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Sara Sadek is an affiliated researcher and coordinator at the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS) at the American University in Cairo. She obtained an MA in Refugee Studies from the University of East London. Since 2005, she has worked on various research projects on Iraqi and Sudanese communities in Egypt, contributing to a report on Iraqis in Egypt and recently producing a paper on challenges of integration for Iraqis in Arab states for the Henry L. Stimson Center’s forthcoming volume Transnational Challenges.
Moving to a post-Khamenei era: Iran’s new rubber-stamp Assembly of Experts
The results of the March 1 election for Iran’s Assembly of Experts hold great importance for understanding how the regime is preparing for the selection of the next supreme leader. The major responsibility of this 88-member body is to designate Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s successor, either after his death or if he becomes incapable of fulfilling his responsibilities.
Rebuilding Gaza: Navigating the politics of infrastructure
The scale of rebuilding needed after the Gaza war, in addition to the difficult political questions involved, will require close international coordination as well as innovative, future-informed thinking.
The Evolving Conflict Between Hezbollah and Israel
MEI’s US-Lebanon Fellow Fadi Nicholas Nassar and Emile Hokayem – Director of Regional Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies – discuss the changing and uncertain rules of engagement between Hezbollah and Israel, and the potential for war between the two following Oct. 7.
Since Oct. 7, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been at the center of international attention. This is in stark contrast to the situation in recent years, when the issue has been sidelined in the international discourse and the question of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking has almost disappeared from the diplomatic agenda.
Amid war, resolving Lebanon-Israel territorial disputes unlikely
With Israel and Hezbollah on the brink of war, there have been ongoing diplomatic attempts to defuse tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border. Among the long-standing issues between the two countries are disagreements over their shared boundary. Asher Kaufman takes a closer look at these territorial disputes and how they came about, with a particular focus on the village of Ghajar at the center of the tension.
Biden's Gaza aid port plan: How did we get here and where might it lead?
Since Oct. 7, humanitarian aid has been entering the Gaza Strip via land and air. Following US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on March 7, aid is also likely to enter via the sea, under an emergency US mission to establish a temporary pier on the Gaza coast that can receive large shipments of food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters.
Women’s rights under the Taliban: The socio-economic consequences of political exclusion
One of the first things the Taliban did after capturing power in August 2021 was to abolish the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs and re-establish the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. The environment within which Afghan girls and women had found avenues of employment, education, and empowerment over the previous two decades had been lost. Many families now had to deal with acute poverty, mental health issues, and even suicides.
A report card on women’s integration into Arab militaries
A look at what Arab countries have done to implement the year 2000 UN Security Council resolution on women, peace, and security, especially in terms of increasing women’s presence in the armed forces.
Interview With Rashid Al Khalifa – Bahraini Artist, Collector And Founder of RAK Art Foundation
Director of MEI’s Arts & Culture Center Lyne Sneige interviews HH Sheik Rashid Al Khalifa – artist, collector and founder of the RAK Art Foundation and a participating artist in MEI’s current exhibition “The Sea of Life: Modern and Contemporary Art from The Kingdom of Bahrain”
