Primer Archives

As George W. Bush’s administration seeks a UN resolution threatening”consequences” for Iraqi non-cooperation with toughened weapons inspections, US-led military intervention to remove Saddam Hussein’s regime appears to be a likely denouement to the crisis. While Bush claims that “America speaks with one voice” on the urgent need to topple Hussein, demonstrations across the country show that much of the US public has not accepted the administration’s case for war.

One of MERIP’s signature issues over the years has been the question of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict—partly because of its intrinsic interest but largely because so much myth and cant clouds the mainstream media coverage of this subject that independent analysis is particularly necessary. This primer by Joel Beinin and Lisa Hajjar is a good place to start in understanding what is at stake as events unfold.

Water is a prominent topic in discussions about the Middle East. Yet media coverage, policy reports and scholarly works often fall into simplistic accounts of scarcity, imminent crisis and potential water wars. This primer in PDF format by Jessica Barnes offers a valuable introduction to the topic that challenges the dominant narratives.