategic Studies has just published Strategic Survey 1997/98, a basic reference books for international affairs. On the Middle East, the book identifies the U.S.-Iraq confrontation as one of two main crises in 1997 (the other was Asia's economic problems. It analyzes Caspian oil as "much less important than many political analyses have implied," more comparable to the North Sea than to Saudi fields. On the UN inspection of Iraqi arms, it says "UNSCOM has achieved more than any of its creators ever imagined" and details these discoveries, though noting, "Iraq has never cooperated with UNSCOM. At best, it has allowed the inspectors to roam around the country freely until they arrive at the gates of an establishment where illegal items are hidden." It surveys the Arab-Israeli peace process and changes in Iraq, along with much useful information. Cost $39. See: [http://www.isn.ethz.ch/iiss/stratsur.htm]. Orders in North America: jnlorders@oup-usa.org elsewhere: jnl.orders@oup.co.uk
Many books are for sale on Central Asia and Turkish issues from Turkistan News, mostly in Turkish but also: Caucasus and an Unholy Alliance, edited by Antero Leitzinger, and Caucasus War and Peace, edited by Mehmet Tutuncu. Write: Mehmet Tutuncu [sota@EURONET.NL] or [http://www.turkiye.net/sota/caucbook.htm]
Elyse Aronson and Monica Neal (eds), Peacewatch/Policywatch Anthology 1997 Washington Institute, 300 pages. A collection of the short analytical pieces on Middle East policy and politics.
Research Studies:
Eyal Zisser, Decision Making in Asad's Syria (Washington Institute for Near East Policy No. 45), is a particularly fine analysis of this issue. A small part is excerpted in MERIA Journal Vol. 2 No. 2 (May 1998).
Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian Trade: Present Issues, Future Possibilities. Free. IPCRI's Publications on the Future of the Refugee Issue in Final Status Negotiations based on a year-long research project and IPCRI's Publication on the Future of the Israeli Settlements in Final Status Negotiations are free. http://www.ipcri.org or [peace@netvision.net.il]
Columbia International Affairs Online now includes: Institute for European Studies, Cornell University, Ilham Aliev, "Azerbaijan: The New Source of Energy of the 21st Century"; http://www.cc.columbia.edu/sec/dlc/ciao/wps/ali01/ and Edward Walker, "No Peace, No War in the Caucasus: Secessionist Conflicts in Chechnya, Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh http://www.cc.columbia.edu/sec/dlc/ciao/wps/wae01/; The United States and Iraq: A Strategy for the Long Haul, by Robert N. Haass http://wwwc.cc.columbia.edu/sec/dlc/ciao/wps/har03/
The Center for Human Rights Legal Aid, Egypt, "NGOs' Position Paper on the New Egyptian Draft Law on Associations is available through chrla@chrla.org or http://www.chrla.org
Yilmaz Bingol, "Turkey's Policy Toward Post-Soviet Central Asia: Opportunities and Challenges," Research Institute for European Studies (RIES) #47 (May 1988). write: jnomikos@itel.gr
EcoPeace has a report on its May 1998 conference, "Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians Agree on One Issue-Saving the Dead Sea Basin." Write: Gidon Bromberg ecopeace@netvision.net.il
Journals:
The new issue of Middle East Quarterly (Volume 5, June 1998) includes: Anthony E. Mitchell, Policy Brief: Protecting American Soldiers in the Persian Gulf; Ephraim Kleiman, Is There a Secret Arab-Israeli Trade?; Amikam Nachmani, The Remarkable Turkish-Israeli Tie; Koenraad Elst, The Rushdie Rules; Bernard Lewis, Muslim Anti-Semitism; David Cook, Muslim Fears of the Year 2000; Next Steps with Iran: A Debate with Patrick Clawson, Geoffrey Kemp, Edward Shirley, Kenneth R. Timmerman; Interview: Abdullah Ocalan, "We Are Fighting Turks Everywhere."
The new issue of Arab Studies Journal (July 1998) is out, with the theme of Middle East exceptionalism: Peter Gran, "Contending with Middle East Exceptionalism: A Foreward"; Robert Vitalis, "Crossing Exceptionalism's Frontiers to Discover America's Kingdom"; Leonard Binder, "Exceptionalism and Authenticity: The Question of Islam & Democracy"; Larbi Sadiki, "To Export or Not to Export Democracy to the Arab World: The Islamist Perspective"; Amira El Azhary Sonbol, "Questioning Exceptionalism: Shari'a Law"; Stephen Sheehi, "Unpacking Modern Arab Subjectivity: Reading al-Mu'allim Butrus al-Bustani's Nafir Suriya." For contents: [http://php.indiana.edu/~stetkevy/jal.html] and subscriptions Kathryn Coughlin De [coughlik@gusun.georgetown.edu]
The Syrian Computer Society has inaugurated a homepage at http://www.scs-syria.com with links to the Syrian news agency and tourism ministry to mark the start of that country's going on-line
Maps of West Bank and Gaza: the YESHA Council has maps of Jewish settlements [http://www.yesha.virtual.co.il/moatzot.htm].
The University of Texas has maps including Palestinian refugee camps and natural resources. [http://menic.utexas.edu/mes.html]
Complete works of Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
http://www.arabia.com/content/culture/6_98/khomeini2.6.98.shtml
Website of Lebanon's President Rafik Hariri:
American University in Cairo, Adham Center for Television Journalism's forthcoming journal at: http://www.tbsjournal.com/
Institute for Palestine Studies is now: http://www.ipsjps.org
The Iran-US Exchange Information Resource is a clearinghouse and archive for information on Iran-U.S. citizen exchanges:
http://www.sfcg.org/IRAN/iran.htm
Central-Asia-Harvard-List operates an e-mail distribution list for Central Asian Studies at Harvard. To subscribe, send: full name, Harvard affiliation (if you have one), and interests in Central Asian Studies: CentralAsia@fas.harvard.edu and see program website [http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~centasia/].
New homepage of Arab Social Science Research [www.assr.org] links to online social science research centers in the Middle East: http://www.assr.org/vlibrary/source.html or http://www.assr.org/vlibrary/topics.html
Dheisheh Refugee Camp Homepage in Commemoration of the 'Nakba' http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9836/nakba.html
The Centre for Islamic Studies, University of Wales, has revised its webpage [www.lamp.ac.uk/cis] detailing courses and a link to the recently revised Pathways listing of Islamic Studies Resources on Internet.
Cahiers de L'Orient has many articles of interest on its site, including material from special issues on Egypt; Middle East natural resources and politics; Algeria; and Central Asia. http://www.sfiedi.fr/cahiers/
The Palestinian embassy in Canada website has a large collection of material including documents, links, economic material, and guides to the Palestinian Authority. [http://www.cyberus.ca/~baker/palestine4a.htm].
JINSA has detailed information on Middle East strategic and military issues, including congressional hearings and JINSA Reports: [www.jinsa.org].
The Museum of Contemporary Iranian Artists (MoCIA) wants to list these artists in all fields and promote their work: http://www.slip.net/~yari/mocia.html
A potentially valuable service is the Arabia.On.Line Daily Dispatch, carrying news and other stories highlighted by this server. To subscribe: arabia-subscribe@makelist.com
List Archive: http://www.findmail.com/list/arabia
Islam in Cyberspace, call for Papers for a series of books:
Contemporary Studies in Information Technology by a London-based publisher. The first proposed book includes papers on: The spread of InterNet in the Muslim world; Muslim presence on the InterNet; Problems of InterNet access in the Muslim world; Muslim languages and cyber communication; Review of cyber products for Muslims; Online services for Islamic Studies; Survey of Islamic software; Future of InterNet in the Muslim world. Papers between 5000-7500 words by August 15, 1998 Dr. Munawar A. Anees, Series Editor: dranees@aol.com or dranees@compuserve.com or knowsys@usa.net or see [http://www.ummah.org.uk/dranees
University of Colorado at Denver Professor Ali Zarrin will be teaching "Middle Eastern Literature and Society" via internet August 24-December 19. Students will read poems and stories in English translation from Israel, Turkey, Iran, Sudan, Egypt and other countries. for registration and information. [http://cuonline.edu or [inquiry@cuonline.edu]
Middle Eastern Studies at the American University of Beirut, Center for Arab and Middle East Studies, M.A. degree in Modern Middle Eastern Studies entails two years of study and stay in residence: Carol Hakim [ch01@aub.edu.lb]
The Arab Studies Journal is accepting papers for its next issue. Deadline: August 28, 1998. Write: Kathryn Coughlin De at coughlik@gusun.georgetown.edu or for book reviews: Nadya Sbaiti at sbaitin@gusun.georgetown.edu
NATO has established Institutional Fellowships for the Mediterranean Dialogue countries. (Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania and Morocco, Tunisia). Write: Dr. Spyros C. Philippas, S.Philippas@hq.nato.int or see: http://www.nato.int
Laura Zittrain Eisenberg and Neil Caplan, Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace," (Indiana U Press, 1998), 268 pp., $35 hardcover, $16.95 paperback. The authors analyze contemporary negotiations in the context of efforts going back to World War I. They employ case studies to examine negotiating episodes thematically, instead of relying on a strictly chronological narrative. Emphasizing primary source materials, the authors include many key documents. By identify in a seven-element pattern of negative negotiating behavior historically stymieing negotiators and measuring episodes against this pattern, they make a standardized, coherent analysis of over 50 years of negotiations. [mbreiter@indiana.edu]
Matthew A. Levitt, "The Taliban, Islam, and Women's Human Rights in the Muslim World," The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Winter/Spring 1998). On the intersection of religion and human rights in the case of the Taliban.
Matthew A. Levitt, "Kilometer 101: Oasis or Mirage? An Analysis of Third-Party Self-Interest in International Mediation," Mediation Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Winter 1997). An analysis of Kissinger's self-interested role in moving the 1973-4 Israel-Egypt disengagement negotiations from kilometer marker 101 on the Cairo-Suez road to an international conference in Geneva. The paper also applies its findings in the international context to the court mediation setting.
Scott W. Hibbard and David Little, "Islamic Activism and U.S. Foreign Policy," (Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace Press, 1997). This book examines the phenomenon of Islamic activism and its implications for U.S. foreign policy. Particular emphasis is on how different government policies--ranging from repression to inclusion--influence activist organizations. The case studies include: Iran, Algeria, Jordan and the Palestinians, Pakistan, Turkey, and Indonesia. Copies can be obtained via www.usip.org.
Oren Yiftachel & Avinoam Meir, Ethnic Frontiers and Peripheries: Landscapes of Development and Inequality in Israel. Westview Press: Westview.orders@harpercollins.com ISBN 0-8133-89291; March 1998; 360 pages; Hardcover $69 Assembles 14 interdisciplinary essays dealing with the evolution of Israel's ethnic landscapes, introducing space, territory, planning and place into discussion of ethnic relations, and focusing on the social and geographical marginality of groups such as Palestinian and Bedouin Arabs, Eastern Jews or recent Ethiopian immigrants.
May 28- July 12, Goettingen, Germany, Exhibition on Arab culture organized by the University Institute of Arab Studies:
http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/orient/aab-expo.htm Dr. Werner Schwartz orient@mail.sub.uni-goettingen.de
June 8-10, Tel Aviv, Israel, "Armies in the 21st century,"
BESA Center for Strategic Studies: Elisheva Brown, browne@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il
June 10, Tel Aviv, Israel, Prof. John MacKenzie, Lancaster U, "Orientalism--A Revisionist View." [dayancen@ccsg.tau.ac.il].
June 15, Beersheva, Israel, Round Table on U.S.-Israeli Relations, The Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy: hercen@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
June 16-17, Jerusalem, Israel, "Regional Peacemaking in Comparative Perspective," Davis Institute: [msbarsi@mscc.huji.ac.il or [msdavis@mscc.huji.ac.il
June 17, London, England, Derek Fatchett, MP Minister of State for the Middle East, "Six Months of the UK Presidency: Trendsetter or Lost Opportunity ?" 6.30 pm, Committee Room 9, House of Commons, Contact Chris Doyle tel. 0171 373 8414.
June 18, Oxford, England, New Lecture Theatre, St Antony's College, Oxford (Middle East Centre) George Antonius Lecture, "Why write another biography of Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer)?" Prof Roger Owen, Harvard University.
June 19-20. Bonn, Germany, "German and International Research on Oman," Oman Studies Centre, the German-Omani Association and Beta Publishing, Bonn. A few more papers can be accepted. To submit a proposal or register: oman@oman.org
June 28-July 11, Helsinger, Denmark, "Learning to Live together in the Middle East, Educators' Contribution to the Peace Process. Workshop for Arab, Israeli and Scandinavian educators to exchange views and to develop and produce educational texts and materials. Write: Garba Diallo [gdiallo@vip.cybercity.dk]
July 3-5. The 3rd annual London International Islamic & Middle Eastern Book Fair, Kensington Town Hall, Hornton St., London W8 July 3-4: 10am-8pm; July 5: 10am-6pm. Write:bookfair@rocketmail.com
July 5-7, Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham, UK. BRISMES conference, Religion and Pluralism. Write: Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Selly Oak Colleges Birmingham B29 6LQ.
July 9, Washington DC, Middle East Institute: "Gulf-Asia Energy Security" Keynote address by Rilwanu Lukman, OPEC secretary-general. Speakers include Fadhil Chalabi, Centre for Global Energy Studies; John Mitchell, Royal Institute of International Affairs; Sujit Dutta, Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis; Yan Guang, Chinese Institute for West Asian and African Studies; Issam Al-Chalabi, former Minister of Oil, Iraq; Shams Ardakhani, Institute for Political and International Studies (Iran); Patrick Cronin, U.S. Institute of Peace; Geoffrey Kemp, Nixon Center. RSVP required: mideasti@mideasti.org or Andrew Parasiliti [programs@mideasti.org]
July 13-16, Wilton Park conferences, Wiston House, Brighton, England. "Cyprus: Opportunities and Dangers."
July 27-30, Wilton Park conferences, Wiston House, Brighton, England, "Peace and Stability in the Middle East: The Realities."
August 13-16, Oslo, Norway. Nordic Middle East Conference:
"The Middle East in a Globalizing World" contact: Olav Utvik, b.o.utvik@east.uio.no
August 16-21, Haifa, Israel, "Western Intervention in the Middle East," write: Eliezer Tauber, taubere@ashur.cc.biu.ac.il
September 3, 1998: St Anthony's College, Oxford, UK, British Institute of Persian Studies: Religion and Society in Qajar Iran, Workshop. Some slots still open for giving papers. Write: Dr Robert Gleave: r.m.gleave@bristol.ac.uk
September 7-10, Cairo, Egypt, Arab-U.S. Association for Communication Educators, "Privatization, Transnational Communication, and Media." Proposals may include: Privatization, Transnational Communication, and Media; Media Technology; Cultural Communication; Educational Technology; Women and Communication; Advertising and Public Relations. Deadline: July 1. In US: Dr. Carolyn Crimmins: jouccc@panthergsu.edu elsewhere: Dr. Hussein Amin, American University in Cairo, Adham Center for Television Journalism: h_amin@aucegypt.edu or: http://inf.auc.eun.eg
November 5-6, La Plata, Argentina, Department of the Middle East, Institute of International Relations of the National University of La Plata: "Fifty years since the establishment of the State of Israel." Send 300-400 word summary by August 1 for 10-20 page paper. Write: Lic. Sandra De Rose, iri@isis.unlp.edu.ar or sderose@netverk.com.ar
MERIA offers you discounts on books and publications. We welcome special arrangements for our readers. To propose articles, items for publication, give others free subscriptions, or other correspondence, write:besa@popeye.cc.biu.ac.il