Issue 1/January 2000 

Editor, Prof. Barry Rubin

Assistant Editors, Linda Sharaby and Cameron Brown

Research Assistant, Ozgul Erdemli

CONTENTS
IMPORTANT NEWS: IMPORTANT NEWS: Our fourth year

1. PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST

2. WEBSITES/GROUPS ONLINE

3. FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS TO E-MAIL PUBLICATIONS

4. FUNDING/SCHOLARSHIPS/FELLOWSHIPS/WRITING OPPORTUNITIES

5. RESEARCH QUERIES-PLEASE HELP

6. AUTHOR'S ALERTS (writers report on their books, articles, and activites)

7. ANNOUNCEMENTS OF MEETINGS, CONFERENCES, LECTURES

IMPORTANT NEWS: As MERIA begins its fourth year of publication, we thank our contributors and readers. We are completing three MERIA books to be pubished in print. The first, Turkey and Its World, on contemporary Turkish foreign policy, will be pubished by Lynne Rienner. Dr. Brent Sasley will be MERIA's representative in Canada, seeking to increase contributions of articles and material from that country. We also plan this year to produce more Research Guides. Two Guides, on Turkey and on Kurdish studies, will be sent out shortly. We are looking for authors to produce additional Guides on various countries and issues. As always, we are open to suggestions and proposals for new projects. And, of course, we encourage the submission of articles for MERIA Journal and of information for MERIA News.

1. PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST
Monographs and Books:
The Department of Politics & IR, Lancaster U has published: Lancaster Papers, no. 2, Ori Golan, "Israel Towards 2000: A House of Visions and Divisions" and Lancaster Papers, no. 4, Paul Aarts, "Dilemmas of Regional Cooperation in the Middle East" Gerd Nonneman <g.nonneman@lancaster.ac.uk>. 

Jaffa Center for Strategic Studies has published Shmuel Even's, "Trends in Defense Expenditures in the Middle East," (Hebrew) and Imri Tov's, "Defense and Economics in Israel" (Hebrew): <http://www.tau.ac.il/jcss>. 

The Dayan Center has published David Menashri's, "Iran After Khomeini: Revolutionary Ideology versus National Interests? (Hebrew): <dayancen@ccsg.tau.cc.il>. 

General Liman von Sanders, Five Years in Turkey is available from the Battery Press. <batterybks@aol.com> or fax (615)-298-1401. Paul B. Henze, Turkey and Ataturks Legacy: Turkey's Political Evolution, U.S. Relations and Prospects for the 21st. Century is available from SOTA. Tel./fax: + 31-23-529-2883.

Journals:
The new issue of the Journal of Maronite Studies, Vol.3, No.4, (October 1999) <http://www.mari.org>. 

The Palestine-Israel Journal, Vol. 6, No.1, on Human Rights: <http://www.pij.org> or <circulation@pij.org>.

American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS) Newsletter- Fall 1999:
<http://www.la.utexas.edu/research/mena/aims/news99f.html>.

Nur Bilge Criss and Serdar Guner published "Geopolitical Configurations: "The Russia-Turkey-Iran Triangle," in Security Dialogue, Vol. 30, No. 3 (September 1999). Serdar Guner <sguner@Bilkent.edu.tr>

2. WEBSITES/GROUPS ONLINE
A. General
A reference site for the British Empire and the Middle East with a touch-sensitive map giving access to particular countries: <http://www.edunltd.com/empire/maproom/mideast.htm>. 
U.S. Report on the Middle East (USROM) has good links to political, economic and defense news: <http://www.usrom.com>. 
Samizdat, a Greek journal available in Greek and English, has subsections devoted to Greek-Turkish relations and the Cyprus issue: <http://www.add.gr/news/samizdat/inden.htm> 
Middle East Insight, a bi-monthly publication. <www.mideastinsight.org> 
Institute du Monde Arabe has good links to all Arab countries (geography, education, other stats and history): <http://www.imarabe.org/perm/mondearabe/pays/>. 
A comprehensive geopolitical guide to the middle east. Geopolitical Theory; Overview; Regional Geography; Geopolitical Issues: <http://list.org/~mdoyle/introduction.html>. 
Teaching Middle East politics via Internet-based role-play simulations: <http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/98/11>. 
London-based Al-Arab newspaper: <http://www.alarab.co.uk/TodayPages/alarabint.html> 
Arab News sources online: <http://www.alif.com/media>.
Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies focuses on the study of Arabic language and literature and Islamic civilization: <http://www.uib.no/jais/jais.htm> 
A survey on Islamist Intellectuals and Literature: <http://members.aol.com/ChrSzyska/homepage.htm> 
For weapons news of Middle East countries <http://www.fas.org/news>. 
A comprehensive gateway on Islam: <http://www.islamonline.com>. 
Attractive news site for political Islam: <http://www.megastories.com/islam> 
Historical links to the Middle East from Keele U: <http://www.keele.ac.uk/socs/ks45/PageHistory/4Area/Mediterranean.htm>. 
Excite France has a guide to Middle East sites in French:
<http://www.excite.fr/informatique/directory/21956>. 
U Michigan, Middle East government websites:
<http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/forme.html> 
A bibliography of recent literature on economic cooperation and integration in the Middle East by the Centre for International Studies (CIS), U Toronto: <http://www.utoronto.ca/cisecime>. 

B. Egypt:
Three good sites on Egyptian Copts: <http://www.copts.com>, <http://www.coptic.net>,  <http://www.coptic.net/Menu.html>.   
A variety of old and new articles, photos, references dealing with Cairo from the Egyptian Cyber Gazette: <http://www.egy.com >. 
Latest issue of Cairo Times for summing up of the year's events: <http://www.cairotimes.com>. 

C. Gulf
A report prepared by the U.S. Department of State, Saddam Hussein's Iraq: <http://www.usia.gov/regional/nea/iraq/iraq99.htm>. 
Send Farsi E-mail to Iranian President Muhammad Khatami via
<http://www.president.ir/email>. 
Iraq report: <http://www.rferl.org/iraq-report/contact.html>. 
A site with information about Iraq under the UN sanctions, <http://www.megastories.com/iraq/index.htm>. 
A historical/ geographical Iranian site (in French): <http://www.multimania.com/rezai/voyag/fram.htm>. 
Declassified documents on Iran and the USA:
<http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB21/index.html>. 
Geography Dept. of Indiana U has a link to "Oil, Conflict and Islam" hosting a Arabian peninsula fact sheet with info about Gulf States and other links to OPEC and Islam:
<http://mama.indstate.edu/users/alfred/courses/arabia.html> 
The Saudi Government Directory (ministries, agencies, offices abroad):
<http://www.saudiroyals.com/pages/govdir.asp>. 
A study on Saudi Arabia in the 1990s from the Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs: <http://jcpa.org/hit03.htm Public>. 

D. Peace Process
Summary of Wilton Park Conference, "Peace in the Middle East"
<http://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/conferences/reports/wp571report.html>. 
A site on Israel and Palestinians, with interactive map of Jerusalem, links on Arab-Israeli wars, and the political Islam: <http://www.megastories.com/mideast/index.htm> 
A very good site on final status talks from Anti-Defamation League includes analyses on main issues (Jerusalem, settlements, etc): <http://www.adl.org/frames/front_towards.html>. 
Israel/PLO Peace Agreements Digital Collection from the United States Institute of Peace Library:
<http://www.usip.org/library/pa/index/pa_israel_plo.html>. 
A special World Book feature on "Israel at 50": <http://www.worldbook.com/fun/wbla/israel50/html/ldr.htm>. 
Useful links on the issue of withdrawal from southern Lebanon: <http://www.angelfire.com/il/FourMothers>. 
The Druze in Israel: <http://jcpa.org/jcprg4.htm>. 

E. Magreb/North Africa
The World Algerian Action Coalition (WAAC): <http://www.waac.org>. 
Excellent links to articles and reports on Algeria from the WAAC: <http://www.waac.org/articles_reports_99.htm>. 
Historical links to Maghreb: <http://www.keele.ac.uk/socs/ks45/PageHistory/4Area/MiddleEast.htm>. 

F. Palestinians
Evaluation of the EU's assistance program to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jan. 1999:
<http://www.euromed.net/MEDA/REPORTS/WBGS-Evaluation-Report/index.html>. 
News from Center for Palestine Research & Studies (CPRS): <http://www.cprs-palestine.org/new.html> 
MERIA News recommends: A comprehensive and systematic assessment of the institutions of the Palestinian Authority, "Strengthening Palestinian Public Institutions," sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations: <http://www.cfr.org/public/pubs/palinstfull.html>. 
The Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (PASSIA): <http://www.passia.org/index_new.htm>. 
Hanthala Palestine - a Palestinian network for human rights and international law: <http://hanthala.virtualave.net/index.html>. 
Cyber Palestine has a comprehensive listing of Palestine-related sites:
<http://www.cyberpalestine.org> 
Documents from the Palestine Information Centre on Peace Process:
<http://www.alquds.org/palestine/peace/index.html >. 
The Palestine and Arabic Studies Program at Birzeit University:
<http://www2.birzeit.edu/pas/index2.html> 
An extraordinarily comprehensive Palestinian homepages list:
<http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Lagoon/8522/palestinians.html> 

G. Syria
Useful database sponsored by Syria Today:
<http://www.syriatoday.com>. 

H. Turkey
Center for Strategic Studies and International Studies Turkish Studies program, <http://webu6102.ntx.net/turkey>. 
Turkey Update, a periodical: <http://webu6102.ntx.net/turkey/TUpdate.html>. 
The Turkish Higher Education Council (YOK):<http://www.yok.gov.tr/indexeng.html>. 
BBC on Turkish-Kurdish situation:
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/from_our_own_correspondent/newsid_544000/544028.stm>. 
Radio 4's "Ocalan File Special Report": <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_280000/280453.stm>. 

I. International research centers and information sources
The Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy: <http://www.bgu.ac.il/chcenter>. 
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP):
<http://www.usip.org/oc/in-depth/middle_east_in-depth.html> 
Ameen Rihani Institute, a new institute to further Arab-American
understanding: <http://www.ameenrihani.org/arnews.htm>. 

3. FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS TO E-MAIL PUBLICATIONS
MERIA News recommended resource: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc (RFE/RL) is giving free subscriptions to Iraq Report: <iraqreport-request@list.rferl.org>, the Iran Report:
<iranreport-request@list.rferl.org>, and the Caucasus Report: <caucasus-report-request@list.rferl.org>. All these publications are also available at:
<http://www.rferl.org/iraq-report>, <http://www.rferl.org/iran-report>, and <http://www.rferl.org/caucasus-report> 

The Sleeping Giant is an international online resource detailing the threat of non-conventional weapons and terrorism: <http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/7663/updates.htm> or
<SleepingGiant@onelist.com>. 

The Middle East Forum is beginning "Middle East Wires" -summary
reports about forum lectures and other events and "MEF Notices" -- invitations,
media alerts, etc. To subscribe: <MEForum@aol.com>. 

4. FUNDING/SCHOLARSHIPS/FELLOWSHIPS/WRITING OPPORTUNITIES
The International Research & Exchanges Board (IREX) offers travel grants for brief visits to the Newly Independent States of Eurasia, Turkey, or Iran for projects in the social sciences. Deadlines: February 1, 2000 and June 1, 2000. IREX also has limited funding for American scholars to invite an international scholar from IREX's program countries to the US for collaborative projects. <irex@irex.org> or <http://www.irex.org> 

The theme for the Annual Meeting of American Political Science Association (APSA) is "Political Science as Discipline? Reconsidering Power, Choice, and the State at Century's End." APSA seeks proposals for panels, papers, and posters: <apsa@apsanet.org> or
<http://www.apsanet.org/mtgs/call.cfm>. 

Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal. Contributions are welcomed in English, French, German, and Italian:<http://www.uib.no/jais/jais.htm>. 

The Center for International Studies (CIS) welcomes applications from junior scholars for its visiting fellowship competition for the 2000-2001 year on the topic, "Gender in International Relations." Applicants should submit: CV, 5-7 page research proposal, a list of publications (if applicable), graduate transcript, and 3 recommendation letters by January 14, 2000: <lascis@usc.edu> or <http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/ir/cis/>. 

Call for papers for the first Middle East Virtual Community Conference, "People Across Borders" (July-August 2000) to be held by Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace and Dept. of Political Science, Hebrew U. Topics: Political Dimensions; Legal Dimensions; Social/Cultural Dimensions; Economic Dimensions;Technological
Dimensions. To be held on the Internet: <mdahan@ibm.net> or <meba@nets.com.jo>.

International Insights, a refereed journal of international affairs, is calling for papers, opinions, treaty and case comments, as well as book reviews related to international affairs, Vol. 15 (1) Spring 2000. Deadline: January 15, 2000: <insights@is.dal.ca> or <http://www.dal.ca/~centre/insights>.

The Islamic & Near Eastern Studies program, U of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), is soliciting applications for research papers and/or convening a working group for UCSB's interdisciplinary conference, Middle East 2000 to be held on March 25. Ancient, medieval and modern topics. Deadline: January 15, 2000: <dreynold@humanitas.ucsb.edu> 

Melcom International (European Association of Middle East Librarians/Association Europenne des Bibliothcaires du Moyen-Orient) annual conference in Venezia, May 22-24. Call for papers: <http://www.uni-bamberg.de/unibib/melcom/news.html>. 

The Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, U Durham, UK is calling for proposals for the conference, Borders, Orders & Identities of the Muslim World, to be held in July 2000: <http://www-ibru.dur.ac.uk/conf/islam/intro.html> or
<michelle.speak@durham.ac.uk>. 

International Center for Contemporary Middle Eastern Studies is seeking papers for international conference, "Turkey in the 21st Century: Changing Role in World Politics?? to be held on April 26-28, Eastern Mediterranean U, Gazi Magusa, TRNC (North Cyprus). Deadline for abstracts: January 6, fax to: +90 392 365 2028.

The American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS) offers grants for doctoral and post-doctoral research pertaining to North Africa in any field or academic discipline covering the academic year beginning in June 2000. Graduate students enrolled in Ph.D. programs and faculty in all disciplines who are U.S. citizens are eligible for short-term travel grants and full research grants. Preference for projects involving field work in North Africa. Deadline: February 15, 2000: Call 212-636-6390.

MACECE, an American-Moroccan organization based in Rabat, awards merit-based grants to graduate students, professors, research scholars and secondary school teachers from each country to enable them to study, research, or teach in the other country:<http://www.alakhawayn.ma/macece/macece.htm>.

U of Buffalo, State U of New York, through its World Languages Institute (WLI) and Office of International Education (OIE) offers a summer study program in Jordan and Syria. The July 5-August 12, 2000 program, entitled "Off the Beaten Path: A Summer Sojourn to Jordan & Syria" is designed to give participants an opportunity to learn about Jordan, Syria and the Arab World in formal (e.g., lectures/coursework) and informal (e.g., homestay, conversation partners) settings. Mark Ashwill: <ashwill@acsu.buffalo.edu.>. 

The Halle U Library is preparing a project "Virtual Library Middle East/North Africa". An essential part is the Subject Gateway of relevant digital and printed resources on and from the Middle East. To contribute or be part of the board: Dr. Lutz Wiederhold: <wiederhold@bibliothek.uni-halle.de> or phone: 49-(0)345-55-22164 or Fax: 49-(0)345-55-27140.

5. RESEARCH QUERIES-PLEASE HELP

Middle East and North African water issues online database will include info on conferences, publications, news, other organizations and events. To contribute to data base or join the water working group: <sdconinc@hotmail.com>.

6. SCHOLAR'S AND AUTHOR'S ALERTS (tell us about your books, articles, or activities) 

7. ANNOUNCEMENTS OF MEETINGS, CONFERENCES, LECTURES
[This only lists new entries. For additional items, see MERIA News past issues on our homepage. We welcome submissions of events.]

January 12. "The Rise of Political Islam in the Maghrib," Prof. Bassam Tibi. Dayan Center. 6.15PM, Malka Brender Hall of Justice, Trubovitz Building, Tel Aviv U: <dayancen@ccsg.tau.cc.il> or <http://www.tau.ac.il/dayancenter/framecom.htm>. 

January 12, 2000, 6 p.m., CCAS Boardroom, 241 Intercultural Center, Georgetown University. (Washington, D.C., US) "Structural Adjustment Trends in the Arab Economies," a lecture by Dr. Kemal Dervis, World Bank. RSVP required. <ccasinfo@gunet.georgetown.edu> 

January 14-16. "Marching into the Millennium," Arab Students'
Conference, U Michigan. <http://www.umich.edu/~adcum/conference/>

January 17. "From Pilgrims to Tourists: A Taxonomy of Middle Eastern
Travel" by Prof Bernard Lewis. The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern
and African Studies. 18:30, Ettinger Hall, Gilman Building, Tel Aviv U:
<dayancen@ccsg.tau.cc.il> or
<http://www.tau.ac.il/dayancenter/framecom.htm>.

March-May. "Arab Voices," book discussions on Arabic fiction (Chicago,
US) <http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/2953/> 

March 6-9. Political and Economic Prospects in the Caspian Sea Region
(West Sussex, UK): <http://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/conferences/welcome.html> or
<admin@wiltonpark.org.uk> 

March 17-28. "Splendors of Egypt" tour, sponsored by Lake County Museum
(Chicago, US); information at 312-94-Egypt or <SWTEgypt@aol.com>. 

March 25. Middle East 2000: An Interdisciplinary Conference, Santa
Barbara. The Islamic & Near Eastern Studies program, U. of California:
<dreynold@humanitas.ucsb.edu>. 

March 30. Secularization within limits: Kemalism, Islam and Democracy in Turkey, Mediterranean Programme Seminar, Haldan Gulalp (Bogazici University). Robert Schuman Centre, Italy. <http://www.iue.it/RSC/Events-forthc.htm> 

March 31-July 15. "The Muslim Experience: Chicago, America, the World,"
(exhibits and presentations) at DePaul University (Chicago, US).
<http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/2953/> 

April 14-15. Iran and the Surrounding World since 1500: Cultural
Influences and Interactions, (Los Angeles, US). UCLA is hosting the
conference: <nancyc@humnet.ucla.edu>.

May 11. Wars, Conflicts and the Legitimisation of Violence in the
Middle East, Mediterranean Programme Seminar, Dietrich Jung (COPRI).
Robert Schuman Centre, Italy. <http://www.iue.it/RSC/Events-forthc.htm>.

May 26: Monitoring and Verification of Peace Agreements (West Sussex,
UK): <http://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/conferences/welcome.html> or
<admin@wiltonpark.org.uk> 

Awards: Lycos, Top 5% Site; Arab E-Journal, Publication of the month;
Selection, Scout Report for Social Sciences; Award, Newsbytes news wire; LinksGo Key Resource Award//MERIA is indexed in Cambridge University's Index Islamicus. Staff: Barry Rubin, editor; Assistant Editors: Linda Sharaby (editorial); Cameron Brown (administrative). London representative: Lawrence Joffe. Canadian representative: Brent Sasley.