Middle East

• 
• SOURCE: Daily Beast
  6/19/19
  

  Trump and the Persian Gulf Have a Long, Surprising History

  In 1987, Trump attacked Reagan’s deployment in the Gulf to protect ‘ships we don’t own, carrying oil we don’t need destined for allies who won’t help.’ 

• 
• 6/9/19
  

  Arbella Bet-Shlimon Got Into History to Counter False Perceptions of Middle East Region

  by Erik Moshe

  She had a goal when she first started out in history: to use teaching, scholarship, and research to help offset spurious ideas that foster cruelty to Middle Easterners in the United States and prolong destructive foreign policy abroad.

• 
• SOURCE: Lobelog
  5/21/19
  

  The Real Reason Iran’s Hardliners Don’t Want To Talk To America

  by Shireen T. Hunter

  Tehran’s reluctance to engage in direct talks with America at a normal state-to-state level within a bilateral framework long predates the Trump administration. 

• 
• 5/19/19
  

  History Does Not Bode Well for President Trump’s Peace Plan

  by Yoav J. Tenembaum

  History has taught us that every attempt by the United States to settle the Arab Israeli conflict by advancing its own peace plan has failed.    

• 
• SOURCE: Informed Comment
  5/15/19
  

  Top Ten differences between the Iraq War and Trump’s Proposed Iran War

  by Juan Cole

  An informative look. 

• 
• SOURCE: NY Times
  5/9/19
  

  Now for Sale on Facebook: Looted Middle Eastern Antiquities

  Artifacts said to have been taken from the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria have been offered for sale on Facebook.

• 
• SOURCE: American Diplomacy
  Accessed 5/9/19
  

  Preventing an Israeli-Iran War

  by Alon Ben-Meir

  The EU is in a unique position to prevent the outbreak of a war between Israel and Iran that could engulf the Middle East in a war that no one can win.

• 
• 5/5/19
  

  Denying Omar Barghouti Admittance to the U.S. Is a Free Speech Issue

  by Zachary Lockman

  A response to A.J. Caschetta from the chair of the North America wing of the Middle East Studies Association’s Committee on Academic Freedom.

• 
• 5/5/19
  

  Why the Middle East Studies Association Should Not Defend Omar Barghouti

  by A.J. Caschetta

  MESA portrays Barghouti as a dissident who has been unfairly treated but Barghouti is much more than an outspoken activist whose opinions conflict with U.S. policy.

• 
• SOURCE: Tom Dispatch
  5/2/19
  

  Spring Stirrings and Misgivings

  by Rebecca Gordon

  Of Autocrats and Uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.

• 
• 4/21/19
  

  The Middle East, Land Disputes, and Religious History

  by Zaman Stanizai

  Can a land be claimed on the basis of the scriptural myths of one religion with implied exclusion of all other religious communities?

• 
• 4/7/19
  

  The Golan Heights: Its History and Significance Today

  by Moriel Ram

  Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights might have serious repercussions for the future but to understand exactly why, and how, it’s necessary to first understand the past.      

• 
• SOURCE: NY Times
  3/21/19
  

  A Brief History of the Golan Heights, Claimed by Israel and Syria

  The Six-Day War of June 1967 ended in decisive victories for Israel, which seized the Golan Heights from Syria.

• 
• 3/24/19
  

  America, Palestine, and UNRWA: A History of Self-interest

  by Laura Robson

  Donald Trump recently announced he would withdraw from the American commitment to provide some $300 million to UNRWA. Here is the history of the organization and American involvement. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  3/9/19
  

  Woodrow Wilson and ‘the Ugliest of Treacheries’

  by Erez Manela

  After World War I, America was supposed to lead the fight against colonialism. What happened?

• 
• SOURCE: Tom Dispatch
  2/19/19
  

  New Interactive Tool Maps the American War on Terror

  by Stephanie Savell

  In general, the American public has largely ignored these post-9/11 wars and their costs. But the vastness of Washington’s counterterror activities suggests, now more than ever, that it’s time to pay attention.

• 
• SOURCE: Tom Dispatch
  2/14/19
  

  Veni, Vidi, Tweeti (I Came, I Saw, I Tweeted)

  by Tom Engelhardt

  An Obituary for the Republic

• 
• SOURCE: Smithsonian.com
  2/13/19
  

  The History of Poisoning the Well

  From ancient Mesopotamia to modern-day Iraq, the threat to a region’s water supply is the cruelest cut of all  

• 
• SOURCE: Tom Dispatch
  1/6/19
  

  The Crisis of Imperialism And Why It Will Only Get Worse

  by Tom Engelhardt

  A tale of imperial power gone awry that could hardly have been uglier. Yet, it’s hard to imagine how things won’t, in fact, get uglier still.

• 
• 12/23/2018
  

  We Wanted to Publish an Illustrated History of the Holy Land. We Couldn’t Make Everybody Happy.

  by H. G. M. Williamson

  One compromise was to stop our history in 1918.