This special edition of MEI Viewpoints offers snapshots of sports and the Middle East.
The Middle East Institute is pleased to host poet, writer and activist Nimah Nawwab for a conversation about Saudi women in an era of unprecedented change in the Middle East. Despite the many advances of the Arab Spring, the region continues to face mounting social, political, and economic challenges. In Nawwab's native Saudi Arabia, these challenges form the basis for her art and activism.
Podcast for Saudi Women in a Time of Change, 26 April, 2012
Podcast for Saudi Women in a Time of Change, 26 April, 2012
Podcast for Saudi Women in a Time of Change, 26 April, 2012
Podcast for Saudi Women in a Time of Change, 26 April, 2012
The tumultuous political changes taking place across the region dominate the news — deservedly so. Yet, there are other changes taking place throughout the Middle East which, though less prominent, also merit attention. Indeed, the region has no shortage of creative and committed “change agents” who in ways great and small have taken meaningful steps to address the myriad challenges to the sustainability of the region’s physical environment. Volume II in this series offers snapshots of a small selection of the many efforts aimed at cultivating responsible environmental stewardship.
This infographic explains one facet of the argument posed in MEI Scholar Zubair Iqbal‘s recent article The Economic Determinants of Arab Democratization, posted March 13.
Click the image to enlarge
Jerusalem will probably be the toughest issue in any future Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The other three core issues – borders/settlements, security, and Palestinian refugees – will also be very difficult, but Jerusalem is at a different level. Jews, Muslims, and Christians worldwide have strong attachment to the city and its many holy sites. For Israelis and Palestinians, Jerusalem is the focal point of national, cultural, and religious identities and aspirations. Their conflicting claims are based on long history and narratives that do not accommodate the other.
Originally posted September, 2011
The flow of ideas, people, and commerce across national boundaries has been occurring with breathtaking rapidity in the broader Middle East, as elsewhere. These increasingly dense exchanges have generated new threats and vulnerabilities that have tended to impact women, children, and the poorest members of society disproportionately. They also have given people more resources and opportunities with which to shape their lives and their futures.
Originally posted September 2011
Approximately six months ago, I asked an astute long-time American observer of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict whether we had come to the end of the road for a two-state solution. He replied that we had come to the end of that road in 1967. Putting it differently, Zhou Enlai, the premier of the People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong, when asked what he thought of the French Revolution, reportedly replied that it was too early to tell.
Are Iran’s leaders rational actors? This question matters when justifying any decision by Israel to preempt Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. An Iranian regime seen as driven to destroy the Jewish state has to be dealt with differently than one whose objectives are mediated by calculations of costs and benefits. Deterrents that would be normally expected to restrain a state would not work with an irrational Iran.
Of all the countries that are vital to the strategic and economic interests of the United States, Saudi Arabia is the least understood by the American people. Today's Saudis, far better informed than previous generations, are looking for new political institutions that will enable them to be heard, but these aspirations conflict with the kingdom's strict traditions and with the House of Saud's determination to retain power. Meanwhile, the country wishes to remain under the protection of American security but still clings to a system that is antithetical to American values.
In the wake of the February 6 announcement that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will head an interim unity government there is renewed hope for political cooperation between rival parties Fatah and Hamas. The formation of the unity government however threatens U.S. aid to Palestine, as the United States has said that it refuses to send money to Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization. The PLO's continued pursuit of statehood recognition in the UN Security Council has also isolated it from the United States even as it earned popular and international support.