THIS ISSUE THE LEVANT: PALESTINE AND JORDANBeauty and meaning: Th e British Museum collection of...

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Narguess FarzadSOAS

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Najm Jarrah

George Joff éCambridge University

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August - September 2011£4 | €5 | US$6.5

THIS ISSUE » PALESTINE AND JORDAN » ROGER HARDY: OBAMA AND THE ARAB SPRING » THE PALESTINE LITERATURE FESTIVAL » UNREST IN THE LEVANT » THE PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD STRATEGY » THE BRITISH MUSEUM COLLECTION OF PALESTINIAN COSTUME » THE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN JORDAN » PLUS » POETRY, BOOKS AND EVENTS IN LONDON

August-September 2011 » The Middle East in London » 3

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4 EDITORIAL

5INSIGHTObama and the Arab spring Roger Hardy

7THE LEVANT‘We are children, we deserve a childhood’Th e Palestine Literature FestivalUrsula Owen

8Unrest in the LevantDina Matar talks to Gilbert Achcar

10Pulled in diff erent directionsTh e youth of JordanMariam Adas-Tarawnah

12Th e Palestinian statehood strategyVictor Kattan

14 Beauty and meaning: Th e British Museum collection of Palestinian costumeShelagh Weir

16Th e wind of change in JordanMarta Pietrobelli

18Th e times they are a-changingA History of the Palestine Solidarity CampaignHilary Wise

19POETRYNizar Qabbani and Mahmoud Darwsih

20REVIEWS: BOOKSTh e New Arab Journalist by Lawrence PintakNajm Jarrah

21Arabic Graffi ti edited by Pascal ZoghbiSalma Tuqan

22BOOKS IN BRIEF

24RESTAURANTAl-Waha Nadje Al-Ali

Contents

25PROFILEBrian Whitaker

26LISTINGS: AUGUST-SEPTEMBER EVENTS

4 » The Middle East in London » August-September 2011

Dear ReaderDear Reader

EDITORIALEDITORIAL

Najm Jarrah, MEL Editorial Board

The summer heat has been beating down harshly on the fl owers that blossomed during the Arab Spring.

It has had a withering eff ect on the sense of possibility and empowerment that was generated throughout the region by the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.

In both places, exhilaration has given way to realisation that the hard part of the struggle to eff ect real change still lies ahead. Th e contagion has not stopped spreading, with every Arab country feeling the eff ects in some way. But the story today is more about the forces of counter-revolution. Everywhere, it seems, the march of people-power is being impeded by a combination of regime fi ght-back (employing various means of both coercion and co-optation), social divisions (expertly manipulated by power elites), and foreign

or regional interference (whether outwardly humanitarian or nakedly self-interested). A region that looked poised for a remarkable transformation now fi nds itself caught in the throes of escalated repression, for all the talk of dialogue and reform, and of actual or threatened civil war or external military intervention. And the Western reaction, as Roger Hardy points out on the next page, has been confused and inconsistent.

But as Gilbert Achcar reminds us, this is a process that will take years to unfold and whose outcomes and consequences are impossible to foretell. Perhaps nowhere more so than in the countries of the Levant, with their intertwined histories, populations and politics, on whose southern tier – Jordan and Palestine—this issue of Th e Middle East in London focuses.

Here, the Arab Spring has become

unavoidably bound up with the politics of the Arab-Israeli confl ict, as Mariam Adas illustrates in her article on Jordanian youth. And although a peaceful resolution to that confl ict seems ever more elusive, hope springs from various sources: Victor Kattan draws it from the forthcoming bid to secure international recognition of Palestinian statehood; Hilary Wise from shift ing public opinion in the West; and Ursula Owen from the sheer resilience of Palestinians living under occupation.

How the broader hopes raised by the Arab Spring play out remains to be seen. Our magazine will continue trying to shed light on aspects of the process. We meanwhile welcome Rhiannon Edwards as our new Co-ordinating Editor.

A view of Jerusalem dominated by the Dome of the Rock. June 2011


When Barack Obama delivered his Cairo speech in June 2009, he tiptoed round the issue of

democracy. Th e new American president made clear his support for the rights of women and minorities, but was at pains to stress that ‘no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other’.

Th is was in part understandable. His predecessor, George Bush, had made the issue toxic. Bush’s ‘freedom agenda’ had been both confrontational and ideological (associated, as it was, with the neoconservative wing of his administration). So, as he held out an olive branch to the Muslim world and off ered a

‘new beginning’ based upon ‘mutual interest and mutual respect’, Obama was anxious to change the tone on this sensitive subject. He was deeply committed, he declared, to ‘governments that refl ect the will of the people’; but, at the same time, ‘America does not presume to know what is best for everyone’.

It was a shift that sparked criticism, from both left and right, during Obama’s fi rst two years in offi ce. Many thought the administration’s approach to democracy and human rights – whether on Egypt or China – was too timid. Th is strengthened the view that both Obama and his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, were pursuing a traditional ‘realist’ foreign policy, rather than a liberal-

internationalist one. For liberals who had been inspired by the rhetoric of Obama’s election campaign, this was among the fi rst of many disappointments.

When the Arab Spring arrived at the start of 2011, the administration was caught on the back foot. I watched its early response to the wave of protest in the region from the vantage point of the Woodrow Wilson Center, the Washington think-tank where I was a visiting scholar. It was a salutary experience for someone who had been, as I had, caught up in the mood of hope that surrounded Obama’s election in the autumn of 2008.

Th e Arab Spring has, to be sure, produced dilemmas and diffi culties for all Western policy-makers. Diplomats and policy-makers in Europe were shocked and embarrassed by the demise of the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia – a country they had

Roger Hardy analyses America’s controversial reaction to the challenge posed by the events in the Middle East

INSIGHTINSIGHT

When the Arab Spring arrived, the administration was caught on the back foot

Obama and the Arab SpringObama and the Arab Spring

President Barack Obama and Hosni Mubarak after an arrival ceremony at the presidential palace in CairoJune 4, 2009


US Defence Secretary Robert Gates

for years held up as an oasis of tranquility and economic progress, despite its well-documented human-rights abuses and harsh suppression of dissent.

Obama’s real diffi culties began, not with Tunisia, which is marginal to US interests, but with Egypt, which is central to them. Egypt’s ageing President Hosni Mubarak had been, for all his faults, a close ally for decades. Th e view, especially in the State Department, was that dumping him would send a deeply unsettling signal to other allies in the region. So as the drama of Tahrir Square unfolded, the Obama administration dithered. It decided that its main – in some respects its only – card was its close relationship with the Egyptian military, beholden to Washington for decades of generous aid. Th e phone lines between Washington and Cairo sizzled as the American top brass phoned their Egyptian opposite numbers to urge them not to open fi re on the demonstrators – and to work for a peaceful transition of power.

Mubarak’s eventual departure solved the immediate problem, but plenty of further dilemmas lay in store. Th e Saudis were furious at what they saw as an American

betrayal. Th eir intervention in Bahrain added further serious strain to the US-Saudi relationship. As the unrest has spread to Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, the administration has struggled to come up with a coherent response.

As it seeks to disentangle itself from the foreign wars it inherited from Bush, the administration has been reluctant to intervene in new ones. It supported France and Britain in intervening in Libya only with considerable misgivings – and against the advice of Obama’s infl uential defence secretary Robert Gates. Th e current stalemate in Libya has vindicated the doubters, ensuring there will be no other interventions.

Any administration would have been seriously challenged by the extraordinary events of recent months. But Obama has become the victim of his own rhetoric. If his keynote speech delivered at the State Department on May 19 is to be believed, the president and his administration regard the Arab Spring as a development of historic import and support the freedom and self-determination of the Arab citizens of every Arab state. Th is strains credulity. It is

all very well for Western leaders to seek to put themselves on the ‘right side of history’ – whether that means Barack Obama enthusing over the Arab Spring, or David Cameron justifying Western intervention in Libya – but doing so does not disguise the tangle of contradictions they fi nd themselves in.

Having long been complicit in Arab autocracy, Western leaders have not now reversed themselves, as their rhetoric might lead us to suppose. As they struggle to produce coherent policies, their support for democracy is selective, applying to enemies (Iran, Syria) but only occasionally to allies (to Egypt, once the writing was on the wall, but not to Bahrain or Saudi Arabia). In the case of the Obama administration, there is no reason to believe that when interests and principles collide, principles will come fi rst. Its foreign policy in the Greater Middle East has been marred by the yawning gap between promise and performance.

Roger Hardy is the author of Th e Muslim Revolt: a Journey through Political Islam , 2010 and a former Middle East and Islamic aff airs analyst with the BBC World Service

As they struggle to produce coherent policies, the Western leaders’ support for democracy is selective


Ursula Owen uncovers the bitter legacy of confl ict during her visit to the Palestine Literature Festival

A Palfest workshop at Bethlehem University, 2011

passageways between the buildings, and the awful constraints on their lives. ‘We are children, we deserve a childhood’. ‘I never want to hear the words ‘Forbidden’ or ‘Th is checkpoint is closed’ again.’ Th ey are lively and watchful, exchanging comments and jokes between themselves. Many have seen unspeakable things - the deaths and persecution of family members, forced evictions, arrests and detentions. A boy reads his piece –Th e Assassination of Childhood. He saw at fi rst hand the deaths of his cousin and aunt by an Israeli bomb. He feels the deaths were somehow his fault and tries to make sense of it all, to imagine a better future, to overcome the circumstances of their lives.

On to Bethlehem the next day, where we spend a morning on the lovely campus of Bethlehem University, clean, bright, modern, the garden full of fl owers. Gary Younge and I teach two classes of third year students; we talk about what it is to be silenced, how people get their voices heard, how advocacy works. Th ey are keen to learn and they talk articulately. It’s painful to contemplate the constraints that lie ahead for them when they fi nish college. Here in Bethlehem, the Wall, eight metres high, grey, oppressive, looms everywhere. A symbol of brute power. At one point it almost entirely surrounds an apartment block. Eighteen hundred and thirty fi ve Bethlehem families lost land when the Wall was built. It’s covered in graffi ti. ‘Love wins’. ‘Tear down this Wall so Tarek and his family can come home’. And, perhaps most appropriately, ‘One wall, two prisons’. Two prisons indeed.

Ursula Owen was a founder director of Virago Press and Chief Executive of Index on Censorship, and is the founder trustee of the Free Word Centre in London

THE LEVANTTHE LEVANT

‘We are children, we ‘We are children, we deserve a childhood’deserve a childhood’

It’s early morning, and there’s a heat haze hanging over the brown hills. Th e taxi driver taking us from Amman to

the King Hussein checkpoint tells us that, before l967, people used to go on day trips to the West Bank. Unimaginable now. At the checkpoint our group, about 18 of us, show our passports, again and again. On the third occasion the young Israeli soldier asks me whether I’ve been here before. ‘Not to the West Bank’, I reply. ‘Th is isn’t the West Bank’, he answers, quick as a fl ash, it’s Israel. Th e Israelis keep three of our group behind for four hours, something which will become familiar over the next week. Our friends have brown skins and Muslim names. ‘It’s the name that counts’, says one, ‘once you’re on the system you never get off it’. Th en we’re on our way to Jerusalem, where the Palestine Literature Festival (PalFest) will begin and end. In the week between we criss-cross the biblical landscape in our bus, stopping at checkpoints, sometimes briefl y, usually for hours, young Israelis with their guns and their sniff er dogs shouting instructions, asking questions, checking passports and cameras. We spend time in Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Hebron and then back to Jerusalem. We’re a group of many nationalities, all ages, all involved in writing, publishing, teaching, fi lm

making. PalFest’s aim is to put on writing workshops, readings, panel discussions in cultural and community centres, gardens, cafes, refugee camps, classrooms. We’re also here to learn about life in the West Bank. Th is is a place of great warmth and great intensity. Th e Palestinians we meet, besieged and cut off though they feel, are resilient beyond belief, determined to use their vitality and their imaginations to resist the occupation.

On the second day we drive from Jerusalem, through rolling hills topped by large settlements, to Nablus – a lively city with a crowded, bustling suq. My fi rst workshop, with Bidisha, is in Balata, a refugee camp on the edge of the city. It’s been there for 63 years, has two schools, a mosque and a church inside its walls, and houses 25,000 people. Houses are concrete, one family per room. Th ere is no space to expand, so the only way to build is up. Each new generation builds above the last but the foundations can’t carry more than fi ve storeys, so the next storey will be the last. What then? When we ask the 15 year-olds in our class to write about their lives, they describe the narrow, dark, stifl ing

Th ey have seen unspeakable things - the deaths and persecution of family members, forced evictions, arrests and detentions

© R

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How can you describe the current situation in the Arab world?

I use the concept of revolutionary process because if we look at the level of the Arab world, there’s hardly any country that has not been aff ected by this revolutionary shockwave. Th e process is still going on and it will probably continue for a very long time, so we are really still at the beginning of a process of transition, of revolutionary transition. In some countries regimes are trying to cope with this without reaching the point when the people would demand an overall regime change. In Libya, Syria and Yemen, a civil war of various degrees of violence is taking place, or threatening to, and the outcome will infl uence the rhythm of change elsewhere.

Can we turn to Syria and talk more about the status of this process and the objectives of the opposition?

Th e most representative group speaking for the Syrian protest movement is probably

the group of local co-ordination committees that you can fi nd on Facebook. Th ey demand freedom and democracy, and refuse to negotiate with the regime as long as the savage repression goes on.

We should make a basic distinction between at least two kinds of states in the Arab world. In Egypt and Tunisia, we fi nd state apparatuses pre-existing the toppled leaders. Th e situation is diff erent in Syria and Libya where the state apparatus has been radically re-shaped by the ruling family or the ruling elites. Th e two regimes were originally rooted in the military and, in both cases, the new rulers have completely reshaped the armed forces. If the regime were to be overthrown in Syria, it could only be as a result of a split in the armed forces and a civil war.

Are there any signs of other protests or strikes taking place in Syria?

Economic elites are still on the side of the regime because it has created favourable conditions for them in recent years. Th e protest movement remains mainly peripheral and the larger cities, Aleppo and Damascus, are still largely quiet. Th e elites are supporting the regime for fear of post-regime chaos. Th ey may shift their position if the protests last and reach the urban centres. Th e fear of chaos is much higher in Syria than what you had in Egypt. And therein lies the problem: if people manage to overthrow the regime in Syria or Libya, they will face a certain degree of institutional vacuum because the existing institutions are organically linked to the dictatorships.

As for the workers’ movement, it played a major role in Tunisia and Egypt and helped

Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at SOAS talks to Dina Matar about the Arab uprisings and their eff ect on the region


I cannot see any regime overthrow in the short term in Syria, unless there is a civil war

Unrest in the Unrest in the LevantLevant


(Opp0site) Gilbert Achcar

(Left) A group of Syrian women demonstrate in the Damascus protests, May 2011

the uprisings there to turn into revolutions. In Syria, as was the case in Egypt, there is no independent organised labour movement and we have not seen any similar grassroots movement to that which took place in Egypt. However, we cannot exclude this happening if the protest goes on.

Do you feel the momentum will continue despite the proposed reforms the Syrian president mentioned in the speech he gave on June 20?

Th e speech was disappointing and will not change anything. But the situation is diffi cult. In Libya, it is clear that without NATO intervention, Gaddafi would have been able to crush the movement. Th e Libyan forces loyal to Gaddafi are well armed and trained whereas no one is willing to arm the insurgents, including NATO, which in substituting itself for the insurrection tries to control the process and guarantee its future interests in this important oil state. Th e situation is diff erent in Syria. You would hardly fi nd any candidate for a military intervention there. Th e only country that might intervene is Turkey, but I would rather see this as a post-overthrow intervention for a state-building mission. I cannot see any regime overthrow in the short term: unless you have a serious split in the armed forces and therefore a civil war, the regime will remain in place.

What about the situation in Lebanon? How do you see that developing? And what are the major concerns?

It is obvious that the Lebanese situation is extremely dependent on Syria. If ever the Syrian regime were to fall, or even to be paralyzed, this would greatly aff ect the situation in Lebanon and in the region. Hezbollah would be dramatically weakened. Israel has been planning a revenge attack against the group since 2006 and if they feel that it lost the Syrian ally, they would be highly tempted to go ahead.

How do you see all these processes aff ecting the Palestinian situation?

Th e Palestinian situation is mostly aff ected by the consequences of the process in Egypt, more than by whatever happens in Syria. Th e Egyptian events led Washington to reconsider its attitude towards the Muslim Brotherhood, and we are now entering a new phase of collaboration between the MB and Washington with MB support for the Egyptian military council. Th e reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority came mainly as a result of this. What is now unfolding is an electoral clash between Israel and the Obama administration. Netanyahu’s speech before Congress can be seen as a declaration of war to Obama and as the fi rst attempt to prevent him from being re-elected for a second term. Th is happens at a time when the mass upheaval in the

Arab world makes it more urgent than ever for Washington to try to get some kind of peaceful settlement of the Israel-Palestine confl ict in order to defuse this major source of anti-US agitation. For its part, the Obama administration certainly wishes that new elections in Israel would change the government to the benefi t of Tzipi Livni’s Kadima.

Do you see any possibility of a Palestinian mass movement?

Th e Palestinian variant of the regional shockwave that we have seen until now has been the demand to end Palestinian divisions. Th is mobilisation was not that big, and the reconciliation (between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority) was directly related to the changes in Egypt and the shift in Washington’s attitude. It will take some time for a Palestinian mass movement to emerge, rejecting both the very corrupt PA and Hamas, which showed inclinations to despotism and also some corruption in Gaza. In this sense, the PA-Hamas reconciliation is a good thing because if the two work together, it can only facilitate the rise of a third force based on the grassroots movement. Th is will be infl uenced by the rhythm of the regional process. To go back where we started from, we are witnessing the unfolding of a revolutionary process aff ecting all of the region and it will take years. No one knows when and how it will end, but it has the immense merit of setting into motion a region that has been marred by social and political lethargy for several decades.

Dina Matar is Senior Lecturer in Arab Media and Political Communication at SOAS.

Gilbert Achcar is the author of several books and has recently published Th e Arabs and the Holocaust: Th e Arab-Israeli War of Narratives. 2010, Saqi Books

Th is interview took place on June 22

We are witnessing the unfolding of a revolutionary process aff ecting all of the region and it will take years


Twenty-one-year-old Ali Subeih was at his home in Amman on Friday March 25 when he fi rst heard word

that the gendarmerie forces had attacked the protesters at the Jamal Abdel-Nasser Circle, known locally as the Interior Circle. Th e day before, an assortment of politically active youth groups had begun a sit-in at the normally busy roundabout to demand a series of reforms. Within moments of its emergence, police had encircled the so called ‘March 24 Movement’ in order to contain the protest and perhaps off er protection from the groups of young people that began gathering on the other side of the street to oppose the sit-in, frequently hurling stones as well as insults at the March 24 crowd.

By the second day, the crowds on either end had multiplied, while across town,

another kind of rally was being staged. In an eff ort by various groups to declare their allegiance to the monarchy, the Nidaa al-Watan,‘call of the homeland’, march provided a strange contrast to the political atmosphere of the day. Many of the participants eventually headed towards the Interior Circle to help counter the sit-in. Th e police protection that had been so evident the previous day began to dwindle, and by mid-aft ernoon, a few hours aft er the Friday prayer, the crowds of thugs had grown exponentially. Ali Subeih, who had been on the streets for 26 hours before going home for a rest, decided to head back to the roundabout to stand alongside his friends. But by then an attack had been unleashed, with thugs charging protesters alongside the police and the crowd-control-trained gendarmerie forces, all seeking to put an

end to the sit-in. By nightfall, the site had been cleared with water cannons.

Th e impact of March 25 has been evident in the weeks that have followed. For one thing, the Jordanian government seemed to have recovered from the uncertainty that plagued it since the beginning of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. Not wanting to suff er similar fates, the government had tread a cautious path by allowing weekly protests to dominate Jordanian streets while seeking to restore confi dence in the reform process. But March 25 signalled the emergence of a more confi dent government, one that had found success in a strategy of empowering young civilians to restore order on its behalf and assist in tightening its grip on Jordanian youth. Th e police and gendarmerie had joined eff orts with a group of civilians to quash an otherwise peaceful sit-in by attacking the protesters’ camp, beating the participants and arresting others.

Several weeks later, a similar scene took place. A group of demonstrators had

Pulled in Pulled in diff erent diff erent directionsdirections

Mariam Adas-Tarawnah talks to young Jordanians about their experience of the Arab Spring


Aft er March 25, we lost our faith in the system. Using the thugs as a weapon has dissolved all trust in the government

© Lina Ejeilat


(Opposite and below) Young Jordanians take to the streets for the March 24 protest

tried to make their way to the Jordanian/Palestinian border on May 15 to mark the annual commemoration of the 1948 Palestinian exodus – the Nakba. Rima, a 19 year-old activist, was beaten up by civilians. ‘It was clear that the police synchronised with the thugs,’ said Rima. ‘I could not understand why the armed forces would stop the peaceful protesters, but would allow the thugs to throw stones at us, shoot at us, smash our cars and then celebrate.’

Th e government’s handling of the demonstrations sent a clear message to Jordanian youth, who make up roughly 70 per cent of the population. ‘Aft er March 25, we lost our faith in the system,’ said Omar Abu-Rasaa, one of the organisers of the March 24 Youth Movement. ‘Using the thugs as a weapon has dissolved all trust in the government.’

Th is strategy that condones violence helped create a class of youth who are above the law, and has consequently fuelled the demographic divisions in Jordan between those of West and East Bank origin. It also highlighted the diff erences between those who benefi t from the system and those who do not. ‘Th e events on March 25 made me realise the extent of the division of the Jordanian people,’ said Subeih. ‘Being of Palestinian origin became an indictment all of a sudden.’ Nadine, a 20 year-old student at the University of Jordan, saw things quite diff erently as she expressed her disappointment in the country’s youth population. ‘Th e government gives people all their rights,’ she said. ‘Th e last few months have proved to me that people who are not from the East Bank don’t have Jordan’s best interests at heart.’

Th is kind of discourse highlights the division deep in the collective psyche of the Jordanian people; a division that is based on origin and economic status. What started as a hopeful Arab spring has turned into a season of apprehension and confusion for Jordanian youth.

‘I felt that change is around the corner,’ said 20 year-old Abdel-Rahman Badwan. ‘I no longer know what is right and what is wrong. I never hear about the reform demonstrations, I only hear about the loyalty marches.’ Meanwhile, Abdullah Abu-Fannas has diff erent concerns. ‘I have mixed feelings,’ said Abdullah, a 23 year-old mathematician. ‘Th e same change that allows liberation of the Arab people is the same change that allows the interference of diff erent forces. I am afraid this will end up becoming a new form of colonisation.’

But the picture is not necessarily so bleak.

Dania Abu-Fodeh, a 21 year-old language student, is more positive and feels that there is a new kind of awareness among her friends. ‘Before Egypt, we were never interested in politics; today my friends discuss issues we did not dare discuss before.’

Emad Shehab, offi cial spokesperson of the Nidaa al-Watan march, which is affi liated with the government-run We Are All Jordan Youth Commission, is also hopeful. He believes that Jordan is going through a process that he likens to ‘childbirth,’ and will result in true reform. ‘Th is chapter has quickened the reform process, which was slow because of those who benefi ted from the status quo and resisted the change,’ claims Emad, who defended the stand of the Nidaa al-Watan march by explaining that it had also demanded economic reforms and an end to corruption. Ironically, his sentiments are shared by his antagonist Omar Abu-Rasaa, who also believes that change is imminent and declares that his movement has similar objectives. But there is one major diff erence between the two: on the issue of constitutional monarchy. While the March 24 movement considers constitutional monarchy a non-negotiable demand, the Nidaa al-Watan organisers

see it as a dissonant demand that only represents a certain voice with specifi c ‘agendas’.

Today, Jordanian youth are being pulled in diff erent directions. Even though most groups agree on the principal demands of reform, they feel that the government is playing a game to keep a tight grip on them. Ali Subeih believes that youth should keep trying until they succeed. ‘I am looking forward to a day when I tell my children that I was part of the change that made their future bright,’ he says.

Mariam Adas-Tarawnah is an anthropologist and youth worker, and co-founder of 7iber Jordan, an independent youth-oriented online media organisation

What started as a hopeful Arab spring has turned into a season of apprehension and confusion for Jordanian youth

© Lina Ejeilat


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that he will declare an independent Palestinian state at

the UN in September if negotiations with Israel founder. If this happens, it will be the third time a representative of the Palestinian people has declared independence. In 1948, the All-Palestine Government declared independence from Gaza. In 1988 the Palestine Liberation Organization declared independence from Algiers. Since neither declaration actually led to independence it might be fair to ask: will 2011 be diff erent?

Th ere are many reasons to think so. Unlike in 1948, the Palestinians exercise substantial control over territory they claim as their own. And since 1988, when the PLO was confi ned to Tunis, it has recognised Israel and a Palestinian Authority has been established to exercise substantial powers of self-government in territory to which it asserts sovereignty. While Israel continues to colonise that territory with settlements, no state recognises their legality. Th e

International Court of Justice deems them to be ‘in breach of international law’.

Under international law there are two competing theories of statehood; constitutive and declaratory. According to the constitutive theory, a state can only come into existence as a result of recognition. In a word, recognition is constitutive of statehood. Th is theory of statehood was popular in the 19th century, but was later criticised by international lawyers for its subjective nature, an acute problem in a world divided by ideological confl ict in which some entities were recognised as states while others were not.

During the Cold War the declaratory theory of recognition became popular. It holds that an entity is a state when it meets certain ‘objective’ criteria, namely that it should have a permanent population, a

defi ned territory, government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. Additionally, and linked to the latter requirement, was the notion that the entity should be capable of acting independently. According to this theory, recognition was merely declaratory of an existing state of aff airs. In other words, the state already existed and recognition was a mere formality.

In Palestine we have a case that seems to satisfy both criteria. On the basis of the constitutive theory of recognition more than 100 states recognise Palestine, and according to the PA’s foreign minister a further 50 will do so at the UN in September – amounting to some two thirds of the international community. Th is could potentially have a profound impact on international relations and resuscitate

The The Palestinian Palestinian Statehood Statehood StrategyStrategy

Victor Kattan makes the case for seeking collective recognition at the forthcoming UN General Assembly


Even Israel has asked for mutual recognition, which makes little sense unless it considers Palestine a state of some sort


(Opposite) Yaser Arafat, fi rst president of the Palestinian National Authority and founding leader of the Fatah Party, Ramallah, 2004

(Left) The General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York, USA

a theory of recognition that many international lawyers had consigned to the dustbin of history.

On the basis of the declaratory theory of recognition, it is evident that Palestine has a population, territory, government, and the capacity to enter into international relations. Palestine’s present population inhabits East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. Th ey view themselves as Palestinian. Since 1994 there has been an eff ective government functioning in the West Bank and Gaza, with a legislature fi rst elected in 1996 and an executive branch overseeing a civil service employing tens of thousands. For the past 17 years, Palestinian legislation and executive decrees have been published annually in an Offi cial Gazette for the use of courts of fi rst instance, an appellate court, and the High Court. In addition Palestine has its own Central Bank, and even its own Internet Naming Authority, its own national internet domain name.

Palestine has ratifi ed many treaties with states and international organisations, a number of which have granted it membership. It was given standing to appear before the International Court of Justice in Th e Hague during the ‘Wall’ advisory opinion in 2004. Moreover, many states, including the US, and many in the EU, recognise the passports issued for its citizens as ‘Palestinians’.

Even Israel has even entered into negotiations with Palestine over borders, and has asked Palestine for mutual recognition, which makes little sense unless

it considers Palestine a state of some sort. Indeed in 1993, Benjamin Netanyahu made an illuminating statement, when he criticised Yitzhak Rabin for agreeing to the Declaration of Principles, which in his opinion amounted to the recognition of a state:

I believe that everyone here has been to a zoo once. When you walk into the zoo and see an animal that looks like a horse and has black and white stripes, you do not need a sign to tell you this is a zebra. It is a zebra. When you read this agreement, even if the words a Palestinian state are not mentioned there, you do not need a sign; this is a Palestinian state.

Of course Netanyahu would probably downplay this statement as merely a fl ippant comment he made when in opposition. It is clear from its various statements that the Israeli government is adamantly opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state, and it has criticised those states which have aff orded Palestine recognition.

Nonetheless, even if Israel argues that the Palestinians are acting in bad faith by refusing to negotiate their quest for statehood with it, or even if it threatens to rescind the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians

can point to Phase II of the Quartet’s 2003 Roadmap, which calls for ‘creating an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders and attributes of sovereignty, based on the new constitution, as a way station to a permanent status settlement’. As part of Phase II, which was supposed to have taken place from June to December 2003, Quartet members should have taken steps ‘to promote international recognition of Palestinian state, including possible UN membership’.

Th us the Quartet clearly envisaged that a Palestinian state could be established prior to the conclusion of fi nal status negotiations with Israel. In other words it was accepted that the Palestinian Authority need not wait until Israel had agreed to completely withdraw from the territory before asserting its claim to statehood with provisional borders and attributes of sovereignty by seeking recognition and UN membership.

Th e idea of asking for collective recognition of Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly in September is a rather clever move by the Palestinians. First, it simplifi es and speeds up the process of recognition. Secondly, it is easier for Palestinians to communicate with other states at a central focal point, where they will also garner world headlines and isolate the position of those states that oppose recognition. If 150 states do recognise it at the UN in September, then Palestine could argue that it is a state in their eyes. Accordingly, it would be able to insist that Israel negotiates with it as a state without having to make any concessions on settlements, the right of return, or Jerusalem. And in any future talks on these issues, Palestine could negotiate with Israel as an equal rather than as an occupied people.

Victor Kattan is a policy advisor for Al-Shabaka—the Palestinian policy network. He is the author of From Coexistence to Conquest: International Law and the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Confl ict 1891-1949, 2009

Th e Quartet clearly envisaged that a Palestinian state could be established prior to the conclusion

of fi nal status negotiations with Israel



The British Museum has one of the most important collections of Palestinian village costume in the

world. Th e foundation was laid in 1965 when the Church Missionary Society (CMS) decided to disband its collections and approached the British Museum. One of my fi rst tasks aft er I joined the BM Ethnography Department was to visit the CMS storerooms in central London and make a selection. Faced with cupboards crammed with hundreds of garments and ornaments, and fi nding little published information, I wondered how to choose. By chance there was an exhibition at the V&A celebrating the centenary of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Th ere amidst the archaeological exhibits was a plinth of Palestinian costumes with informative labels. Th eir author was Violet Barbour. I contacted her, and she kindly agreed to help me.

As we rummaged through the CMS cupboards, Violet told me about Palestine in

the 1930s when she lived there. Violet was one of the joint founders of the Palestine Folk Museum in Jerusalem (now the Dar al-Tifl Museum), and had travelled around collecting in the villages. I was fascinated by the beauty and variety of the garments and by Violet’s stories. Th us began my lifelong specialization in the Middle East.

Th e CMS collection was notable for its age and range. Many items were from the early 19th century (the CMS had worked in Palestine since 1849), though they could not be dated precisely. Th e collection included ceremonial dresses, coats and head-veils richly embellished with colourful silk embroidery, and (unusually) many humbler male and female garments and accessories such as people once wore for everyday work in the fi elds and orchards. Later the museum acquired more 19th and early 20th

century garments from the Jerusalem and the East Mission, and the Church’s Ministry among the Jews (CMJ).

Th ese missionary societies amassed their collections for fund-raising and evangelical purposes, and on the mistaken but common assumption that Palestinian rural culture had hardly changed since the time of Jesus. In the 19th century they staged huge tableaux of life (as they imagined it) in Biblical times, including people dressed up as Palestinians. Th ese shows were immensely popular in Victorian times. Special trains were laid on to transport thousands of visitors from central London to the CMJ exhibitions in St Albans.

Keen to understand more about Palestinian costume, I spent several months in Palestine in 1967 and 1968 doing research and collecting for the British Museum. In

Beauty and MeaningBeauty and Meaning

Shelagh Weir describes the history of the British Museum collection of Palestinian costume

Th e collection included ceremonial dresses, coats and head-veils richly embellished with colourful silk embroidery


(Opposite) Demonstration in Ramallah, 1989. Moments later Israeli soldiers dispersed this peaceful procession with gunfi re

(Below) Woollen jacket with tassels and cross-stitch embroidery combining a skull motif with old geometric patterns. OmarJoseph Nasser-Khoury, Palestine, 2009

that early period of the Israeli occupation, travel was unrestricted and I was able to interview Palestinians throughout the West Bank, Gaza and Israel. I also bought garments oft en decades old from their owners or in the Jerusalem market. During further fi eld work in 1969 and during the 1970s, I extended my research to Palestinian refugees in Jordan, where I had the pleasure of collaborating with the notable collector, Widad Kawar, from whom I also acquired more articles for the BM collection.

In the fi rst months of fi eld work I concentrated on identifying the main regional styles of village dress, and learning the large vocabulary of costume and embroidery. As the research progressed, I realised that women’s costume, especially, was a rich language about all aspects of social identity including village origin, gender, age, marital status and wealth. Every element of costume - trousseau collections, garments, fabrics, colours and embroidery patterns - had implicit or explicit meanings. And meanings changed, as did fashions, through time. I eventually began to grasp this complex symbolism by studying one village, Beit Dajan, in depth.

Th is work resulted in three exhibitions at the Museum of Mankind, the premises of the BM Ethnography Department from 1970: Costumes of Palestine and Spinning and Weaving in Palestine (both 1970-71), and Palestinian Costume (1989-91). During and aft er each exhibition, the collection grew as people realised our interest and off ered us more pieces. Th e costume exhibitions displayed 19th and early 20th century village dress by region, with special emphasis in the second, and in the accompanying book, on the symbolism of the costumes. Th e latter exhibition also displayed dress from the post-1948 period when fashions, fabrics and embroidery radically changed, and elements proclaiming nationalistic sentiments were introduced such as the black and white keffi yyeh, and embroidery depicting freedom fi ghters and the Palestinian fl ag. Despite or because such political motifs in art and dress were forbidden by the Israeli authorities, they became popular during the fi rst intifada (which was then taking place) - though I was not allowed to mention this fact in the exhibition, essential though it was for understanding these innovations. Th ankfully, the BM now takes for granted the necessity of explaining any political connotations of contemporary artifacts.

Th e Museum of Mankind closed to the public in 1997, and the Department of

Ethnography returned to Bloomsbury in 2004, and was restructured and renamed. Th e collections from the Middle East and Central Asia, including the nearly one thousand articles of Palestinian dress, now come under the newly- constituted Department of the Middle East. No Palestinian costumes are presently displayed, but appointments can be made to see specifi c pieces at the BM’s Textile Centre near Olympia.

Aft er a long hiatus, the BM collections of costumes and textiles from the Middle East and Central Asia at last have a dedicated curator, Dr Fahmida Suleman, who was appointed in 2009 on a fi ve-year contract. Fahmida trained in Islamic history and art in Toronto and Oxford. She previously worked on exhibitions and conferences on Iran at the British Museum, and she curated the current exhibition of Omani silver. Fahmida is now charged with producing a book on costumes and textiles from the Arab world (including Palestine) and Iran and hopefully an exhibition too, depending on space and funds. To this task she brings great enthusiasm, and a desire to supplement the existing collections with textiles and garments currently being made by people in or from the region. Much of this work inevitably refl ects our turbulent times. Recent acquisitions have included Afghan rugs and an Iranian cloak with graphic depictions of violence and war.

Fahmida is also interested in acquiring recent urban fashions infl uenced by older rural dress, such as the recently-purchased jacket (see photo) created by the budding Palestinian designer, OmarJoseph Nasser-Khoury, for his 2009 graduation collection. Omar borrows from village fashions in the structure and ornamentation of his garments, while introducing new, politically-resonant elements such as the skull motif. He comments: `Th e omnipresence of death in daily life as a result of the Israeli occupation has thrown society into a perpetual state of mourning and loss. [My collection] fl aunts, in stubborn protest, the last thing that Palestinians ironically still own: their doom.’

Shelagh Weir is a member of the MEL Editorial Board, and author of Palestinian Costume , 2004 and several books on Palestinian embroidery

Information about Palestinian costume and images are available on the BM website: www.britishmuseum.org/collections

Many of the recent acquisitions refl ect the current turbulent times, they include an Iranian

cloak with graphic depictions of violence and war

© Tarek M

oukaddem


Women’s activism in Jordan began with a few charitable organisations at the beginning

of the 20th century, created to address issues such as poverty and illiteracy. During the 40s the dissatisfaction with the status of women increased and a political consciousness arose due to the Israeli war. Women began to play an active role in demonstrations against the Arab-Israeli confl ict, and it was then when the movement took shape. In 1945 the Jordanian Women Union (JWU) was established and the movement became more active in demanding greater rights. Th e Union faced two dissolutions ordered by the Government, in 1957 and in 1981. In 1957, in an attempt to control and stabilise the political situation in the country, the Jordanian regime banned political party

activities and in 1967 the Parliament was dissolved and the regime instituted martial law. In 1974, just before the UN Decade for Women (1976-1985), Jordanian women gained suff rage. However, they had no opportunity to exercise this right because all political activity in the country was still suspended. It was not until the restoration of parliament in Jordan in 1989 that the JWU was able to regain its voice. In the 1970s, a group of women activists who dreamt of a society where gender equality and social justice would rule for all citizens founded the Arab Women Organisation (AWO), a non-governmental, non-profi t body dedicated to changing the lives of Jordanian women.

Th e government-sponsored General Federation for Jordanian Women (GFJW) was created in 1981. All women’s

organisations were registered under the GFJW and it signalled the beginning of the state’s attempt to control women’s organisations and activities. During the late 1980s and 1990s general interest in women’s issues increased: several organisations were created, and women’s rights were debated at a national level in Jordan. In 1992 the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW), initiated and headed by Princess Basma, was created. Th is semi-governmental organisation is recognised as the authority on women’s aff airs in Jordan’s public sector, while it also represents the Kingdom at regional and international levels in matters pertaining to women. At present it is the umbrella organisation, which co-ordinates all women’s organisations in the country. In 1995, Princess Basma also established the Jordanian National Forum for Women (JNFW). Th e JNFW advocates increased women’s participation in decision-making processes, with offi ces in each of the governorates.

Along with the fi ve main organisations, as many as 147 others are spread all over the

Marta Pietrobelli gives a history of women’s activism in Jordan and considers the future of women’s representation in the country


Many women perceive that the movement was stronger during its early days, when it was highly politicised and connected to the Palestinian cause

The wind The wind of change of change in Jordanin Jordan


(Opp0site) (from left to right) Randa Naff a, a gender expert and Esraa Mahadin, a female activist, discussing how to make the workplacefamily-friendly, creating and implementing kindergardens in the workplace in the Vital Voices Workshop - February 2011

(Right) (from left to right) Mervat, a victim of honour crime, Lubna Diwany, a women’s rights lawyer, Abeer Dababneh, Professor at the Center for Women’s Studies, and Leila Hamarneh, project director at the Arab Women Organization (AWO) - discussing domestic violence at Center for Women’s Studies, University of Jordan - June 2011

country, working on women’s issues. Social, economic and political empowerment is the goal; awareness campaigns on healthcare and human security along with training and workshops on political and economic rights are the main activities of the groups. Social protection, including combating violence against women, and attention to elderly women and women with special needs are also priorities. In this regard, it is important to mention the excellent job that the JWU, the Sisterhood is Global Institute (SIGI) and Karama are doing to promote awareness of domestic violence and abuse, providing legal and physical protection to women who have been victims of violence. Organisations are also proposing new policies, lobbying the government and conducting research along with the Center for Women’s Studies, founded as an institute in 1998 and named as a department at the University of Jordan in 2006. Th eir work, in collaboration with the Human Centre for Women Rights, led to the publication of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in the Jordanian offi cial gazette, which gave it the force of law. Th eir lobbying activities also raised the parliamentary quota in 2010 from six to 12 seats assigned to women, and the establishment of a 20 per cent quota for women in the Municipal Councils Elections in 2007.

Although women’s organisations have achieved some important results, many women in Jordan perceive that the movement was stronger and more eff ective during its early days, when it was highly politicised and connected to the Palestinian cause. Currently, due partly to the increasing presence and infl uence of international donors in the country, each organisation is interested in pursuing its own mission, without looking at the

larger picture of the women’s movement in Jordan. Furthermore, each organisation has a diff erent agenda, informed by political views or by governmental directions. Th is has resulted in weak collaboration and co-operation between groups, which has created lack of trust in the groups from Jordanian women. Th e situation for the groups is diffi cult- the risk of proposing the same projects is high as the shaping of programmes based on donors’ ‘calls for proposals’ has led the groups to be actors in an ‘open market’. Additionally, there has been a lack of turnover among the heads of the groups and some of them have been working in the government and are not considered to be completely independent in their programmes.

However, despite the apparent lack of unity, representatives of the main women’s organisations have been brought together recently by Senator Leila Sharaf and by Member of Parliament Abla Abu Elbeh. Th e main goal was to agree on women’s demands, in order to submit a position document to the committee that is currently working on reforming the Jordanian constitution.

Th e groups are advocating a change in the current election law. Th ey are also

asking for an amendment of the constitution to address gender equality, and for a modifi cation of the personal status law, giving women more rights with regard to marriage and inheritance. Moreover, they are calling for an increase of women in decision-making positions, for an amendment of the penal code in order to eliminate leniency for murders committed in the name of family honour. Th ey are also advocating a modifi cation of the nationality law, in order to ensure that men and women have equal rights to pass on their citizenship and related privileges to their spouse and children.

Unfortunately, not all Jordanian women recognise themselves within this ‘movement’, especially the younger generation. Th e focus on international conventions and legal rights, rather than women’s everyday needs and demands, is denounced by some Jordanian women. Some women are asking for a change; they are demanding to be listened to and to have their needs put on the agenda. Women are hoping to follow the wind of change that is blowing in the region, learning from the experiences of women in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen: they want their voices to be heard, not only through the government, but also through their own organisations.

Marta Pietrobelli is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Gender Studies at SOAS

Women are hoping to follow the wind of change that is blowing in the region, learning from

women in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen


The times they are a-changingThe times they are a-changing

Ten years ago this summer the handful of volunteers that could fi t into the cupboard serving as the London

HQ of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) was in celebratory mood. We had just entered our 500th member on the database on our one and only computer.

Aft er years of false optimism, the message was fi nally getting through to the public that the much vaunted Oslo Accords had actually done nothing but act as a cover for ever more settlement building, land grabs and impoverishment of the Palestinian people.

Since then, the series of Israeli onslaughts killing several thousand Palestinians has sparked UN resolutions, International Court of Justice rulings and innumerable reports from NGOs on the ground – and increased public awareness of the issues.

So membership has been growing steadily, until this year when we are celebrating achieving a membership of 5000, in over 40 branches. Th e cupboard is now a proper offi ce with half a dozen computers, several phone lines and a small, dedicated team of paid workers backed up by volunteers who squeeze themselves in as best they can.

One of PSC’s main roles is to provide accurate information via fact sheets, our website and our quarterly magazine Palestine News, and by hosting meetings with speakers from Palestine. PSC branches play a vital role in this educative process, distributing literature, showing fi lms and forming links with Palestinian communities. Educating local MPs and MEPs is another major task, highlighted by the annual lobby of parliament every November. Th e context of international law is central to all of our activities.

Currently, a team of 50 volunteers is monitoring and responding to BBC reports from Israel and the Occupied Territories, and compiling a mass of data that demonstrate the abysmal lack of balance in their coverage. Israeli violence, for example, is almost invariably described as being retaliatory, and Israeli deaths are given much higher prominence.

Th is year we are also celebrating ten years of our boycott campaign. Given a formal launch in the House of Commons in July 2001, it was then considered a rather risky, even suspect campaign.

Now it is becoming mainstream, not just with the general public, but also with the TUC, who have joined PSC in a campaign to ban settlement goods from the UK, and with local councils and faith groups, such as the US and UK Methodist churches, developing divestment policies.

Following the killings last year on the Mavi Marmara, the vessel taking aid to Gaza, and the outrage that this generated, we brought together a coalition of organisations, from charities to NGOs to church bodies, to co-ordinate our activities. We agreed that raising the siege on Gaza and halting the ethnic cleansing of Jerusalem should be the immediate focus of our eff orts, with boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as our major campaigning tool. Th e basic question remains: how do you respond, in a non-violent way, to daily violations of international law, when western governments, including your own, remain passive, even complicit? As in South

Africa, boycott is one of the few morally and legally acceptable lines of action open to people of conscience.

Spirits may fl ag occasionally, but you know you’re getting something right when you are vilifi ed by organisations like the Reut Institute, an Israeli think tank that advises the Israeli government on its image abroad. It seems that they view PSC as one of the chief ‘delegitimisers’ of Israel, worldwide – an amazing tribute when one considers our tiny resources compared to the many millions spent by Israel and its supporters on propaganda machines like Bicom and Just Journalism, let alone the vast US-based organisations like AIPAC and the Anti-Defamation League.

Above all, the youthful revolutions sweeping across the Middle East give us hope and inspiration. Who knows, in even less than ten years from now we may be celebrating a just peace in the region, and will be able to switch off the computers and put up our feet.

Hilary Wise is Director of Publications for PSCwww.palestinecampaign.org

Hilary Wise sees a major shift in public opinion on the issue of Palestine


The PSC took part in a TUC vote in 2009

Above all, the youthful revolutions sweeping acrossthe Middle East give us hope and inspiration

© Jess H

urd


POETRYPOETRY

I see My Ghost I see My Ghost Coming from AfarComing from Afar

Like a balcony, I gaze upon whatever I desire.I see my friends bearing the evening mail- wine, bread, a few novels and records.I gaze upon a seagull and troop trucks arrivingto change the trees of this place.I gaze upon the dog of the neighbour who left Canada a year and a half ago.

I gaze upon the name of Al-Mutanabbijourneying from Tiberias to Egypton a horse of song.I gaze upon the Persian fl owerleaping the iron fence.Like a balcony, I gaze upon whatever I desire.I gaze upon trees guarding the night from the nightand the sleep of those who would wish me death.I gaze upon a woman basking in herself.I gaze upon the procession of ancient prophetsclimbing barefoot to Jerusalemand I ask: will there be a new prophet for this new time?Like a balcony, I gaze upon whatever I desire.I gaze upon the trunk of olive tree that hid Zechariah.I gaze upon the extinct words in the Arabic dictionary.I gaze upon the Persians, the Romans, the Sumerians,and the new refugees…I gaze upon the unseen:What will come- what will come aft er the ashes?I gaze upon my body frightened from afar.Like a balcony, I gaze upon whatever I desire.I gaze upon my language.A little absence is enough for Aeschylus to open the door to peace,for Antonio to make a brief speech at outbreak of war,for me to hold a woman’s hand in my hand,to embrace my freedom,and for my body to begin its ebb and tide anew.Like a balcony, I gaze upon whatever I desire.I gaze upon my ghost approaching from afar.

In the pre-Islamic period and, later, in the triumphant days of the medieval Arab rule, poetry was seen as the superior medium of artistic expression, centred in the Arabian Peninsula, recounting battles, eulogising the rulers and celebrating the valour of the warriors. In modern times, however, the renaissance of Arabic literature and impulse for change owes much more to the poets and writers from the Levant and Egypt.The extracts below are by the Syrian poet, Nizar Qabbani (1923-1998) and the Palestinian Mahmoud Darwsih (1942-2008), the two most critically acclaimed poets of the Levant whose unique expression and interpretation of the political and the romantic have captivated audiences well beyond the Arabic speaking world.

By Mahmud Darwish, translated by Munir Akash and Carolyn Forché

The Journal Of An The Journal Of An Arab ExecutionerArab Executioner

O peopleI have become a sultan over youBreak your idols aft er straying, and worship me…I don’t always reveal myself…So sit down on the patience pavement to see meLeave your children with no breadAnd leave your women with no husband…and follow meGive thanks to God for His graceHe has sent me to write HistoryAnd History is not written without meO peopleBuy me newspapers that write about me

I am responsible for your dreams, when dreamingI am responsible for every loaf of bread you eatAnd for the poetry that, behind my back, you readBecause the security apparatus in my palace delivers to meTh e birds’ news…and the spikes’ newsAnd delivers to me what happens in the bellies of pregnant womenO people, I am your prison guardAnd your prisoner…You shall forgive meI am the exiled within my own palaceI don’t see a sun, or a star, or an OleanderEver since I came to power as a childTh e circus men gather around meOne blowing a fl ute…One beating a drumOne wiping broadcloth…One wiping shoesEver since I came to power as a childTh e palace advisor never said “No”My ministers never said “No”My ambassadors never said “No” to my faceNone of my women said “No” in bedTh ey have taught me to see myself a godAnd to see the people from the balcony as sand…Forgive me if I turned into a new HulaguI never killed for the sake of killingBut I kill you…to have fun…

By Nizar Qabbani, Translated by Gaelle Raphael

Poems introduced and selected by Narguess Farzad

Graffi ti by Native and Zentwo, 2010. From Arabic Graffi ti, From Here to Fame, 2010 (see page 21)



REVIEWS: BOOKSREVIEWS: BOOKS

The New Arab Journalist: The New Arab Journalist: Mission and Identity in a Mission and Identity in a Time of TurmoilTime of TurmoilBy Lawrence Pintak

Reviewed by Najm Jarrah

I.B. Tauris, 2011, £16.99

Lawrence Pintak is on record as saying that the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions would not have happened

were it not for Arab satellite television. While the research that forms the core of this book was conducted well before the advent of the Arab Spring, its publication provides a timely contribution to the debate about the role of the media in the upheavals that are transforming the political face and dynamics of the region.

Th e author sets out to investigate the question of how Arab media practitioners view themselves, via an extensive survey of the professional, social and political attitudes of Arab journalists. In contextualising his fi ndings, he draws on long and varied experience. A veteran American television news correspondent in the Middle East who later moved to academia at the American University of Cairo (he is now based in the USA) and co-edited the journal Arab Media & Society, Pintak was an early and prominent chronicler of the satellite and web-based media ‘revolutions’ that began sweeping the Arab world some two decades ago.

Th e fi rst and longest of the book’s three parts surveys the Arab media landscape and how it has changed over that period, in particular with the arrival and proliferation of satellite television. Th e story has been told before. But Pintak recounts it engagingly and with depth and insight, illustrating his points with quotes and anecdotes drawn from interviews with scores of Arab journalists. He details the ways in which

‘with the arrival of Al Jazeera in 1996, the very nature of Arab journalism began to change’. In the process, a ‘symbiotic aspect’ developed in the relationship between the emergent satellite channels and the democratisation movement in the Arab world, in turn giving new impetus to the sense of a collective Arab (and to some extent Islamic) identity.

But he also cautions against the tendency for ‘outsiders to romanticise the Arab media revolution’ and overstate its capacity to cross ‘red lines’. He notes, for example, that despite Al Jazeera’s transformative impact and reputation for fearless outspokenness, its coverage has been constrained by the foreign policy considerations of its Qatari owners, especially their relations with Saudi Arabia (a weakness that has surely become much more evident to viewers in the months since the book was written and the Arab Spring began). More broadly, the ‘emerging corporate feudal model of media ownership’ means that rather than becoming truly independent, Arab television has been ‘shift ing from government control to the control of powerful business interests closely aligned with it’, ensuring continued Saudi stifl ing of much of the pan-Arab media.

Nevertheless, one thing that genuinely changed ‘is the way Arab journalists viewed their own role... and the possibilities for the future.’ Th e survey fi ndings, presented as Part II of the book, document this. In sum, Arab journalists ‘see their mission as driving political and social change in

the Middle East and North Africa. Th ey most closely identify with the pan-Arab region and the broader Muslim world, not with an individual nation-state; they see political reform, human rights, poverty and education as the most important issues facing the region.’ Some other interesting details emerge from the responses (notably those that challenge American stereotypes about Arab media: Arab journalists generally oppose US policy but aren’t ‘anti-American’ as such; they’re signifi cantly more secular in orientation than the general public). But it is the fact that they are ‘almost unanimous in their belief in the need for systemic change in the Middle East’ that stands out. Along with the perceived need to defend Arab/Muslim ideals, this constitutes ‘the heart of the diff erence between Arab journalists and journalists elsewhere in the world.... at least in terms of self perception.’

Th e journalists are thus becoming the ‘border guards of the new Arab consciousness,’ a revived sensibility ‘mediated by the constant mutual exposure to the very external threats that lay at the core of earlier waves of pan-Arab impulses,’ Pintak maintains in his concluding section. Th e theory is compelling. Th e proof may need to await evidence of how Arab journalism copes with the counter-revolutionary gusts that are blowing as strongly as the winds of change. Whatever happens, the book remains an illuminating read.

the Middle East and North Africa They


Arabic Graffi tiArabic Graffi tiEdited by Pascal Zoghbi

Reviewed by Salma Tuqan

From Here to Fame, 2011, £24.99

Arabic Graffi ti is a collaboration between Lebanese graphic designer Pascal Zoghbi and Berlin-based

graffi ti writer Stone. Th e publication represents one of the few attempts to explore the social and political context of Arabic graffi ti and is accompanied by examples of such graffi ti from across the world.

Zoghbi and Stone have collated a series of articles by artists, typographers and anthropologists on topics as diverse as the origin of the Arabic script, Bahrain’s calligraphic messages and graffi ti on the apartheid wall in Palestine.

Initially, the structure of the book appears slightly arbitrary; calligraphy written on the side of trucks, Beirut’s urban graffi ti scene and a series of portfolios of graffi ti artists. Yet delving further into the pages, a more formulated narrative emerges.

Th e book opens with a cohesive introduction to the Arabic script, followed by a rich overview of the alphabet’s history by Huda Abifares, the founder of Khatt Foundation, a network of Arabic typographers. By emphasising the importance that Arabic calligraphy has played historically, Abifares explores the evolution of these calligraphic styles in the past and the movement towards Arabic type design in recent history.

Abifares refl ects on the signifi cance of design’s departure from the rigid rules of calligraphy, and this leads on naturally to a chapter by Iraqi artist Hassan Massoudy.

Massoudy takes this concept a step

further, coining a beautiful description of both calligraphy and graffi ti as ‘daughters of the

same parents’. In this metaphor, they live separate independent lives but are related in many ways, calligraphy being the more conservative of the two sisters. Massoudy’s grounding voice sets a good precedent for the chapters that follow.

Lebanese anthropologist Houda Kassatly writes about the calligraphy found on trucks in her native country. Th is is particularly interesting because Kassatly reveals that the prime concern of these calligraphic messages is for warding off the envy of others. Using icons such as the evil eye and the hand of Fatima as well as verses from the Quran, the driver uses his faith and his vehicle to try and avert the gaze of the envious person.

Th e truck acts as the driver’s ‘alter ego’, Kassatly claims, and eternal companion and confi dant. It off ers a space where the driver can express freely his feelings of love, misfortune, fantasies and complaints, rendered here in calligraphic graffi ti.

Th is notion of graffi ti as communication continues into the chapters on Palestine. In this context, the rise of graffi ti came with the fi rst Intifada when the surge of messages sprayed across walls acted as a daily newspaper for Palestinians, as a result of curfews and the ban of newspapers in the country. Th e dialogues that take place on these walls off er an insight into many diff ering perspectives, in some cases demarcating territories according to political factions. Th e voices represented on these walls include those of Palestinians, Israelis, settlers and activists.

In his introduction, Zoghbi writes that the aims of the publication are: ‘to document the Arabic graffi ti scene and to develop a stronger connection with the local artists, as well as an awareness of the Arabic calligraphic side of the art, which will lead to a mature Oriental graffi ti scene. Also, to introduce the Arabic graffi ti scene to the Western public.’

Th ough they are ambitious, Arabic Graffi ti achieves these goals and is also a good introduction to this form of graffi ti to a Western audience. Th e essays provide a good overview from the perspectives of key writers on the subject. In part, however some do read like extracts of wider research or publications on these topics. Yet the book, in this way, off ers a good bibliography for further reading.

Th is is still one of the few publications on Arabic graffi ti that acknowledges the infl uence of calligraphy on contemporary typographers and graffi ti artists. By setting down this history, the subsequent chapters on graffi ti are grounded in a context and highlight the continued presence of calligraphy in everyday society in the region, be it on shop fronts, trucks or in public spaces.

Arabic Graffi ti lays the foundations but begs a second edition with a more cohesive thread of analysis and greater detail. Nonetheless the chapters contained here tease the reader and invite curiosity into a relatively unexplored territory.

Salma Tuqan is the Contemporary Middle Eastern curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London

REVIEWS: BOOKSREVIEWS: BOOKS

rabic Graffiti is a collaborationisamsepa


BOOKS IN BRIEFBOOKS IN BRIEF

Charles Kurzman attempts to demonstrate that terrorist groups are thoroughly marginal in the Muslim

world. Th e author draws on government sources, public opinion surveys, election results, and in-depth interviews with Muslims. He fi nds that young Muslims are indeed angry with what they see as imperialism, and especially at Western support for local dictatorships. But revolutionary Islamists have failed to reach them, as can be seen from the terrorists’ own websites and publications, whose authors constantly bemoan the dearth of willing recruits.

Th e real bulwark against Islamist violence, Kurzman fi nds, is Muslims themselves, who reject both the goals of the terrorists and their bloody means.

Th e Missing Martyrs provides a diff erent view about the Islamic world. Th e threat of Islamist terrorism is real, Kurzman shows, but its dimensions are, so far, tightly confi ned.

Zeina B. Ghandour questions the validity of British discourse during the mandate, which the author

argues, rested on racial and cultural theories and presumptions imposed by the British on Palestine. Th e validity of cultural representations within offi cial correspondence and colonial laws and regulations, as well as within the private papers of colonial offi cials, have previously escaped examination, the author argues. Furthermore she adds, these presumptions have negatively transformed native society in Palestine. Th is book discusses what the author terms as ‘continued collusion of modern historians with racial and cultural notions concerning the rationale of European rule in Palestine that has postcolonial implications’. Th is study includes discourse research drawn from oral interviews and private family papers in an attempt to challenge what has been taken for granted by historians.

A Discourse on A Discourse on Domination Domination in Mandate in Mandate Palestine: Palestine: Imperialism, Imperialism, Property and Property and

InsurgencyInsurgency

by Zeina B. GhandourRoutledge-Cavendish,

August 2009£75.00

The Missing MartyrsMartyrs

Why There Are Why There Are So Few Muslim So Few Muslim

TerroristsTerrorists

by Charles KurzmanOxford University Press,

August 2011£16.99

The Shi’a of The Shi’a of Lebanon:Lebanon:

Clans, Parties and Clans, Parties and ClericsClerics

by Rodger ShanahanIB Tauris, May 2011

£14.99

The Shi’a of Lebanon have emerged in the last 30 years to become a major force in Lebanese politics,

having previously long been a marginalised political community. Rodger Shanahan examines the reasons behind this transformation from a largely rural population dominated by a handful of elite families, to an assertive sectarian force whose new-found power is exemplifi ed by the emergence and infl uence of Shi’i political parties, most notably Hezbollah. Shanahan explores the development of the Shi’i community from the imposition of French mandatory rule, through independence and the bloody civil war of the 1970s and 1980s to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from South Lebanon in 2000. He also examines the more recent controversies and crises of the 2006 war with Israel and the death of Ayatollah Muhammad Fadlallah.

eina B Ghandour questions the


Camelia Suleiman, using her background in linguistic analysis, examines the interplay of language

and identity, feminism and nationalism, and how the concepts of spatial and temporal boundaries aff ect self-perception. She does this through interviews with peace activists from a variety of backgrounds: Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, Jewish Israelis, as well as Palestinians from Ramallah, offi cially holders of Jordanian passports. By emphasising the importance of these levels of offi cial identity, Suleiman explores how self-perception is infl uenced by the confl ict and how place of birth and residence play a major role in this confl ict.

Language Language and Identity and Identity in the Israel-in the Israel-

Palestine Palestine Confl ict:Confl ict:

The Politics of Self- The Politics of Self- Perception in the Perception in the

Middle EastMiddle East

by Camelia SuleimanIB Tauris, July 2011

£56.50

Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi portrays the Islamic Revolution

in Iran and ongoing human rights abuses under the current regime through a story of three brothers, each with a diff erent political ideology. Th e Islamic Revolution succeeded in ousting the Shah in 1979 and initiated a campaign to rapidly annihilate left ist political groups. Th e Golden Cage sheds light on Islamic Iran’s current events, while simultaneously telling a personal and political story using the narrative of the revolution. Th e Golden Cage follows Ebadi’s well received book Iran Awakening.

The Golden The Golden Cage Cage

by Shirin EbadiKales Press, April 2011

£19.99

BOOKS IN BRIEFBOOKS IN BRIEF

The six Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) play an increasingly prominent role in the

global economy and throughout the broader Middle East region. In this book, Adam Hanieh, Lecturer in Development Studies at SOAS, analyses the recent development of Gulf capitalism through the aft ermath of the 2008 economic crisis. Situating the Gulf within the evolution of capitalism at a global scale, it presents a novel theoretical interpretation of this important region of the Middle East political economy. Accompanied by an extensive empirical analysis of all sectors of the GCC economy, the book argues that a new capitalist class, ‘Khaleeji capital’, is forming in the Gulf, with profound implications for the Middle East as a whole.

Capitalism Capitalism and Class in and Class in

the Gulf Arab the Gulf Arab StatesStates

by Adam HaniehPalgrave Macmillan, June

2011£55.00


abstained (spinach!) but for the rest of us there was an understated appeal, which tempted us back again and again until that plate was clean, though Nadje found the accompanying rice and noodles a bit salty.

Nadje recognized the beautiful calligraphy on the walls, having seen it on cards and in exhibitions. Th ey were by the well-known Syrian calligrapher Mounir Al-Sharani, a student of the great Syrian calligrapher Badawi al-Dirani. And that’s not all that was Syrian: Th e next day we spoke to the owners. Th e three partners are all cooks and two of them are of Syrian origin. Th ey take turns in keeping Al-Waha’s reputation as one of the best and most reasonable priced ‘Lebanese’ restaurants in town going.

Al Waha is reasonably priced for Lebanese food with starters around £5 and main courses around £9 and £12.

Nadje Al-Ali is a member of the MEL Editorial Board and Mark Douglas is her eating partner

Reviews: RestaurantReviews: Restaurant

Al WahaAl WahaAl Waha, Notting Hill, 75 Westbourne Grove, W2 4UL

We had hoped to fi nd a Palestinian or Syrian restaurant for this special issue, but aside from a

small Syrian restaurant in Shepherd’s Bush, we came up empty handed - suggestions please! Lebanese rules in London and indeed you’re spoilt for choice. Eventually, excellent on-line reviews as well as friends’ advice brought us to Al-Waha in Notting Hill. For the past 15 years Al-Waha, meaning ‘the Oasis’, has attracted Londoners and travellers from around the world.

Th is was a genuinely warm summer’s day and tables greeted us outside in front; but we were there to eat, not sunbathe, and the steady traffi c along Westbourne Grove might have distracted. So in we went. Th e split-level space is cool, white and modern, adorned with simply framed calligraphy. We sat on the raised section at the back with a view over the restaurant, which was pretty full at 7.30pm on a Saturday evening.

Our choice was a selection of hot and cold mezze followed by a couple of main dishes.

Immediately they brought us a dozen olives and a bowl of startlingly fresh crudité. Good start. Th e service was reasonably prompt and professional and the mezze dishes came in quick succession; fi rst the vegetables and then, one by one, the meat. Th e sweetbreads took longest to arrive; we decided not to ask why.

Of the vegetable mezze, the Shinkleesh stood out, the yoghurty curds of Shankleesh enlivening an already richly dressed salad. Cool and intriguing were the Foul Moukala and the Moussakat Betinjan; broad beans touched lightly with garlic, coriander and olive oil, and melting chunks of aubergine with tomatoes and chickpeas, fl avoured with cinnamon! Th e pickles (Kabees) tanged satisfactorily. Th e Batata Harra was decently fl avoured, though the potatoes were somewhat soggy. Th e normally crisp salad Fattoush wilted in summer’s heat.

Th e meat mezze, when they arrived,

complemented all of this well. Th e Kibbeh Nayeh was the star act. Th e moist raw mince, subtly mixed with crushed bulghur, onions and spices, was so moreish that we all cleaned the plate. OK, not all. Alhena, now aged eight and eleven twelft hs, wouldn’t touch it. But yet she loves sashimi. Go fi gure. She devoured the Soujuk Sadah though; sliced Armenian lamb sausages in a mildly spicy sauce. Th e rest of us managed to get a taste and enjoyed, though Mark thought them a touch sharp. Haliwat - grilled sweetbreads were oddly non-spherical (stretched perhaps). Th e tender, lightly seasoned meat was a hit with Nadje. Mark claimed that he wished for more spice, though enjoying the dish, while Alhena and our trusted foodie friend and medical doctor, Alide declined altogether citing anatomical concerns.

Th en came the main dishes. Th e mixed grill satisfi ed with succulent bites of lamb and chicken, simply seasoned. We all approved, especially Alhena. We had also ordered the Sunday Dish of the Day which was spinach served with lamb. Alhena


it achieved but because of what it failed to achieve. Th ough I felt that George Bush was right to highlight the Arab ‘freedom defi cit’, his preoccupation with regime change ignored a large part of the picture: the authoritarian character of Arab societies which must also change if real progress is to become possible.

Th is set me off on a rather diff erent track from George Bush and in 2006 my book, Unspeakable Love, looked at the issue of gay and lesbian life in the Middle East. I had been wanting to write a book that would break some new ground, as well as a few taboos, but its main purpose was to explore the question of individual liberty in countries where there are strong social, governmental and religious mechanisms for behavioural control.

I followed that up with another book, What’s Really Wrong with the Middle East, which examines these same mechanisms – though far more broadly – and argues that getting rid of dictators is only part of the solution: there has to be radical social change too.

Th is brings me back to where my journey began – Tunisia, and the birth of the Arab Spring. While it’s good to see Ben Ali and Mubarak gone, with Gaddafi , Saleh and Assad on the way out, real change will only come when Arabs fi nally shake off the old authoritarian mindset.

Profi leProfi le

I should probably thank Coca-Cola for what happened. While working as a journalist for the Sunday Times business

section in the 1980s, I was sent on my fi rst trip to an Arab country – to report on investment opportunities in Tunisia.

But what intrigued me more than the factories that I visited was the seemingly endless succession of roadside billboards that looked so familiar and yet unfamiliar too. Th eir squiggly writing meant nothing to me at the time, though I could tell from their colours and general appearance that many were advertising the ubiquitous fi zzy drink.

My curiosity about these indecipherable squiggles outlasted my curiosity about Tunisian factories and, aft er holiday visits to Morocco, Jordan and Egypt, I embarked on a part-time degree in Arabic at what is now Westminster University.

By then I had moved to the Guardian and eventually persuaded the editor to send me on a working trip to Yemen. Th at marked the start of my fascination with one of the region’s least-understood countries and led, in 2000, to my appointment as the paper’s Middle East editor – a job which I did for the next seven years.

Media organisations and, indeed, the public at large have rather fi xed ideas about what constitutes news from the Middle East. I would oft en meet people at parties who, aft er asking what my job was, immediately assumed I was a war correspondent or some kind of terrorism expert.

Armed confl icts are certainly part of the mix but people can easily get the impression that the Middle East is a region of death and destruction and very little else. It’s important to remember that millions of Arabs go through their entire lives without ever seeing a shot fi red in anger, let alone fi ring one themselves.

I have always tried to write about the region from the inside looking out – by which I mean focusing as much as possible on issues that concern people actually living there – rather than as most of the American media does, looking in from the outside and viewing it almost entirely in terms of their own country’s security.

For me, the start of the Iraq war in 2003 was a crucial moment, not because of what

Brian WhitakerBrian Whitaker

Journalist and former Middle East editor for the Guardian


Events in LondonEvents in LondonTHE EVENTS and

organisations listed below are not necessarily

endorsed or supported by The Middle East in London. The accompanying texts and images are based primarily on information provided by the organisers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the compilers or publishers. While every possible effort is made to ascertain the accuracy of these listings, readers are advised to seek confirmation of all events using the contact details provided for each event. Submitting entries and updates: please send all updates and submissions for entries related to future events via e-mail to [email protected] or by fax to 020 7898 4329.

BM – British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG SOAS – School of Oriental and African Studies, Th ornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XGLSE – London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2 2AE

AUGUST EVENTS

Monday 1 August

7:30 pm | My Freedom, My Bondage (Reading/Meeting) Organised by: Exiled Writers Ink. Exiled Lit Café. Every fi rst Monday of the month. Hosted by the poet Chinwe Azubuike, with Adnan al-Sayegh, poet; Oreet Ashery, interdisciplinary artist; Alfredo Cordal, performance poet and playwright; Chris Gutkind, poet. Tickets: £4/£2 EWI Members. Poetry Place, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2H 9BX. T 020 8458 1910 E [email protected] W www.exiledwriters.co.uk

7:00 pm | Change Season:

LISTINGS

8:00 pm | Rebetiko Jam Sessions of the SOAS Ad Hoc Rebetiko Band Organised by: Ed Emery. Every fi rst Monday of the month. With musicians from the Greek community along with musicians from Turkey, Iran and other areas of the Middle East also taking part. All welcome. Admission free. Th e Horseshoe Pub, 24 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1. E [email protected]

Screening – Goodbye Mubarak (Documentary) Organised by: Frontline Club. Goodbye Mubarak examines the anger and discontent brewing in Egypt before people took to the streets on 25 January and ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Followed by a Q&A with Director Katia Jarjoura. Tickets: £10/£8 Early Bird/£5 conc. Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. T 020 7479 8940 W www.frontlineclub.com

Tuesday 2 August

10:30 am | Mariners and Traders: connections between the Red Sea Littoral, Arabia and beyond (Colloquium) Organised by: BM. Th e Annual International Egyptological Colloquium. Th is year’s colloquium focuses on recent archaeological discoveries shedding new light on Egyptian seafaring

Tagreed Al Bagshi (Emerging Arabic Artists Showcase at Hampstead Gallery, see Exhibitions page 33)


expeditions. Tickets: £30/£27 conc. Combined colloquium and lecture tickets for the Th e Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation Distinguished Lecture (see listing below): £45/£41 conc. BP Lecture Th eatre, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org

1:15 pm | Islamic Art Th rough Western Eyes (Gallery Talk) John Reeve, independent speaker. Organised by: BM. Admission free. Room 34, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org

6:00 pm | Egypt’s Trade with Punt: new discoveries on the Red Sea coast (Lecture)Rodolfo Fattovich, Universita delgi Studi di Napoli l’Orientale, Naples. Organised by: BM. Th e Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation Distinguished

Lecture in Egyptology. Lecture on maritime contacts with the regions of the southern Red Sea. Followed by a reception. Tickets: £20/£18 conc. Combined colloquium and lecture tickets for Th e Annual International Egyptological Colloquium (see listing above): £45/£41 conc. BP Lecture Th eatre, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org

Wednesday 3 August

7:00 pm | First Wednesday: Where now for the people of Syria? (Talk) Organised by: Frontline Club. Paddy O’Connell of BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House discusses the situation in Syria and what the future holds for the Syrian people. Tickets: £12.50/£10 Early Bird/£8 conc. Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk

Place, W2 1QJ. T 020 7479 8940 W www.frontlineclub.com

Th ursday 4 August

1:15 pm | Object in context: the Rosetta Stone (Lecture) Richard Parkinson, curator. Organised by: BM. A look at the importance and the varied roles of the Rosetta Stone. Admission free, booking advised. BP Lecture Th eatre, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org

Friday 5 August

1:15 pm | Omani Adornment: curator’s introduction (Lecture) Organised by: BM. An illustrated talk on the exhibition ‘Adornment and identity: jewellery and costume

from Oman’ (see Exhibitions listings). Admission free, booking advised. Stevenson Lecture Th eatre, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org

7:00 pm | Concert of Persian Classical Music (Concert) Doors open at 6.30pm. Peyman Heydarian: santur; Emad Kermani: daf, dayreh; Roaskar Nasan: ud; and Ali Torchizi: tonbak. Tickets: £15/£10 conc./£6 SOAS students (tickets must be purchased in advance). Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. E [email protected] W www.thesantur.com

Friday 12 August

1:15 pm | Ordinary and Elite Lives in Ancient Egypt (Gallery Talk)

Honey (Bal) (See August Events, page 30)


Margaret Maitland, BM. Organised by: BM. Admission free. Room 61, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org

Wednesday 17 August

7:00 pm | Insight with Khamin Mohammadi: Rediscovering Iran (Talk) Organised by: Frontline Club. Kamin Mohammadi talks about her journey back to her homeland in Iran to fi nd the family she left behind aft er 17 years away from the country that she loved. Tickets: £12.50/£10 Early Bird/£8 conc. Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. T 020 7479 8940 W www.frontlineclub.com

Friday 19 August

1:15 pm | Th e Kingdom of Kush, Egypt’s Southern Neighbours

(Gallery Talk) Derek Welsby, BM. Organised by: BM. Admission free. Room 65, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org

8:30 pm | A Separation (Film) Until 31 August. Dir Asghar Farhadi (2011), Iran, 123 min. Winner of the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear, Farhadi’s tough, powerful tale of the breakdown of a middle-class marriage. Various ticket prices. BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, London SE1 8XT. T 020 7633 0274 W www.bfi .org.uk

Saturday 20 August

4:00 pm & 8:40 pm | A Separation (Film) See listing for Friday 19 August for details.

Sunday 21 August

11:30 am | Passport to the Aft erlife

(Workshop) Organised by: BM. Family event. Use mobile phones to follow a trail around the ancient Egyptian galleries, solving clues as you go. Suitable for ages 7+ Admission free. Samsung Digital Discovery Centre, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org

6:20 pm | A Separation (Film) See listing for Friday 19 August for details.

Monday 22 August

9:00 pm | My Tehran for Sale (Film) Organised by: UKIFF. Dir Granaz Moussavi (2009), Iran, 96 min. Marzieh is a young female actress living in Tehran. Th e authorities ban her theatre work and she is forced to lead a secret life. In Persian with English subtitles. Tickets & venue details: TBC. W www.ukiff .org.uk

Tuesday 23 August

1:15 pm | Th e Perfect Marriage: the Maria Th eresa thaler and Omani jewellery (Gallery Talk) Clara Semple, independent scholar. Organised by: BM. Admission free. Room 2, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org


7:00 pm | Counterinsurgency and the “war on terror”: Doomed to fail? (Panel Debate) Organised by: Frontline Club. Ten years aft er the September 11 terrorist attacks what has been achieved in Afghanistan and Iraq and what could be learnt from the Arab Spring about change in the region? Tickets: £12.50/£10 Early Bird/£8 conc. Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. T 020

www.ibtauris.com 256 pages 216 x 134mm 9781860640247 PB £15.99

NEWOUT NOW!

‘[A] monumental work on Syrian power politics’ – Robert Fisk, The Independent

‘An excellent book’ – Patrick Seale‘An admirable study… invaluable for anyone

with a serious interest in Middle Eastern politics’ – Peter Mansfield

‘[An] excellent study of the sectarian bases of Syrian politics’ – Foreign Affairs

THE STRUGGLE

FOR POWER IN SYRIA


7479 8940 W www.frontlineclub.com

Wednesday 24 August


8:35 pm | A Separation (Film) See listing for Friday 19 August for fi lm details. Part of a double bill following Abbas Kiarostami’s Certifi ed Copy at 6.25pm. Tickets: £8.50/£7.50 conc. for double bill. Riverside Studios, Crisp Road,

London W6 9RL. T 020 8237 1000 W www.riversidestudios.co.uk

Th ursday 25 August


8:35 pm | A Separation (Film) See listing for Wednesday 24 August for ticket, venue and contact details.

Friday 26 August

6:30 pm | Egg (Yumurta)

(Film) Organised by: Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). Dir Semih Kaplanoglu (2007), Turkey, 97 min. In Turkish with English subtitles. A rare chance to see the fi rst fi lm in Kaplanoglu’s ‘Yusef ’ trilogy, which plays in reverse chronology. Tickets: £10/£8 conc./£7 ICA Members. ICA, Th e Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH. T 020 7930 3647 W www.ica.org.uk


9:00 pm | Milk (Süt) (Film) Organised by: Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). Dir Semih Kaplanoglu (2008), Turkey, 102 min. In Turkish with English subtitles. Th e second instalment of Kaplanoglu’s ‘Yusef ’ trilogy. Tickets: £10/£8 conc./£7 ICA Members. ICA, Th e Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH. T 020 7930 3647 W www.ica.org.uk

Saturday 27 August

2:30 pm | Egg (Yumurta) (Film)

Shurooq Amin, Is there a problem baby? (Emerging Arabic Artists Showcase at Hampstead Gallery, see Exhibitions page 33)


See listing for Friday 26 August for details.

4:45 pm | Milk (Süt) (Film) See listing for Friday 26 August for details.


7:30 pm | Honey (Bal) (Film) Organised by: Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). Dir Semih Kaplanoglu (2009), Turkey, 104 min. Exploration of childhood, expressing a young boy’s inner life through the remote landscape of a mountain community near Turkey’s Black Sea coast. In Turkish with English subtitles. Tickets: £10/£8 conc./£7 ICA Members. ICA, Th e Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH. T 020 7930 3647 W www.ica.org.uk

Sunday 28 August

12:30 pm | Egg (Yumurta) (Film)

See listing for Friday 26 August for details.



5:30 pm | Honey (Bal) (Film) See listing for Saturday 27 August for details.

Monday 29 August


Tuesday 30 August


7:00 pm | Can Tunisians and Egyptians Reclaim Th eir Revolutions? (Panel Debate) Organised by: Frontline Club. Th e media has largely turned its attention away from the catalyst of the Arab spring, Tunisia and the next country to oust its president, Egypt. What does the future hold for these fl edgling democracies? Tickets: £12.50/£10 Early Bird/£8 conc. Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. T 020 7479 8940 W www.frontlineclub.com

Wednesday 31 August

6:30 pm | Egg (Yumurta) (Film) See listing for Friday 26 August for details.



EVENTS OUTSIDE LONDON

Saturday 27 August

TBC | Photography and Cinematography in Qajar Era Iran (Two-Day Symposium: Saturday 27 - Sunday 28 August) Organised by: University of St Andrews. In Memoriam: Farrokh Ghafari (1921-2006). Convened by P Khosronejad and M M Eskandari-Qajar. Tickets: TBC. United College, Schools 2 & 3, St Salvators Quadrangle, North Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AD. E [email protected] / [email protected] W www.st-andrews.ac.uk/philosophy/anthropology/nafa/qajar/conference/

Sunday 28 August

TBC | Photography and

A Separation (See August Events, pages 28, 29 and 30)


MIDDLE EAST BRIEFINGSThe London Middle East Institute offers tailored briefings

on the politics, economics, cultures and languages of the Middle East.Previous clients include UK and foreign governmental bodies

and private entities.Contact us for details.

Tel: 020 7898 4330 E-mail: [email protected]

Cinematography in Qajar Era Iran (Two-Day Symposium: Saturday 27 - Sunday 28 August) See listing for Saturday 27 August for details.

SEPTEMBER EVENTS

Saturday 3 September

11:30 am | Discover Mesopotamia through Storytelling on a ZIPANG Day Out Organised by: Th e Enheduanna Society. Guided tour looking at items which illustrate the world of stories in Mesopotamian mythology. Admission free. BM (meet in the Great Court beside the Information Desk). W www.zipang.org.uk

3:30 pm | Discover Mesopotamia through Storytelling ZIPANG Day Out Organised by: Th e Enheduanna Society. Doors open at 3.00pm. Storytelling workshop where you will hear a professional storyteller tell a Mesopotamian story and can have a go at telling the story yourself with live Iraqi music. Admission free. Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden WC2H 9BX. W www.zipang.org.uk

Monday 5 September

8:00 pm | Rebetiko Jam Sessions of the SOAS Ad Hoc Rebetiko Band Organised by: Ed Emery. Every fi rst Monday of the month. See listing for Monday 1 August for details.

9:00 pm | 3 Women (Se Zan) (Film) Organised by: UKIFF. Dir Manijeh Hekmat (2008), Iran, 94 min. Her daughter missing and her elderly mother slowly slipping from reality, a young mother sets out in search of her child. In Persian with English subtitles. Tickets: TBC. Cine Lumiere, 17 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2DT. W www.ukiff .org.uk

Tuesday 6 September

7:45 pm | Amin Maalouf (Talk) Organised by: Southbank Centre. As the tenth anniversary of 9/11

approaches, Lebanese author Amin Maalouf dissects the world that emerged following the attack on the Twin Towers. Tickets: £10/50% off (limited availability) conc. Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. E 020 7960 4200 W www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Wednesday 7 September

9:00 am | Arab-Iranian Relations: Discourses of Confl ict and Cooperation (Lecture) Organised by: LSE’s Middle East Centre. Tickets: TBC. Th ai Th eatre (Room LG.03), New Academic Building, LSE. E [email protected] W www2.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/home.aspx

Th ursday 8 September

1:15 pm | Th e burqa’ (face mask) in Oman: an object of beauty and status (Gallery Talk) Dawn Chatty, University of Oxford. Organised by: BM. Admission free. Room 2, BM. E 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org

Friday 9 September

9:00 am | Inaugural Conference on Iran’s Economy, 2011 (Two-Day Conference: Friday 9 -

Saturday10 September) Organised by: International Iranian Economic Association (IIEA). Hosted by the London Middle East Institute, SOAS (LMEI). Th e newly formed IIEA is pleased to announce its fi rst international conference on Iran’s Economy. Th e purpose of the conference is to provide a venue for the best current research on Iran’s economy and to generate information and encouragement for future high quality research in this area. Tickets: £200/£70 academic rate/£35 conc. Pre-registration required. SOAS. E [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/iranianstudies/events/inaugural-conference-on-irans-economy-2011/


9:00 am | Inaugural Conference on Iran’s Economy, 2011 (Two-Day Conference: Friday 9 - Saturday10 September) See listing for Friday 9 September for details.


9:00 am | Th e Middle East in the Middle: Dynamics and Emerging Changes (Conference) Organised by: LSE’s Middle East Centre. By placing the Middle East in ‘the middle’, a new perspective is being sought: rather than studying the region from the outside, this LSE PhD student conference aims

to off er a debate that places the observer in the centre. Admission free. Th ai Th eatre (Room LG.03), New Academic Building, LSE. E [email protected] W www2.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/home.aspx

6:30 pm | Heads From Memphis: Talking Point (Lecture) Sally-Ann Ashton, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Organised by: Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. Talk on the identity of the ‘racial type’ heads collected by Flinders Petrie in Memphis during 1910-11. See Exhibitions for the Flinders Petrie and Francis Galton exhibition. Admission free. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, Malet Place, London WC1. T 020 7679 4138 E [email protected] W www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie

Friday 16 September

7:30 pm | Iness Mezel (Algeria/France) (Concert) Organised by: Southbank Centre. Iness Mezel brings her French and North African fusion blues to London for her only UK show in 2011. Tickets: £17.50/50% off (limited availability) conc. Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Sunday 18 September

10:00 am | Launch Conference of


the European Association of Israel Studies (Conference) Organised by: European Association of Israel Studies. A conference to further the interdisciplinary study of Israel. Speakers include Anita Shapira and Derek Penslar, with a keynote address by Shlomo Avineri. Tickets TBC. SOAS. T 020 7898 4358 E [email protected] / [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/eais/

3:00 pm | Hassan Erraji (Morocco) (Concert) Organised by: Southbank Centre. Marrakech’s master-musician and singer Hassan Erraji embraces a contemporary global sound driven by Derbuka-Berber rhythms. Tickets: £15/50% off (limited availability) conc. Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www.southbankcentre.co.uk

9:00 pm | Orchestre National De Barbès (Algeria/France) (Concert) Organised by: Southbank Centre. Paris-based Arabic group Orchestre National de Barbès who combine rai, rock and gnawa. Tickets: £22.50/50% off (limited availability) conc. Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Monday 19 September

6:45 pm | Khadafi , Fleet Street and Libya’s fl uctuating relationship with the West (Talk) Richard Lance Keeble, University of Lincoln and the Lincoln School of Journalism. Organised by: Friends of Le Monde Diplomatique. A look at the numerous attempts by Western powers to assassinate Col. Khadafi over the last 40 years and the way in which Fleet Street has both covered and marginalised Libya over this period. Tickets: £3/£2 conc. Th e Gallery, 70/77 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJ. E [email protected] W http://monde-diplo-friends.org.uk

Wednesday 21 September

1:15 pm | Pilgrimage in Islam (Gallery Talk) Venetia Porter, BM. Organised by: BM. Admission free. Room 34, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org


6:30 pm | Cybertut: Archaeological Discovery, Tutankhamen and Cybermen (Lecture) Preview screening of a short documentary

that considers the infl uence of the archaeological discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamen on Dr Who’s Tomb of the Cybermen. Admission free, advance booking required W www.eventbrite.com/preview?eid=1837515057 Institute of Archaeology Lecture Th eatre, 31 Gordon Square, London WC1. T 020 7679 4138 E [email protected] W www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie

EVENTS OUTSIDE LONDON

Friday 2 September

TBC | People of the Air: Iran, the Persian Gulf and Neighbouring Countries (Two-Day Conference: Friday 2 - Saturday 3 September) In Memoriam: Gholam Hoseyn Saedi (1936-1985). Symposium focussing on the anthropological/ethnographical topics that have emerged from the study of the Persian Gulf. Convened by W O Beeman, University of Minnesota and P Khosronejad, University of St Andrews. Tickets & venue: TBC. E [email protected] W www.st-andrews.ac.uk/anthropology/nafa/gulf/conference/


TBC | People of the Air: Iran, the Persian Gulf and Neighbouring Countries (Two-Day Conference: Friday 2 - Saturday 3 September) See listing for Friday 2 September for details.

Friday 23 September

10:45 am | Coercion or Empowerment? Offi cial Anti-Veiling Campaigns in the Middle East and Central Asia (Conference) Supported by the Iran Heritage Foundation and the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Oxford. A conference looking at offi cial anti-veiling campaigns in the interwar Middle East and Central Asia from a comparative historical perspective. Convened by Stephanie Cronin, Oxford. Tickets: £10 (payable at the door), pre-registration advised. Dahrendorf Room, St Antony’s College, Oxford. E [email protected]

EXHIBITIONS

Monday 1 August

Until 3 September | Dia Batal Part

Khaled Hafez, Tomb Sonata in 3 Military Moments: The Sniper, 2010, mixed media on canvas200cm x 450cm. Courtesy image of the Mica Gallery (From Facebook to Nassbook, see Exhibitions page 33)


of the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival 2011. Exhibition by the Beirut born designer Dia Batal featuring furniture and textiles infused with poetic texts in Arabic calligraphy. Admission free. Bluecoat Display Centre, Th e Bluecoat, College Lane Entrance, Liverpool L1 3BZ.

Until 8 September | From Facebook to Nassbook Showcasing 9 contemporary Egyptian artists the exhibition attempts to capture the spirit of pre and post revolutionary Egypt with a focus on the power of the internet and social media sites. Admission free (by appointment only). Mica Gallery, Studio 2, 1st Floor, 259A Pavilion Road, Sloane Square, London SW1X 0BP. T 020 7730 1117 E [email protected] W www.micagallery.com

Until 18 September | Adornment and Identity: jewellery and costume from Oman A unique display featuring a selection of 20th

century silver jewellery, weaponry and male and female dress from Oman. Admission free. BM. T 020 7323 8299 W www.britishmuseum.org

Until 25 September | Th e Jameel Prize 2011 Th e V&A’s £25,000 international art prize awarded to a contemporary artist or designer inspired by Islamic craft and design. Ten artists and designers have been shortlisted and the exhibition will display works ranging from felt costumes to sculpture made from hand-made terracotta bricks. Admission free.Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London

SW7 2RL. T 020 7942 2000 W www.vam.ac.uk

Until 1 October | Emerging Arabic Artists Showcase at Hampstead Gallery Th e Lahd Gallery is celebrating its fi rst year in London with a review exhibition showcasing artworks from Sudan, Kuwait, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates. Admission free. Lahd Gallery, 92 Heath Street, London NW3 1DP. T 020 7435 7323 E [email protected] W www.lahdgallery.com

Until 16 December | Flinders Petrie and Francis Galton Exhibition of some of the photographs that Francis Galton commissioned Flinders Petrie to take of diff erent ‘racial types’ in ancient Egypt

in 1886. Admission free. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, Malet Place, London WC1. T 020 7679 4138 E [email protected] W www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie

Wednesday 3 August

Until 27 August | Zina Ramzi Abdul-Nour: Pomegranates... Half Iraqi and half English, Zina’s focus is cultural identity and her works explore a range of ideas concerning the similarities and diff erences between Middle Eastern and Western culture. Admission free. Barbican Library, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS. T 020 7638 4141 W www.barbican.org.uk

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LONDON MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTELONDON MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTESchool of Oriental and African StudiesSchool of Oriental and African Studies

International Iranian International Iranian Economic Association Economic Association

Inaugural Conference on Inaugural Conference on Iran’s Economy, 2011 Iran’s Economy, 2011

9-10 September 2011 Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS

Enquiries & Bookings: 020 7898 [email protected]; www.lmei.soas.ac.uk


A THREE DAY PROGRAMME AT THE SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES

Perceptions and Realities14-16 September 2011 / Brunei Gallery, SOAS

University of London

BRITAINBRITAIN MUSLIMMUSLIM

A THREE-DAY PROGRAMME OFFERED BY THE LONDON MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE AT SOAS AND THE SOAS RESEARCH AND ENTERPRISE OFFICE

FOR MORE INFORMATION & REGISTRATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Louise Hosking: [email protected] / 020 7898 4330

www.soas.ac.uk/enterprise/shortcourses/muslim-britain

This programme will combine leading academic

expertise in a number of subject disciplines

with the experience of several practitioners to

guarantee a wide-ranging and informative three

days, including an opportunity to visit a London

mosque. Programme reading materials will also

be provided in advance.

THIS ISSUE THE LEVANT: PALESTINE AND JORDANBeauty and meaning: Th e British Museum collection of...

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