Middle East Research and Information Project
For immediate release
June 7, 2002
Middle East Report 223 Summer 2002

BARRIERS TO PEACE

Israel's Operation Defensive Shield is over—for now—but the month-long offensive has left the structural components of periodic Middle East crisis intact: Israeli occupation, Palestinian resistance and the failure of US administrations to pursue a just peace. The summer 2002 issue of Middle East Report, "Barriers to Peace," steps back from the headlines to ponder the transformations in Palestinian and Israeli society wrought by the breakdown of the Oslo "peace process" and the second intifada.

Scholar-activist Rema Hammami reviews the impact of Operation Defensive Shield on Palestinian politics and civilian life in the Occupied Territories. Talk of reforming the Palestinian Authority emanates partly from elite power struggles and partly from profound popular disillusionment with the PA's lack of leadership during the intifada, which culminated in the grievous blow suffered by Palestinian society during the twin offensives of March-April. Kathleen Cavanaugh and Jamil Dakwar, specialists in international humanitarian law, present the results of their investigations into allegations of Israeli war crimes in Jenin and Nablus.

In Israel, the political climate is marked by greatly reduced tolerance for criticism of the national unity government's policies. As Israeli political geographer Oren Yiftachel writes, this shrinking space for dissent is primarily felt by Palestinian citizens, but also by Israeli Jews who question the right-leaning consensus. Israeli revisionist historian Ilan Pappé, who recently fended off a politically motivated prosecution at his university, contributes his analysis of how the Israeli media has misinformed the public about Israeli military action, the intifada and the Palestinians.

A special extra section in "Barriers to Peace" looks at the complicated and contentious politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the US arena. Scholar Don Wagner lays out the history of Christian Zionist theology and the now famous links between the Likud Party and American evangelicals. Ian Urbina, associate editor at the Middle East Research and Information Project, reports on the budding student movement for divestment from Israel.

Also featured: Khalid Medani researches the social impact in Somalia of hawwala closures in the US; Karen Pfeifer assesses Kuwait's economic strategy amid speculation about a repeat of Desert Storm; Alice Bullard chronicles the efforts of Mauritanian anti-slavery activists; and more.

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Middle East Report is published by the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), a progressive, independent non-profit based in Washington, DC. Since 1971 MERIP has provided critical analysis of the Middle East, focusing on political economy, popular struggles and the implications of US and international policy for the region.

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