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Nabil Anani, Gaza, 2014. Mixed media on canvas, 110 About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) X 93 cm. Courtesy of Zawyeh Gallery and the artist Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defi ned and helps to create links between Volume 14 – Number 2 individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. February–March 2018 With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle Editorial Board East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which Dr Orkideh Behrouzan it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specifi c components of its SOAS programme of activities. Dr Hadi Enayat LMEI is a Registered Charity in the UK wholly owned by SOAS, University of London (Charity AKU Registration Number: 1103017). Ms Narguess Farzad SOAS Mrs Nevsal Hughes Association of European Journalists Mission Statement: Professor George Joff é Cambridge University Th e aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle Dr Ceyda Karamursel SOAS East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with Ms Janet Rady those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in Janet Rady Fine Art London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the Mr Barnaby Rogerson Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is Dr Sarah Stewart at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education SOAS and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today. Dr Shelagh Weir Independent Researcher Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck College Editor LMEI Staff : SSubscriptions:ubscriptions: Megan Wang Listings Director Dr Hassan Hakimian To subscribe to Th e Middle East in London, please visit: Vincenzo Paci Executive Offi cer Louise Hosking www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affi liation/ or contact the Designer Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci LMEI offi ce. Administrative Assistant Aki Elborzi Shahla Geramipour Letters to the Editor: Th e Middle East in London is published fi ve times a year by the London Middle East Institute at SOAS Please send your letters to the editor at Disclaimer: the LMEI address provided (see left panel) Publisher and or email [email protected] Editorial Offi ce Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East Th e London Middle East Institute SOAS in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal University of London views of authors and do not refl ect the views of their MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EA organisations nor those of the LMEI and the MEL's United Kingdom Editorial Board. Although all advertising in the T: +44 (0)20 7898 4330 magazine is carefully vetted prior to publication, the E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ LMEI does not accept responsibility for the accuracy of claims made by advertisers. ISSN 1743-7598 Contents

4 15 EDITORIAL Marsm: bringing Arab musicians to British stages 5 Adam Hanieh INSIGHT LMEI Board of Trustees Israel, Saudi Arabia and the 17

Baroness Valerie Amos (Chair) United Arab Emirates: New Th e SOAS Palestine Studies Director, SOAS regional alliances and the book series Professor Stephen Hopgood, SOAS Palestinian struggle Gilbert Achcar Dr Dina Matar, SOAS Dr Hanan Morsy Adam Hanieh European Bank for Reconstruction and Development 18 Professor Scott Redford, SOAS 7 Palestine Research Seminar Dr Barbara Zollner PALESTINE Series: Palestine as an academic Birkbeck College Is Trump the Grinch who stole fi eld of study Palestinian Christmas? Dina Matar Ryvka Barnard 20 LMEI Advisory Council 9 REVIEWS Gaza in a wheelchair BOOKS Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem Yasmeen El Khoudary Th e Naqab Bedouins: A Century H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO of Politics and Resistance Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait 10 Dina Matar Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani Arab International Women’s Forum Israel as a ‘Jewish and Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa President, University College of Bahrain democratic state’? 21 Professor Tony Allan Mazen Masri Political Islam in Tunisia: Th e King’s College and SOAS Dr Alanoud Alsharekh History of Ennahda Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS 12 Charles Tripp Mr Farad Azima NetScientifi c Plc Palestinian youth formations: Dr Noel Brehony a critical counter-narrative 22 MENAS Associates Ltd. Lucy Garbett BOOKS IN BRIEF Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna British Egyptian Society Mr Paul Smith Chairman, Eversheds International 14 25 Th e new in the old: Palestinian EVENTS IN LONDON musical experiments Rafeef Ziadah

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL © Akbar Khan

DDearear RReadereader

Old City, Jerusalem, 2016. Photograph by Akbar Khan

Adam Hanieh, Dina Matar, SOAS

he year 2018 marks 70 years since implications of Trump’s decision on employed by both Israel and Palestinian the Nakba (the ‘catastrophe’) Palestinian Christmas and the tourism authorities, youth movements in Palestine Tthat saw the dispossession of industry, particularly in Bethlehem. provide a critical counter-narrative to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, She notes the decreasing number of Palestinian political reality. their dispersal outside their homeland tourists and the increasing restrictions on Turning to artistic endeavours, and the loss of a large part of that historic movement, the number of land grabs and Rafeef Ziadah discusses the work of a homeland. Th is year begins with more violence at the hands of the military and new generation of Palestinian singers/ uncertainty concerning the fate of the settlers. She reminds us that this is not the songwriters who are bringing the Palestinians and their rights following US fi rst time Christmas has been cancelled new to the old, experimenting with President Donald Trump’s announcement in protest. Yasmeen El Khoudary writes diff erent genres to produce distinctly recognising Jerusalem as the capital of that the Trump announcement has contemporary sounds. Th is piece is Israel; the announcement seemed to overshadowed news of the reconciliation followed by an interview with Khaled confi rm a blatant disregard for Palestinian between Hamas and the Palestinian Ziada of Marsm, a company that rights and the peace process. Authority. In her opinion the response organises events designed to showcase the Th e Insight article in this issue, to the announcement in Gaza shows that diversity and evolution of the Arab music penned by Adam Hanieh, places the the Palestinian cause is bigger than any scene to audiences in the UK. announcement within the wider regional political party. Th en Gilbert Achcar gives details of context, including the increasingly open Mazen Masri brings in his expertise in the Centre for Palestine Studies’ (CPS) political alliance between Israel, Saudi law to question Israel’s self-defi nition as a new book series, the fi rst such series in Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He ‘Jewish and democratic state’ and suggests English dedicated to Palestine Studies. suggests that while this alliance is not a the need to approach the defi nition not And fi nally, Dina Matar follows with an new development, it has received a major only as a legal text, but as a product of the article that profi les some of the research push in the wake of the Arab uprisings of relationship between law and politics. students who have presented their work at 2010/11 and must be taken into account Addressing the topic of youth the annual CPS research seminar series, when considering US actions. formations in Palestine, Lucy Garbett which is entering its sixth year. Ryvka Barnard addresses the argues that despite repressive tactics

4 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 IINSIGHTNSIGHT

Adam Hanieh lists signs of growing cooperation between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the ramifi cations for Palestine IIsrael,srael, SSaudiaudi AArabiarabia aandnd tthehe UUnitednited AArabrab EEmirates:mirates: NNewew rregionalegional © Public Domain, Flickr.com aallianceslliances aandnd tthehe PPalestinianalestinian sstruggletruggle

President Donald Trump and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia talk together during ceremonies, 20 May 2017, at the Royal Court Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Offi cial White House Photo by Shealah Craighead

he 6 December announcement by strategy of a US-sponsored negotiations of the Arab uprisings that spread across US President Donald Trump to process. Reminiscent of the Second the Middle East from 2010 onwards. Trecognise Jerusalem as the capital Intifada of the early 2000s, Palestinian An unprecedented shift in the relations of Israel and move the US embassy to media has presented non-stop coverage of between these three states is evident over the city has thrown Middle East politics all of these protests and debate. Th ere can the past few years, marked by a growing into renewed turmoil. Political and be little doubt that the ramifi cations of the convergence on the key political questions religious leaders around the world have US announcement will be felt for many facing the Middle East region. condemned the move, with hundreds of years to come. Most signifi cant to this emerging protests organised in major cities across Yet a major issue that has received political alliance has been the question of the globe. Spiralling demonstrations little attention in commentary around Iran. Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE throughout Palestine itself have been these developments is the wider have waged an increasingly bellicose met with violent repression – at the time regional context: most particularly, campaign against Iran’s regional infl uence. of writing nine Palestinians have been the increasingly open political alliance In the wake of the Arab uprisings, Saudi killed in these clashes, with thousands between Israel and the two leading Gulf Arabia and the UAE have sought to more wounded or arrested. Palestinian Cooperation Council (GCC) states, Saudi project themselves as the key hegemonic political leaders have pledged to boycott Arabia and the United Arab Emirates powers throughout the rest of the region. relations with US offi cials in the wake (UAE). While not a new development – it Th e US has provided strong support for of the decision, and widespread calls has been a longstanding objective of US this eff ort, including the endorsement from across the political spectrum are Middle East policy for decades – it is one and arming of the Saudi-led war against demanding a break with the moribund that has received a major push in the wake Yemen that began in 2015, as well as conspicuous encouragement of the Gulf An unprecedented shift in the relations between these three states in their attempts to steer political transitions in other Arab states. All of this states is evident, marked by a growing convergence on the key has been fully aligned with the orientation political questions facing the Middle East region of the new US administration.

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 5 Th e single major obstacle to any attempt to force a deal existence of a new US ‘peace plan’ negotiated with the support of Saudi on the Palestinian leadership remains the aspirations Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman of the wider Palestinian population presents a major challenge to Palestinian politics. Such a plan is said to diff er little from the current territorial status quo Reinforcing this political convergence Such military and diplomatic relations – formal recognition of a Palestinian between the two Gulf states and Israel, between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE state on parts of the West Bank and numerous military, diplomatic and are further strengthened by commercial Gaza Strip currently controlled by the commercial ties have become evident over ties – most notably in the security, Palestinian Authority (PA), denial of the recent years. In late March 2017, Israeli surveillance and high-tech sectors. Israeli right of return of Palestinian refugees, newspapers reported that Israeli and UAE media and the international business and continued Israeli control over border pilots fl ew alongside one another during press have documented the sale of Israeli crossings and the Palestinian economy. the Iniochos exercise, a joint military security and military hardware to both In the current environment it would be training session held in Greece between Gulf states over recent years, including extremely diffi cult for the Palestinian 27 March and 6 April. Th is was not the the participation of Israeli fi rms in Abu leadership to give their consent to fi rst time such joint exercises took place. Dhabi’s mass-surveillance system, Falcon any new deal. Nonetheless, given the In August 2016, Israel and the UAE also Eye, installed throughout the emirate in considerable political and fi nancial met at the US Air Force’s Red Flag aerial 2016. Even Israel’s largest private military connections between the PA and the combat exercise in Nevada. Th e public company, Elbit Systems, is reported to Gulf states, we can expect that signifi cant nature of these exercises points to the have sold missile defense systems to Saudi pressure will be brought to bear on increasingly brazen openness of military Arabia through its US-based subsidiary the Palestinian leadership to accept coordination between Israel and the UAE Kollsman Inc. any proposed deal. Indeed, Palestinian – something that would have not been Whether these new regional President Mahmoud Abbas has made possible a few short years ago. partnerships played a direct role in almost weekly visits to Saudi Arabia and Relationships between Israel and Saudi giving a green light to Trump’s Jerusalem other Gulf states through the latter part of Arabia are also increasingly public. Israeli announcement is not yet public 2017 – presumably linked to the behind- media reported in mid-2015 that the knowledge, but they were undoubtedly an the-scenes negotiations around such a two countries had held fi ve clandestine important factor within the calculations plan. meetings since early 2014. In June 2015, of US policymakers and Trump himself. All of this points to how the emerging the then-director general of the Israeli Th e fact that Trump’s son-in-law and Saudi-UAE alliance with Israel will Ministry of Foreign Aff airs, Dore Gold, special advisor, Jared Kushner, had profoundly shape the future of the spoke together with retired Saudi general engaged in months of shuttle-diplomacy Palestinian national struggle. Th e single Anwar Eshki in a public event at the between Riyadh, Tel Aviv and Washington major obstacle to Trump’s Jerusalem US-based Council on Foreign Relations. in the lead up to the announcement announcement and any attempt to force a Eshki, who has served in the Saudi foreign makes Saudi advance knowledge deal on the Palestinian leadership remains ministry, also led a delegation of Saudi extremely likely. Despite a verbal the aspirations of the wider Palestinian academics and businesspeople to Israel in condemnation, the Kingdom has made no population – including the millions of 2016 where they met with leading Israeli attempt to utilise its considerable fi nancial Palestinian refugees scattered across politicians and military fi gures. Similarly, and political infl uence to pressure the the Middle East. Whether Palestinian in May 2016, former Israeli National Trump administration to reverse the rights are ultimately subordinated to the Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror held a decision. interests of this new pan-regional alliance public discussion with the former Saudi In this context, the widely-reported remains an open question. intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Such public appearances could not have happened without the approval of the Saudi ruling family. Moreover, regional negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia almost certainly took place as part a 2017 decision by Egypt to transfer two islands in the Red Sea to Saudi control. Th e proximity of these islands to Israel, and the fact that they could Adam Hanieh is a Reader in Development aff ect Israel’s shipping routes, means Studies at SOAS, University of London, that the agreement represents – at least and an advisory board member of the at a de facto level – Saudi consent to the Centre for Palestine Studies (SOAS). His 1979 Peace Agreement between Egypt most recent book is Lineages of Revolt: and Israel, which guaranteed Israel full Issues of Contemporary Capitalism in the maritime rights in the Red Sea. Middle East (Haymarket Books, 2013)

6 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 PPALESTINEALESTINE This is not the fi rst time Palestinians have cancelled Christmas as a means of protest. Ryvka Barnard describes the symbolic and economic consequences of such a move IIss DDonaldonald TTrumprump tthehe GGrinchrinch wwhoho sstoletole PalestinianPalestinian

CChristmas?hristmas? © Tracy Hunter, Flickr.com, CC BY 2.0

‘Bethlehem Wall’, 2009. Photograph by Tracy Hunter

t the beginning of December, we will cancel the festivities this year.’ In So when the Christmas lights went dark, thousands gathered in Bethlehem’s the meantime, people took to the streets to Palestinian shop owners and hotel operators AManger Square for the annual protest against Trump and his support for worried about dwindling arrival numbers celebratory lighting of the giant Christmas Israel’s colonisation. Christmas cheer was and cancellations. Tourism’s success relies tree. But this year, only days aft er it was lit, replaced by tear gas and bullets. heavily on expectations of safety and calm. the sparkling lights were shut off . It was an It isn’t much of a stretch to see Trump as Th at uneasy correlation points to one of act of protest and mourning over Donald the Grinch who stole Palestinian Christmas the complications of a tourism industry Trump’s announcement that the USA would this year. In Palestinian cities like Nazareth, running under occupation. ‘recognise’ Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. A occupied Jerusalem and Bethlehem, While tourist arrivals have increased in few days later, the Palestinian mayor of Christmas is not only about festive joy. It is the past years, the occupation continues to Nazareth announced that he would follow also one of the most important economic become more entrenched. Palestinians face Bethlehem’s lead, saying: ‘[Trump’s] decision periods of each year: high season for ever-increasing restrictions on movement, has taken away the joy of the holiday, and tourism. land grabs and violence at the hands of the military and settlers. All the while, In Palestinian cities Christmas is not only about festive joy. Israel benefi ts economically and politically from every tourist arrival, as its tourism It is also one of the most important economic periods operators deft ly move in to the spaces where of each year: high season for tourism Palestinians have been blocked out. Even

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 7 though most tourists visit Bethlehem, most While many Palestinians would undoubtedly rather have of their money ends up with Israeli hotels, Israeli travel agents and Israeli tour guides. celebrated a festive Christmas, there seems to be consensus Palestinian tour operators can only hope that the demonstrations are an unavoidable necessity for left over scraps, but mostly just end up with the wear and tear on their roads as the tourist buses pass through. Such incidents recurred over the years Palestinians would not be coerced into Th is bleak picture gives context to and increased as Palestinians became pretending all was fi ne under occupation. the otherwise surprising cancellation of more brazen in their opposition to Israeli Th ese communal actions did not Christmas. Creating an illusion of safety and rule. Th ese strategic disruptions of Israel’s ultimately end the occupation, but they calm for tourists happens at the expense tourism charade reached a head in 1987, certainly had an undeniable impact. By of downplaying the dire conditions that when the collective mobilisation erupted the end of the First Intifada, Israel was Palestinians face, putting on a happy face into a full popular uprising. In 1988, the struggling to maintain the economic and while the boot of military occupation bears First Intifada was still in full eff ect, and social cost of its intense repression, and down on their necks. Why even bother, if the Unifi ed National Leadership of the tourism numbers had dropped to lows you don’t get much in return anyway? Uprising (UNLU) called for a general that proved catastrophic for the Israeli But cancelling Christmas does not strike on 24 December in a communiqué: tourism industry. Along with the economic necessarily signal despondency, and in ‘We extend felicitations to our Palestinian eff ects, Palestinians had succeeded in using fact has a powerful historical antecedent Christian brothers and urge them to make mediatised spaces – such as Manger Square especially fi tting to recall on this year of do with observing the religious rituals’ (i.e. at Christmas – to broadcast their struggle. anniversaries. not to participate in the Israeli-sponsored Th is resulted in an awakening for many At the beginning of December 1967, festivities). Th e Christmas strike was people around the world who saw fi rst- Israel was already several months into its mirrored in Nazareth, much to the dismay hand what Israeli repression looked like, occupation, and busily making plans to run of Israeli offi cials. and began to identify with the Palestinian its fi rst holiday season in Bethlehem. Now Th e Palestinian refusal to celebrate struggle for justice. that Israel controlled Nazareth, Galilee, Christmas publicly created a public relations Now, three decades later, Palestinians Jerusalem and Bethlehem, it could fi nally crisis for the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, again (or still) fi nd themselves in off er a full pilgrimage tourism package to which released a desperate press release an untenable situation. While many the thousands of Christian pilgrims who trying to position itself as the protector of Palestinians would undoubtedly rather have had already been coming each year. Th e the pilgrims against Palestinian agitators: celebrated a festive Christmas, there seems economic benefi ts of the expanded territory ‘Nothing has changed in the intrinsic to be consensus that the demonstrations exceeded expectations: in the fi rst year of the meaning of Christmas in Bethlehem, and are an unavoidable necessity and a source occupation, tourist arrivals to Israeli ports no secular municipal action will either of communal strength. But it is hard to increased by over 56 per cent. dampen the religious fervour of the pilgrims see if the stamina exists to make them Beyond the economic opportunity, Israel or mar their freedom of worship.’ Th e Israeli into more than the frustrated eruptions was keen to use the highly mediatised military governor of Bethlehem demanded that they are now. Th e First Intifada was Christmas events in Bethlehem to that Palestinian merchants put up their made possible by years of organising and whitewash its occupation. By 1967, Christmas decorations and tried to force coordination beforehand; preparation has Christmas ceremonies were already them to open their souvenir shops, but to been diffi cult this time around due to both televised and broadcast around the world. no avail. Th e press reported that aside from Israeli repression and repression from the Israel wanted to use the platform to present the religious rites, the streets were full of Palestinian Authority. itself as a benevolent coloniser and a Israeli soldiers and empty of Palestinian One of the lessons of the First Intifada is caretaker of Christian sites. But this was a residents, sending a clear message that that symbolic gestures, like the cancelling performance that would only be possible if of Christmas, were not used primarily as the local population could be seen joyfully anchors for speeches in the UN, but were participating in the charade. the refl ection of a broader resistant will on Palestinians were not prepared to play the streets of Palestine and the world over. the part. Israel arranged an elaborate What will come of it this time around is yet set of decorations and celebrations in to be seen. Manger Square, complete with a tree donated by the Jewish National Fund, and a performance by the Israeli police choir. But international media coverage from Jerusalem and Bethlehem reported low turnout of the local Palestinian population, Dr Ryvka Barnard has a PhD in Middle attributing it to leafl ets and Arabic media Eastern Studies from New York University, calls for Palestinians to boycott the Israeli- where she specialised in the politics of run operations. On top of that, saboteurs tourism production in the occupied West reportedly managed to cut some of the Bank. She is currently the senior offi cer on wires for the television broadcasts that Israel militarism and security campaigns at the depended on so highly. London-based charity War on Want

8 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 PPALESTINEALESTINE

Yasmeen El Khoudary on Hamas and the PA, Ibrahim Abu Thurayya and why Gaza has long been seen as the beating heart of Palestinian resistance GGazaaza iinn a wwheelchairheelchair

n September 2017, the two million © Ramez Habboub, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Palestinians in the open-air prison Ithat is Gaza glimpsed a shy ray of hope that smuggled its way through 11 ongoing years of blockade. Despite a legacy of unfulfi lled promises that have made them wary of falling victim to false hope, ‘this time it’s diff erent’ was the mantra of the desperate crowds. Indeed, it did seem diff erent: Egyptian-led talks between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) were positive, and offi cial delegations from the PA, Egypt, the UN, and EU Border Mission in Rafah made Port of Gaza, May several high profi le trips to the Strip. 2014. Photograph by Optimism reached a peak on 12 October Ramez Habboub when Hamas and the PA signed an agreement in Cairo in which the former Within a few weeks, and much to the 2008/2009 Israeli onslaught on Gaza, handed over control of the Gaza Strip to convenience of the opposing parties, to risk his life once more? Th e answer the latter. Jubilant protesters took to the Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem lies not just with him, but with Gaza. Midan al-Jundi al-Majhool (Unknown completely overshadowed news Two million people who have been Soldier Square) in Gaza City, which had about the reconciliation. Protests and continuously isolated by the world for 11 previously become a bitter reminder of demonstrations erupted throughout years, whose lives are plagued everyday by the internal Palestinian division aft er the Arab World and Palestine, where the most minute details, still believe in a Hamas took down the statue of the soldier clashes with Israeli soldiers took place cause greater than their own suff ering. in 2007. throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem. It is safe to say that due to travel Weeks went by without any substantial Protesters threw rocks at soldiers from restrictions imposed by Israel, the vast developments or noticeable changes behind the security border wall in the majority of Gaza’s youth have never set on the ground. Th e familiar feelings of ‘buff er zone’ that separates Gaza from foot in Jerusalem. Yet, their resistance isolation and disenfranchisement quickly Israel. Trump’s speech had made them on the border proved that their many returned to Gaza, where hope for political disregard the promises (now proven false) disabilities are overcome by their will reconciliation had less to do with an to improve the inhumane life that they to live or die for a cause they believe in. actual agreement between Hamas and were living, and to instead risk that life While this resilient will is not new to the PA and more to do with ending the by clashing with soldiers in the buff er Gaza, which has long been acclaimed for siege, allowing freedom of movement, zone. More than 600 Palestinians were being the pounding heart of Palestinian the payment of salaries, and an increase injured and four were killed, among them resistance, this time it is diff erent. It sends in electricity hours (currently, an average Ibrahim Abu Th urayya who was shot in a clear message to Hamas and the PA household in Gaza gets a total of six hours the head. Images of Abu Th urayya quickly that Palestinians will not be silenced with of electricity per day). In fact, news of the disseminated over the internet; he was a temporary solutions to their everyday reconciliation was more closely monitored double amputee in a wheelchair. problems, and that the Palestinian cause is by Palestinians in Gaza than any other What could have led the breadwinner indeed bigger than all political parties. place, given the deep impact the division for a family of 11, who lost his house has had on their lives. and his legs in an Israeli raid during the Yasmeen El Khoudary is an independent London-based researcher and writer specialised in Palestinian history and What could have led the breadwinner for a family of 11, cultural heritage. She’s currently writing a who lost his house and his legs in an Israeli raid during the book on the modern history of Gaza 2008/2009 Israeli onslaught on Gaza, to risk his life once more?

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 9 PPALESTINEALESTINE

Mazen Masri interrogates Israel’s self- defi nition as a ‘Jewish and democratic state’ and the implications such a defi nition has for a proposed solution to the Israeli-Palestinian confl ict IIsraelsrael aass a ‘‘JewishJewish aandnd ddemocraticemocratic sstate’?tate’?

In Israel, as in other settler-colonial states, the state acts as the tool of a settler society in confl ict with an indigenous population. Photograph

© Yakov Aflalo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Commons, CC BY-SA Wikimedia Aflalo, Yakov © by Yakov Afl alo

n late December 2016, John Kerry, self-determination, some highlight its theory, or, more specifi cally, the idea then Secretary of State under President contradictory nature. However, I suggest of ‘the people’. Constitutional theory IObama, gave his last speech on the that in order to fully grasp its meaning, (or theories) grounds the democratic Israeli-Palestinian confl ict lamenting the we need to understand the defi nition not legitimacy of a constitutional order lack of progress in the so-called ‘peace just as a legal text, but also as an idea that on the idea that ‘the people’ governs process’. One of the themes of his speech is the product of the intimate relationship itself through the exercise of popular was the need for a two-state solution, for between law and politics. sovereignty. ‘Th e people’ in this context is ‘it is the only way to ensure Israel’s future One way to think about the meaning the self in the exercise of self-governance, as a Jewish and democratic state.’ ‘Jewish of the defi nition is through constitutional which is one of the most basic ideas in and democratic’ is Israel’s constitutional self-defi nition in its constitutional Basic When explored through the prism of the existing constitutional Laws. But what does this mean? While most authors defend and justify order, we see that ‘the people’ in Israel can only include Jews, this defi nition based on the right of which excludes 20 per cent of the citizens who are Palestinian

10 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 democracy. In this regard, one would ask: Th ese observations raise questions about placing ‘who is the people in Israel?’ Rather than assume that everyone who the preservation of the ‘Jewish and democratic’ is a citizen in Israel is included in ‘the character at the heart of the peace process people’, inclusion in or exclusion from ‘the people’ should be explored through is, not just a passing event but rather a realities is the main goal of the two-state the prism of the existing constitutional founding principle or a way of ordering solution, there are serious doubts about order – the existing constitutional state and society – the logic of settler- whether it could indeed be seen as a principles, laws, policies and practices. An colonialism is carried on into the settler ‘solution’. examination of the diff erent facets of the state. It is therefore crucial to focus constitutional regime focussing on how on the relationship between settler- Th is article draws from Th e Dynamics political power is generated and exercised colonialism and the law: how settler- of Exclusionary Constitutionalism: Israel by the state and its organs can help colonialism shapes the development as a Jewish and Democratic State (Hart identify the source of ultimate political of Israeli constitutional law, and how Publishing, 2017) power that exercises sovereignty, and thus law, in turn, operates to give eff ect to who is included in ‘the people’. the logic of settler-colonialism in the If we take this approach, we will see form of establishing and reinforcing the that ‘the people’ in Israel can only include settler-nation and dissolving the native Jews, which excludes 20 per cent of the population. citizens who are Palestinian. Starting Th ese settler-colonial dynamics are with the Declaration of Establishment of visible in most policy areas: they are the State of Israel, its legal signifi cance visible in the narrative presented in the and the narratives it provides, it is clear Declaration of Establishment of the State that ‘the people’ can only be Jewish. of Israel, they are clear in how citizenship Immigration and citizenship laws and and immigration laws seek to reduce the policies which play an important role in size of the native population, and also shaping ‘the people’ indicate a similar clear in the justifi cations for restricting outcome. Th e Law of Return (1950), which the right to participate in elections. grants any Jew and their family members Th ese observations raise signifi cant automatic citizenship, and the extreme questions about the nature of the regime restrictions on granting citizenship to in Israel. If 20 per cent of the citizenry are Palestinians, demonstrate an obsession not part of ‘the people’, that means that the with demography and the preservation of refl exive identity between the governors a Jewish majority. and the governed is broken. It cannot be Another key area is political seen as democratic and providing equality representation, which is important in for all. In addition to the implications for shaping the relationship between the the 20 per cent who are Palestinian, these governors and the governed. Also here the observations also raise questions about defi nition of the state plays an important placing the preservation of the ‘Jewish role. Basic Law: Th e Knesset and other and democratic’ character at the heart of associated statutes set acceptance of the the peace process, as highlighted by John Jewish and democratic character of the Kerry. If maintaining such undemocratic state as a condition for participation in parliamentary and local elections, and even registration of political parties. Th is defi nition also plays a role in the processes of constitution making and constitutional amendment, and how legislation is enacted, interpreted and Mazen Masri is a Senior Lecturer at reviewed by courts, and the role that the the City Law School, City, University ‘Jewish and democratic’ defi nition plays of London. His areas of teaching and in each of these areas. research are constitutional law and Th e study of law, however, cannot public international law with special be isolated from its broader context, interest in comparative constitutionalism, which in our case is settler-colonialism. constitutional theory, human rights law Indeed, Israel adopts many policies that and equality. His book, Th e Dynamics of could be described as settler-colonial, Exclusionary Constitutionalism: Israel where the state acts as the tool of a settler as a Jewish and Democratic State (Hart society in confl ict with an indigenous Publishing, 2017), was shortlisted for the population. Given that settler-colonialism Peter Birks Book Prize for Outstanding is best understood as a structure – that Legal Scholarship

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 11 PPALESTINEALESTINE

Lucy Garbett describes how Palestinian youth movements off er a critical counter- narrative despite repression tactics intended to stifl e their infl uence PPalestinianalestinian yyouthouth fformations:ormations: a ccriticalritical ccounter-narrativeounter-narrative

Hungry for freedom protest in support of Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike in Israeli jails,

© Mohamed Badarne, www.mabadarne.com Haifa, 2011. Photograph by Mohamed Badarne

ince 2011 Palestinian youth more institutionalised forms. Th is ceiling is created a Facebook page and called for movements have been critiqued as largely due to systematic practices by Israel a demonstration in solidarity with the Sbeing reactionary forces to specifi c that impede any group or individual from uprising. In response, Palestinian security policies or for identifying with specifi c growing into a powerful force of infl uence. forces called for a demonstration at the campaigns over a short period of time. Th e use of the term ‘youth movements’ same time in support of Palestinian political In recent years however there has been has been debated with regards to its prisoners, a standard tactic used to diff use an interesting shift in youth organising usefulness as a term in various Palestinian support for demonstrations critical of towards long-term community work, circles and its emergence as a separate the Palestinian Authority (PA). Several rather than protests or specifi c campaigns. category. It was generally not until aft er individuals showed up to Al Manara Square Th ese formations have appeared despite the Arab uprisings that there was a visible in Ramallah and raised a Tunisian fl ag; an increasingly diffi cult period for labelling of Palestinian youth movements, they were swift ly arrested. Later, another Palestinian political movements. Th ey and it is important to note that there is no demonstration was called for, this time off er an important counter-narrative to the homogenous ‘Palestinian youth movement’. in solidarity with the uprising in Egypt. Palestinian political reality, yet face a ceiling In 2011, in response to the uprisings Over 3,000 people attended and marched in their impact and ability to develop into in Tunisia, a group of Palestinian youth through the streets of Ramallah calling for the fall of Mubarak. Inspired by the Focus has shift ed to long-term work, like building alternative successes of uprisings elsewhere, this loose ‘movement’ occupied Al Manara Square on education structures and knowledge production platforms, 15 March 2011, naming themselves Hirak 15 Athar, or the ‘March 15 Movement’. Th eir translating work from Hebrew and supporting cultural production central demands included elections to the that is independent from Israeli or international funding Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO)

12 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 Any evaluation of Palestinian movements must take into renewed by Israeli authorities for another six months before Al Ghoul was placed under consideration the extraordinary conditions in which they administrative detention. operate. Th is includes intensive repression and surveillance Th is tactic was then used by Israeli authorities against Samer Abu Eisheh by Israeli forces and, increasingly, the PA and Hijazi Abu Sbeih; both were handed deportation orders to leave their hometown Palestinian National Council (PNC) for with a wider geographical area and diff erent of Jerusalem for several months. Th ey every Palestinian – no matter where they class segments of Palestinian society. resisted such orders and held a protest tent, live – and an end to the division between Th ese formations are ‘holding the fort’ garnering public support, projecting fi lms Fatah and Hamas. in an increasingly diffi cult period for and holding discussions in the courtyard Few tangible gains were achieved on this Palestinian political movements. Th ey of the International Committee of the Red particular occasion. However, the event off er an important counter-narrative and Cross. Th ey were subsequently arrested by spurred the emergence of other groups conduct essential work on issues of boycott Israeli forces from the compound and kept such as Palestinians for Dignity, which and normalisation while also developing in administrative detention. subsequently called for regular protests their own models and structures despite A similar case of a Jerusalemite in Ramallah. Protests were organised the political vacuum. However such youth Palestinian is that of Saleh Hammouri, against the visit of Shaul Mofaz, the former groups are kept from becoming more who – aft er serving a seven-year Israeli Minister of Defence and Vice Prime tangible organised forces by restrictions and sentence in Israeli jails – faced a series of Minister. Other targets included US Aid, repression tactics used by Israeli forces and repressions by the Israeli state. In January or, during hunger strikes by Palestinian increasingly by the PA as well. 2016, Hammouri’s spouse was issued a political prisoners, the Red Cross. Tactics used by the Israeli government deportation order while she was six months Since then, many of these groups have include pre-emptively targeting Palestinians pregnant. In August 2017, Hammouri was fi zzled out. But from these experiments who exhibit inspiring or strong leadership placed under administrative detention loose networks have formed which have qualities through a variety of measures. for six months, which has recently been strengthened links and connections Th ese most commonly include the practice renewed. Such tactics and their impacts on between Palestinians across 48 territories of administrative detention – a detention daily life rarely receive coverage, yet their (both north and south), the West Bank and without charge or trial. Individuals can be repercussions are well studied by Israeli Jerusalem. Campaigns on single issues have arrested for six months at a time, which can forces and are aimed to break the will to been the primary focus of many of these then be renewed indefi nitely. resist, crippling anyone who may play an groups, such as the campaign against the In Jerusalem, several activists were inspiring role in their communities. Prawer Plan. In turn, many of these youth handed deportation orders to leave Th e cases of Al Ghoul, Abu Eisheh groups and movements have been criticised the city. Dahoud Al Ghoul, from the and Abu Sbeih, and Hammouri parallel for being unable to work in a consistent Silwan neighbourhood, was involved the 463 Palestinian political prisoners manner or articulate a holistic vision or in strengthening community links and currently held in administrative detention set of demands beyond an initial knee-jerk activities in a neighbourhood targeted by and the other 6,154 political prisoners in reaction. colonial-settler expansion projects. He was Israeli jails. Any evaluation of Palestinian Over the past three years there has been handed a deportation order for six months, movements must take into consideration a shift in the work being conducted by which he complied with, disrupting the the extraordinary conditions in which they youth who participated in these events. community work and groups he was operate. Th is includes intensive repression Focus has shift ed to long-term work, like involved in nourishing. Aft er the six- and surveillance by Israeli forces and the building alternative education structures month deportation order expired, it was security coordination of the PA as well. Such and knowledge production platforms, youth movements and formations cannot translating work from Hebrew, supporting be expected to compensate for a national cultural production that is independent liberation movement, though they do play from Israeli or international funding, an important role in the current political opening collectives in the form of cafes or vacuum. agricultural work, volunteering to work in areas outside of urban bubbles (such as Ramallah) and establishing committees to work on specifi c issues. Such work goes beyond the geographical barriers imposed by Israeli colonialism and notions of individualism siphoned through neoliberal policies. It also attempts to break free of the hegemony of foreign funding and prove that political and community work does not require a sponsor. More interestingly, some Lucy Garbett is a London-based of these groups have been experimenting in Palestinian from Jerusalem. She recently small-scale long-term work that has tried completed her MSc in Development Studies to de-centre itself from Ramallah to engage at SOAS, University of London

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 13 PPALESTINEALESTINE

Rafeef Ziadah briefl y outlines the innovative new works of six female Palestinian singers and songwriters TThehe nnewew iinn tthehe oold:ld: PPalestinianalestinian mmusicalusical eexperimentsxperiments

alestinian music, poetry and has been singing classical Arabic with literature are intrinsically a mastery of technique well beyond Pconnected to the national narrative, her young age. However, it is her new oft en refl ecting themes of liberation, experiments integrating jazz into her dispossession and resistance. In a situation range that are capturing attention. where their very existence is denied, Her fl uency in the classical canon, the Palestinian cultural production plays introduction of jazz and Barghouti’s a signifi cant role in asserting identity; considerable vocal talent make her a songs in particular become an incubator name to watch. for memories of homeland and attitudes Ruba Shamshoum is a graduate of surrounding exile and return. Artists Dublin’s Newpark Music Centre in jazz grapple with presenting new, innovative performance. Her debut album Shamat forms of music while contending with a is a daring mix of genres producing a legacy of liberation songs that permeate distinct sound. Th e Palestinian, Dublin- Palestinian cultural production. based singer/songwriter has collaborated Building on the creative and boundary- with a host of Ireland’s contemporary jazz breaking work of an earlier wave of female and folk musicians to infuse her Arabic artists, such as Kamilya Joubran and musicians to add new arrangements. Her texts with innovative compositions and Rim Banna, a new generation of singers/ two albums Ishraq and Hajess accentuate break musical boundaries. You can hear songwriters are bringing the new to the her captivating voice. the various infl uences through each old, experimenting with diff erent genres Terez Sliman is another independent composition. to produce a distinctly contemporary musician with a unique vision and Amal Kaawash began her music career sound. At times breaking from explicitly exceptional voice. In collaboration with with the band Jafra for Palestinian political themes, the variety in such Yazan Ibrahim, Sliman has performed Songs in Beirut, before becoming an artistic experiments is expanding the musical pieces inspired by the works of independent singer/songwriter. She repertoire of Palestinian music. Although Arab poets; for example Salat (Prayer) has studied Arabic singing at the Lebanese still suff ering from a lack of resources lyrics from ‘A History Torn Apart in the National Higher Conservatory of Music and limitations to freedom of movement, Body of a Woman’ by Syrian poet Adonis. and has collaborated with local and many artists are producing original Sliman has been one of the fi rst to mix international musicians, the latter of materials that have become widely Arabic spoken-word poetry with music. which include Naqsh group (Ramallah), available due to social media. Six female In an exciting new project, she teamed Opgang 2 (Denmark), in addition to the artists stand out for their contribution to up with Portuguese singer Sofi a Portugal renowned Ahmad Qaabour (Lebanon). this new body of work. and instrumentalists Rui Ferreira, Hélder Th is is, of course, not an exhaustive Th e fi rst of these is the well-known Costa and André Oliveira to form Mina, list of Palestinian independent female artist, Sanaa Moussa, who specialises a company that has expertly reworked musicians, but rather an introduction in preserving Palestinian folk songs. traditional songs from the Mediterranean to some of the new genres, themes and She focusses primarily on studying and region. Her album Almond Blossom, in experiments taking place; there is much collecting women’s songs, especially those collaboration with musicians from the to explore. While some of the artists that depict daily life in historic Palestine. Golan Heights based group Toot Ard, has do occasionally perform in the UK, When recreating these songs Moussa won awards for independent music. many face travel restrictions making it preserves their melodies, working with Vocalist and fl autist Nai Barghouti important to support their art even if only virtually.

Building on the creative and boundary-breaking work of Rafeef Ziadah is Lecturer in Comparative an earlier wave of female artists, a new generation of Politics of the Middle East in the Politics and International Studies department, singers/songwriters are bringing the new to the old SOAS University of London

14 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 PPALESTINEALESTINE

Adam Hanieh interviews Khaled Ziada about Marsm, a company that organises events designed to showcase the diversity and evolution of the Arab music scene to audiences in the UK MMarsm:arsm: bbringingringing AArabrab mmusiciansusicians ttoo BBritishritish sstagestages

haled Ziada is the founder and © Greg De Wode Kdirector of Marsm. Can you tell us the background to Marsm and the motivations behind the project?

Marsm was established in 2014, three years aft er a tremendous wave of social protests erupted across the Middle East. Th ese uprisings had, and are still having, a powerful impact on the cultural scene in many Arab countries. We saw the emergence of a number of very interesting independent artists and bands, expressing 47Soul at Village in a cultural form the social and political Underground in October. Photograph demands of the time while pushing musical by Greg De Wode boundaries in new and creative ways: the creation of a new wave of home-grown How has the response been? of the Arab community, including smaller Arabic rock and the sheer creativity of sub-cultures that oft en get missed in much young hip-hop producers are just two We’ve had an incredible reaction, a of the corporate music scene. We’ve also examples. We felt it was necessary to great turnout for artists such as Cairokee, been encouraged by the incredible support connect with these artists, and contribute Mashrou Leila, Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, we’ve been receiving in our collaborations to their increased exposure outside of the Kamilya Jubran, Yasmine Hamdan, Lena with venues such as Th e Barbican, Scala, Middle East. Not to mention, we feel there Chamamyan, and many others. One of Cadogan Hall and Rich Mix, every one have been few promoters willing to face the the things I’m most excited about is our of them very keen to hear more ideas and challenge of logistics and the acquisition of ability to bring UK audiences these really projects for the future. the visas necessary to bring these incredible cutting-edge musicians who are not afraid acts to the stages they deserve. to experiment with styles and genres How do you see Marsm fi tting into the For the Arab community in the UK – combining traditional Arabic music, wider Arab cultural space in the UK? this was also very important – and many jazz, hip-hop, rock, reggae, electronic people don’t realise the diverse nature music, spoken word and Indie music in Th ere are a lot of very impressive Arab of this community. For the non-Arab innovative ways. Marsm has also provided cultural events in the UK, including many community we wanted to provide them an important space for Arab artists in the festivals and established organisations. with open, welcoming and intriguing UK to perform alongside musicians from Th ese events draw big crowds and really spaces, providing opportunities to recognise the region. It’s very exciting to see these show the interest that is out there as well both similarities and diff erences in musical interactions on stage. In doing this, we’ve as the growing cultural engagement of the performances, styles or aesthetics. It’s been able to reach out to very diff erent parts Arab community. We think of all these always been important to us to support and connect diff erent communities and musical groups with one another – across national Marsm has provided an important space for Arab artists in the boundaries in the Arab world and within UK to perform alongside musicians from the region… in doing music genres in the UK – and also bring them closer to the new music developing in this, we’ve been able to reach out to diff erent parts of the Arab the region itself. community, including smaller sub-cultures

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 15 At a time when the offi cial political process reinforces year, a lot of our upcoming focus lies on strengthening our connections with UK divisions, the music scene is insisting on the unity festivals and European promoters. Th ere is of the Palestinian people across borders oft en immense work in bringing in a large band from the Middle East, the more they events as being complimentary to building the capacity of their music, a process that get to play – both in the UK and Europe – the Arab cultural scene. Our events are is emotionally, physically and fi nancially the happier we (and they) are! We try to do ongoing throughout the year, and I think draining. what is needed to mediate risk and increase this allows us to bring a wider variety of opportunities, which is something that independent artists that may not otherwise And Palestinian artists? comes with mutual rewards. get a platform. Th ere are formidable Our current focus could be narrowed obstacles for many of the emerging artists in Th e music coming out of Palestine down to our spring programming, which the Middle East. Part of Marsm’s goal is to is an essential part of the trends in the we’re all very excited about. Firstly, we’re address these obstacles through increasing wider Arab world. We’ve had a whole looking into increasing our focus on Arabic the exposure of artists to the cultural scene generation of Palestinian youth grow up jazz musicians and ways to incorporate here in the UK. under the Oslo Accords and the Palestinian them in London’s bustling jazz scene. Authority, and who have felt their voices Secondly, we’ve teamed up with renowned Aft er three years of Marsm, how do you marginalised. One of the ways we see this Sufi fi gures Bachar Zarkan and Rachid see the state of cultural production in the marginalisation challenged is through Gholam, who together with two brand-new Middle East? music – it’s happening in really creative and commission ensembles will be revisiting diverse ways, presenting political and social and reimagining classic Sufi works. Last I’ve mentioned the amazing creativity themes through fusions of diff erent musical but not least, it would be hard to hide our we’ve seen emerge in recent years, very genres. It’s also fascinating to see how much excitement about our upcoming concert much connected to the Arab uprisings of this music works against the entrenched with Naseer Shamma at Th e Barbican. of 2011. But this sits in tension with the divisions that have been created among corporatisation of Arab music and the diff erent parts of the Palestinian people: Stay updated with Marsm’s upcoming control of much of the region’s cultural the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jerusalem, events and shows at www.marsm.co.uk production by a handful of very large media Palestinian refugees and Palestinian conglomerates, mostly located in the Gulf. citizens of Israel. At a time when the offi cial Adam Hanieh is a Reader in Development On one hand, I think independent artists political process reinforces these divisions, Studies at SOAS, University of London, and are helping to challenge this monopolisation the music scene is insisting on the unity an advisory board member of the Centre and the blandness of much of the music we of the Palestinian people across borders. for Palestine Studies (SOAS). His most see on Arab TV screens. It’s one of the most Palestinian citizens of Israel, in particular, recent book is Lineages of Revolt: Issues of innovative spaces in terms of presenting have been at the forefront of much of this Contemporary Capitalism in the Middle social critique and challenging some of innovation and creativity, leading in the East (Haymarket Books, 2013) the ‘taboos’ that exist in our societies. It’s production of hip-hop and other genres. not just about a political message; it’s also about being willing to experiment with What’s next for Marsm? diff erent styles and modes of performance. Arab independent artists are having a big Th e calendar for 2018 is fi lling up impact on the music scene in Europe and fast! While we average about 30 events a elsewhere and are also infl uenced in really creative ways by musical developments © Greg De Wode outside of the Arab world. Highlights from recent years include seeing bands like DAM, Labess and Rasha Nahas play some of Glastonbury’s biggest stages, and Toot Ard taking on a European tour for the launch of their new album. On the other hand, we’re also seeing independent artists face a worrying rise in government censorship. While some bands have been outright banned from playing, censorship has increasingly taken the more subtle form of intimidation, humiliation, and harassment. Given that this comes in inconsistent and unpredictable waves, artists are forced to constantly be alert and reassess

Maurice Louca performs with Lekhfa for its London debut show. Photograph by Greg De Wode

16 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 PPALESTINEALESTINE

Gilbert Achcar outlines the signifi cance of the SOAS Palestine Studies book series TThehe SSOASOAS and lists some forthcoming topics and titles PPalestinealestine SStudiestudies bbookook sserieseries

rom the time it was founded in March 2012, the Centre for Palestine Studies F(CPS) at SOAS engaged in negotiations with various publishers in view of creating a book series under its editorial responsibility. An agreement to this eff ect was fi nalised in March 2014 with I.B. Tauris, the London- based publisher well known for its wide coverage of the Middle East. Th e ‘SOAS Palestine Studies’ book series was thus created as a scholarly peer-reviewed series, the fi rst of its kind in English wholly dedicated to the fi eld of Palestine Studies. Th e foreword to the series emphasised the following: Th e complexity and the unparalleled Th e inaugural book in the series came reviewing, only six have been approved – a diversity of contemporary Palestinian out in the summer of 2016: Toufi c Haddad’s consequence of the high standard that the locations and situations help to explain Palestine Ltd: Neoliberalism and Nationalism SOAS Palestine Studies book series set itself Palestine’s ‘disproportionate’ status and in the Occupied Territory, a book whose from the start. account for the abundance of publications hardback edition sold out and which will Th e CPS is confi dent that it will be able on Palestine and its people. And yet, be coming out in a soft cover edition in to carry on building the reputation of the surprisingly, there has until now been no 2018. It was followed in the autumn of 2016 series as a key scholarly publication in university-based English-language book by Joseph Farag’s Politics and Palestinian the Palestinian subfi eld of Middle East series specifi cally dedicated to Palestine Literature in Exile: Gender, Aesthetics and studies by attracting many more excellent Studies. Th e SOAS Palestine Studies Resistance in the Short Story. Th e third manuscripts in the years to come, as series…seeks to fi ll this gap. Th is series is book in the series came out in November the study of Palestine keeps developing. dedicated to the contemporary history, 2017: Sharri Plonski’s Palestinian Citizens Manuscripts on the wide range of Palestine- politics, economy, society and culture of of Israel: Power, Resistance and the Struggle related topics are welcome. Th ese include: Palestine and the historiographic quarrels for Space. Th e next candidates on the political economy of Palestine and the associated with its past. list of publication are Peter Manning’s Israel-Palestine confl ict; international Th e subject of Palestine has aroused Representing Palestine: Media and relations and diplomacy; regional politics intense passions over several decades. On Journalism in Australia since World War and social movements; international such a topic it is very diffi cult to exclude I and Farah Aboubakr Alkhammash’s law and statehood; political terrorism passion, and the pretension to be ‘neutral’ Speak Bird, Speak Memory (on Palestinian and ideology; nationalism and identity; is oft en disqualifi ed by both sides. But folktales). One more approved manuscript, postcolonial, literary and cultural studies; we will make sure that none of our books Elian Weizman’s Hegemony, Law, Resistance: diaspora, exile and refugee status; art, fi lm stray beyond the realms of intellectual Struggles Against Zionism in the State of and visual culture. integrity and scholarly rigour. With the Israel is currently in the process of being Palestine Studies series we hope to make updated (all three last-mentioned titles are For more information, or to submit a an important contribution towards provisional). In total, out of 16 completed proposal, please contact: a better understanding of this most manuscripts submitted to the series, and Louise Hosking, LMEI complex topic. therefore to the arduous process of peer- Email: [email protected] Telephone: 020 7898 4330 Th e ‘SOAS Palestine Studies’ book series was created as a Gilbert Achcar is Series Editor and Chair of scholarly peer-reviewed series, the fi rst of its kind in English the Centre for Palestine Studies wholly dedicated to the fi eld of Palestine Studies

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 17 PPALESTINEALESTINE

Dina Matar provides a snapshot of some of the studies presented during the Palestine-focussed research seminar series at SOAS

PPalestinealestine RResearchesearch SSeminareminar SSeries:eries: PPalestinealestine aass aann aacademiccademic fi eldeld ooff sstudytudy

ne of the highlights of the these seminars at SOAS over the past two of exclusion and dispossession. She academic calendar is the now years. argues that examining the role of sumud Oannual Palestine-focussed (‘steadfastness’ or ‘staying on the land’) research seminar series organised by the Muna Dajani is a research student at as a form of cultural resistance in the Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS, for the LSE where she studies the ways in livelihood practices of Al Battuf Valley UK doctoral students at diff erent stages which the Galilee has been a central focus highlights advocacy tactics carried out by in their research. Since its inception of the Jewish-Israeli land-acquisition the farming communities and underlines in 2012, the seminar series has hosted eff orts and plans since the 1940s. Her how these tactics can be termed subtle approximately 50 research students, work shows that the area, populated by acts of everyday resistance. refl ecting the increasing interest in the its Palestinian inhabitants aft er the 1948 fi eld. It highlights the signifi cance of Nakba, had been subjected to several Yara Hawari is a research student Palestine as an academic fi eld of study policies and laws used by the Israeli state at the University of Exeter. She draws and the variety of research approaches to tighten control on Palestinian land use on oral history and Indigenous Studies and methods that move beyond the and ownership while facilitating Jewish to examine how Palestinians are using traditional focus in studies of Palestine, expropriation and encroachment. Such memories and shared narratives in such as economics, politics, international layers of dispossession, she suggests, are spaces of indigenous resistance in Haifa relations and history. inscribed onto the landscape, provoking and the Galilee. Looking beyond acts of Along with historical studies, emerging new and transformed approaches by collecting and archiving, she focusses on scholars are working on diverse areas the inhabitants to reclaim and maintain commemorative activities and projects such as the politics of travel, tourism, the ownership of their lands – and led by various civil society actors and new modes of colonialism, farming as their identity. Dajani focusses on the addresses how oral history plays a central resistance, human rights education, ways in which the farming community role in these practices. Her research is cultural interventions and heritage, in Al Battuf Valley in the Galilee based on in-depth interviews, informal Palestinian women’s bodies and cultural construct a political subjectivity to conversations, participant observation politics. Aside from the opportunity for claim land and identity through the and textual analyses gathered between the students to present their work and appropriation of water infrastructure, the 2013-2016. Her research contributes to a receive feedback, the seminars provide an protection of land against confi scation gap in the literature and demonstrates that informal, yet intellectually challenging, and a determination to remain in the oral history can be an important tool in platform beyond the thematic-focussed agricultural sector despite conditions the struggle for liberation. conferences or seminars where research is traditionally presented. Below are profi les of some of the Since its inception in 2012, the seminar series research students who have presented at has hosted about 50 research students

18 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 Mai Abu Moghli has completed her Th e seminars provide an informal, yet intellectually challenging, PhD at the UCL Institute of Education. Her work focussed on human rights platform beyond the thematic-focussed conferences or education (HRE) in Palestinian Authority seminars where research is traditionally presented (PA) schools in the West Bank, providing a critical view of HRE within a context of colonial occupation, authoritarian state and minority groups living within a network of Palestinian scholars – national ruling structure and oppressive them infl uences the way in which the particularly because of the need for social practices. Her research addressed minority utilises its own media and how scholars working on Palestine in the UK the reasons behind the introduction of they view and engage with transnational to be better connected and informed HRE in PA schools in the West Bank, media. about the wider work on Palestine and to investigated how stakeholders make provide support and knowledge that can meaning of and implement HRE and Sinead Murphy is a part-time be relied on when needed. examined the relationship between HRE PhD student in the Department of Th e next CPS research seminar will take and the struggle for political and social Comparative Literature at King’s College place on 2 February 2018. change. Mai conducted her fi eld research London. Her work broadly focusses on in the West Bank over six months, Arabic speculative fi ction in English With thanks to Mai Abu Moghli who generating data using ethnographic translation, a genre that encompasses contributed to this article. methods. Her thesis highlights the science fi ction, the supernatural and the importance of indigenous knowledge and more fantastical modes of narrative. In Dina Matar is head of the Centre for shows that HRE in PA schools is fl attened, her analysis of contemporary iterations of Global Media and Communication, SOAS, de-contextualised and de-politicised speculative aesthetics in Arab literature and serves on the LMEI Board of Trustees to serve the ruling party, perpetuate written in or translated to English she and the advisory board of the Centre for oppressive socio-cultural practices maps out their antecedents in a long- Palestine Studies and structures and implement donors’ standing tradition of fantasy in Middle agendas. HRE in PA schools does not Eastern literature. As part of her research, allow for students’ engagement in human she has studied the work of Palestinian rights praxis, thereby limiting their ability artist Larissa Sansour and the visual to dismantle structures of domination and iconography of Sansour's short fi lm oppression. Nation Estate (2009), exploring how Sansour employs a visual language Feras Khatib, a journalist and political that combines distinctively Palestinian analysis, is completing his PhD at SOAS. imagery with tropes and motifs of science His work fi lls a signifi cant gap in the fi ction. literature on media and Palestinians in Israel. In fact, despite a burgeoning Some of the researchers interviewed scholarship on transnational satellite for this article suggested that the seminar channels in the Arab world and their could become an institutionalised connection to political events, only a annual event that initiates and solidifi es very few scholars have addressed the relationship of these channels with Palestinians, especially the Palestinian minority in Israel; their exposure to the issues of the Arab world through satellite channels created a unique situation that is worthy of further research. How are Palestinians in Israel represented in satellite television? How do they relate to it? In his research, Feras examines how Arab transnational media has been mediated/accommodated/translated into the ethno-national media of the Palestinians in Israel. Most importantly, his work contextualises the dialectic relations between both media in the socio-political context of the Israeli state, which is oft en described as dominating the Palestinian minority through identity policies of control, security and exclusion. On a broader scale, he argues that the relationship that exists between the nation Feras Khatib Sinead Murphy

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 19 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS TThehe NNaqabaqab BBedouins:edouins: A CenturyCentury ooff PPoliticsolitics aandnd RResistanceesistance

By Mansour Nasasra

Columbia University Press, May 2017, £49.95

Reviewed by Dina Matar

he Naqab, the southern region of balanced by oral history approaches to settler states by continuing to live on historic Palestine, is increasingly in order to describe diff erent periods their land, refusing to relinquish their Tbecoming an established site of of Naqab history while emphasising historical claims and engaging in non- interest and research within Palestine the means of resistance deployed by violent forms of resistance ranging from studies and, more broadly, studies of those Palestinians who remained aft er non-cooperation with Israeli military marginal groups in the Middle East the mass Nakba expulsion of 1948. His rulers to public protests against the that off er diff erent approaches towards depiction of the Naqab Bedouins is of infamous Prawer plan in 2013. understanding Bedouin lives beyond a community engaged in a continuous By considering power as relational, those Orientalist ones that dominated everyday struggle with the state, thus pre- Nasasra debunks arguments that the scholarship up to the 1990s. Mansour empting any arguments suggesting that Naqab Bedouin were passive and Nasasra’s book falls within this expanding the increasingly visible and publicised powerless, depicting them instead as scholarship and contributes to it by indigenous acts of resistance by this active actors in their history. For Nasasra, providing a fresh narrative of Naqab community are a new phenomenon the most eff ective tactic was non- Bedouins that presents them as active attributed to younger generations and, cooperation with Israeli military rule, agents under Ottoman, British and Israeli as such, are non-representative of the which with time would evolve into more military rule. Building his argument on Naqab Bedouin community’s so-called politically organised actions to gain more the notion of power as relational and historical amicability to the Israeli rights. resistance as an intentional act, Nasasra regime. In his readable and well-sourced What broader lessons can be learned chronicles Bedouin history and politics account, Nasasra shows that the Bedouin from these acts against a powerful settler- across the last century and addresses acts community has constantly challenged colonial entity such as Israel remains of resistance as diverse and dispersed, but power, employing every possible an unanswered and diffi cult question, as centrally concerned with confronting mechanism to affi rm its right to place, the particularly for Palestinian refugees state hegemony and settler colonialism. continuation of its cultural identity and unable to return to their homeland and Nasasra deconstructs the passive, the community’s right to political voice. other Palestinians living under extreme non-resistant Bedouin stereotype that Broadly speaking, the book, though conditions of settler-colonial practices. has underlined much of the Israeli focussing on the Naqab Bedouin, What is answered, however, is the scholarship on the Naqab Bedouins as contributes towards an emerging de- question of who the Naqab Bedouins are well as other writings about them. By colonising research agenda revolving and why it is important to rewrite their foregrounding agency in his study, he around themes of knowledge production history. shows that the indigenous community from below that speak back to dominant adopted a wide and varied range of colonial narratives about the Naqab. Dina Matar is head of the Centre for methods of resistance, including non- From the beginning, Nasasra prepares Global Media and Communication, SOAS, violent, political and cultural forms that the reader for the conclusion which and serves on the LMEI Board of Trustees spanned a century and that gathered pace suggests that while the Israeli brand of and the advisory board of the Centre for from the beginning of Israeli military rule settler-colonialism has displacement and Palestine Studies until today. For his book, Nasasra draws replacement at its roots, indigenous and on British and Israeli archival materials native people pose a serious challenge

20 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS PPoliticalolitical IIslamslam iinn TTunisia:unisia: TThehe HHistoryistory ooff EEnnahdannahda

By Anne Wolf

Hurst, June 2017, £30.00

Reviewed by Charles Tripp

t ththee 10th CCongressongress of EEnnahdannahda iinn (the Renaissance Movement) in the late major internal division as much as against May 2016 its founder and leader, 1980s. Led by Rachid Ghannouchi it came the demoralising eff ects of political ARachid Ghannouchi, announced to represent a distinct trend in Tunisian persecution. Th is was not made any easier that ‘Ennahda has changed from an political society, disciplined and capable of by the experiences of exile, prolonged ideological movement engaged in the mobilising signifi cant numbers. It was for imprisonment and powerlessness. Naturally struggle for identity to a protest movement this reason that both the organisation and these gave rise to rather diff erent views against the authoritarian regime and now the ideas behind it inspired the enmity of the among various groupings about what an to a national democratic party.’ Th is is autocratic regimes, fi rst of Habib Bourguiba Islamist organisation should be trying to essentially the trajectory that Anne Wolf and then of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. achieve in Tunisia. describes and analyses eff ectively in Political As Wolf graphically and movingly Wolf brings out this tension between Islam in Tunisia: Th e History of Ennahda, recounts, this Tunisian version of ‘the discipline and plural expression, developing with the major part of the book taken up years of lead’ meant the imprisonment, it convincingly in her account of the eff ects by Ennahda’s antecedents and its earlier torture, blacklisting and exile of thousands of the dramatic events of 2010/2011 on incarnations. of members of and sympathisers with Ennahda. Th e Revolution opened up Ennahda, now one of the major players Ennahda, as well as their families. In a opportunities that enabled Ennahda to in Tunisian politics (indeed it is presently country where criticism of the president emerge as the largest party in the fi rst free the largest single party in the Tunisian could bring the charge of treason, the elections held in Tunisia, becoming the parliament, following the disarray and periodic waves of repression were ferocious leading member of a coalition government fracture of Nidaa Tounes), had modest – made all the more so by the fear in the (‘the Troika’) that held power until the origins, but those origins were in some presidential palace that Ennahda could tap autumn of 2013. As her detailed analysis respects characteristic of enduring features into forces within Tunisian society that the indicates, power brought with it its own of Tunisian society and politics. As Wolf governing elites themselves could not touch. challenges, some of which defeated brings out well in the introductory chapter, Wolf takes us through this harrowing Ennahda as a party of government. But Islamic values have inspired zealous sequence of events. In doing so, however, she it also indicated to many wary Tunisians reforming modernists in recent Tunisian also skilfully demonstrates how Ennahda, and to an even warier regional and history and functioned as a refuge from by becoming the pre-eminent representative international audience that an Islamist party authoritarian and arbitrary government, of ‘political Islam’ in Tunisia, combined could relinquish power and re-enter the whether by colonial or by local elites. At the within itself all the many tendencies that democratic fray in most respects as a routine same time, these values have corresponded feed into this general position. Even before political party, neither more virtuous nor to a certain social conservatism that has it was offi cially recognised or licensed as a more dogmatic than other political players nevertheless been open to the expression of political party (in 2011 aft er the overthrow in Tunisia. diff erence. of Ben Ali) Ennahda was showing all the Th ese are all themes that have characteristics of a political party that was Charles Tripp is Professor Emeritus of the characterised the movement that began nominally defi ned by its ideology, but where Politics of the Middle East and North Africa modestly in the late 1960s as al-Jama’a the practical implications of that ideology at SOAS, University of London and is al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Group), and was were variously interpreted. Ghannouchi currently working on a study of the rethinking to become the increasingly well-defi ned tried to steer a course that would keep the of republicanism in Tunisia and well-organised Harakat Ennahda organisation together, guarding against

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 21 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF TThehe CChanginghanging SSecurityecurity DDynamicsynamics ooff tthehe PPersianersian GGulfulf Edited by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

Th e contradictory trends of the ‘post-Arab Spring’ landscape form both the backdrop to, and the focus of, this volume on the changing security dynamics of the Persian Gulf, defi ned as the six GCC states plus Iraq and Iran. Th e political and economic upheaval triggered by the uprisings of 2011, and the rapid emergence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in 2014, have underscored the vulnerability of regional states to an intersection of domestic pressures and external shocks. Th e initial phase of the uprisings has given way to a series of messy and uncertain transitions that have left societies deeply fractured and ignited violence both within and across states. Th is volume is a comparative study of how security in the Persian Gulf has evolved and adapted to the growing uncertainty of the post-2011 regional landscape.

November 2017, Hurst, £25.00

EEmployingmploying tthehe EEnemy:nemy: TThehe SStorytory ooff PPalestinianalestinian LLabourersabourers oonn IIsraelisraeli SSettlementsettlements By Matthew Vickery How would it feel to build homes on land stolen from you? Th is bitter toil is the daily reality for many Palestinians. Th rough a narrative based on many conversations with these workers and their families, Matthew Vickery explores the rationale, emotions, thoughts and consequences of such employment. Coupled with an analysis of the Israeli government’s role in the settlement employment sector, the author exposes the nature of these practices as a new, insidious form of state-sponsored forced labour. Exploring how such practices might be challenged, Employing the Enemy paints a picture of how and why people collude with their own oppression, and why a solution to the Israel/Palestine confl ict which provides dignity and rights for all is so urgently needed.

July 2017, Zed Books, £14.99

SSyria:yria: TThehe MMakingaking aandnd UUnmakingnmaking ooff a RRefugeefuge SStatetate By Dawn Chatty

Th e dispossession and forced migration of nearly 50 per cent of Syria’s population has produced the greatest refugee crisis since World War II. Th is book places the current displacement within the context of the widespread migrations that have marked the region throughout the last 150 years. Syria itself has harboured millions from its neighbouring lands and been shaped by these diasporas. Dawn Chatty explores how modern Syria came to be a refuge state, focussing fi rst on the major forced migrations into Syria. Drawing heavily on individual narratives and stories of integration, adaptation, and compromise, she shows that a local cosmopolitanism came to be seen as intrinsic to Syrian society. She examines the current outfl ow of people from Syria to neighbouring states, arguing that the resilience and strength of Syrian society bodes well for successful return and reintegration.

January 2018, Hurst, £20.00

22 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF WWee CCrossedrossed a BBridgeridge aandnd IItt TTrembled:rembled: VVoicesoices ffromrom SSyriayria By Wendy Pearlman Against the backdrop of the wave of demonstrations known as the Arab Spring, in 2011 hundreds of thousands of Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom, democracy and human rights. Th e government’s ferocious response, and the refusal of the demonstrators to back down, sparked a brutal civil war that over the past fi ve years has escalated into the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our times. Yet despite all the reporting, the video, and the heart-wrenching photography, the stories of ordinary Syrians remain unheard. Based on interviews with hundreds of displaced Syrians conducted over four years across the Middle East and Europe, We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled is a mosaic of fi rst-hand testimonials from the frontlines.

June 2017, Harper Collins, £18.99 TThehe PPressress iinn tthehe MMiddleiddle EEastast aandnd NNorthorth AAfrica,frica, 11850-1950:850-1950: PPolitics,olitics, SSocialocial HHistoryistory aandnd CCultureulture Edited by Anthony Gorman, Didier Monciaud

Th e press is central to our understanding of the development of free speech, civil society, political life and cultural expression. Th is volume presents twelve detailed studies dealing with cases drawn from the Middle East and North Africa in the period before independence (c.1850-1950). Th ese studies explore the emergence of this important medium, its practitioners and its function as a forum and agent in political, social and cultural life in the Middle East. In taking up this focus, the collection argues that the press is both a vector and an agent of history that facilitates entrée into the complex process of political, social and cultural transformation that the region was undergoing during this critical period.

December 2017, Edinburgh University Press, £80.00 TThehe BBaluch,aluch, SSunnismunnism aandnd tthehe SStatetate inin IIran:ran: FFromrom TTribalribal ttoo GGloballobal By Stéphane A. Dudoignon Since 2002 Sunni jihadi groups like Jaysh al-‘Adl have been active in Iranian Baluchistan, yet the region remains relatively stable. Th is book shows that the key reason for this is Tehran’s cultivation of good relations with Sunni ulama in the Sarbaz area in Baluchistan, a policy that began aft er WWII. Dudoignon demonstrates how this confessional network, through its hegemony in eastern Iran and its alliance with the Kurdish-born Muslim Brothers, has prevented the rise of Sunni radicalism in Iran since 1997 through the promotion of a ‘Sunni vote’. It highlights, too, the capacity of the Islamic Republic to transform a nascent ‘Sunni community of Iran’ into an asset, through Ayatollah Khamenei’s policy of ‘national union and confessional concord’.

July 2017, Hurst, £60.00

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 23 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF LLanguage,anguage, PPoliticsolitics aandnd SSocietyociety iinn tthehe MMiddleiddle EEast:ast: EEssaysssays iinn HHonouronour ooff YYasirasir SSuleimanuleiman Edited by Yonatan Mendel and Abeer Alnajjar Published in honour of Professor Yasir Suleiman, this collection acknowledges his contribution to the fi eld of language and society in general, and to that of language analysis of socio-political realities in the Middle East in particular. Presenting a range of case studies relating to the role of language in the Middle East, each shows that the study of language unearths deeper processes relating to political affi liations, social behaviour and transnational as well as religious and sectarian identities. It also explores questions related to the power of language as a socio-political instrument, and addresses current issues that facilitate an understanding of the evolving intersections in the areas of language and politics in the modern Middle East.

January 2018, Edinburgh University Press, £80.00 TThehe GGreatreat WWarar aandnd tthehe RRemakingemaking ooff PPalestinealestine

By Salim Tamari

Th is history of Palestine in the last decade of the Ottoman Empire reveals the nation emerging as a cultural entity engaged in a vibrant intellectual, political and social exchange of ideas and initiatives. Employing ethnography, rare autobiographies, and unpublished maps and photos, Th e Great War and the Remaking of Palestine discerns a self-consciously modern and secular Palestinian public sphere. New urban sensibilities, schools, monuments, public parks, railways and roads catalysed by the Great War and described in detail by Salim Tamari show a world that challenges the politically driven denial of the existence of Palestine as a geographic, cultural, political, and economic space.

August 2017, University of California Press, £24.95 OOnn thethe MMediterraneanediterranean aandnd tthehe NNile:ile: TThehe JJewsews ooff EEgyptgypt

By Aimée Israel-Pelletier

Aimée Israel-Pelletier examines the lives of Middle Eastern Jews living in Islamic societies in this political and cultural history of the Jews of Egypt. By looking at the work of fi ve Egyptian Jewish writers, Israel-Pelletier confronts issues of identity, exile, language, immigration, Arab nationalism, European colonialism and discourse on the Holocaust. She illustrates that the Jews of Egypt were a fl uid community connected by deep roots to the Mediterranean and the Nile. Th ey had an unshakable sense of being Egyptian until the country turned toward the Arab East.

December 2017, Indiana University Press, £22.37

24 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 LISTINGS EEventsvents iinn LLondonondon

HE EVENTS and LSE – London School of Akbarzadeh and Vesta Sarkhosh- Ian Black in conversation with organisations listed below Economics and Political Science, Curtis (BM). Admission free. Yossi Mekelberg and Ahmad Tare not necessarily endorsed Houghton Street, London WC2 Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. Samih Khalidi on the key issues or supported by The Middle East in 2AE T 020 7898 4330 E vp6@soas. highlighted in his new history of London. The accompanying texts ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/ Arabs and Jews in Palestine and and images are based primarily events/ Israel from 1917 -2017. Tickets: on information provided by the FEBRUARY EVENTS £39.99/£25/£15. Th e Tabernacle, organisers and do not necessarily Friday 2 February 35 Powis Square (off Portobello reflect the views of the compilers Road), London W11 2AY. E john. or publishers. While every possible Th ursday 1 February 10:30 am | Annual Palestine [email protected] W effort is made to ascertain the Research Seminar Organised www.howtoacademy.com accuracy of these listings, readers 7:00 pm | Taq Kasra: Wonder by: Centre for Palestine Studies are advised to seek confirmation of Architecture (Documentary) and Centre Global Media Monday 5 February of all events using the contact Organised by: Centre for Iranian and Communications, SOAS. details provided for each event. Studies, SOAS. Directed by Admission free. Pre-registration 5:00 pm | Red Crescents: Race, Submitting entries and updates: Pejman Akbarzadeh. First-ever required. MBI Al Jaber Seminar Genetics, and Sickle Cell Disease please send all updates and documentary fi lm on the world's Room, London Middle East in Turkey and Aden (Seminar) submissions for entries related largest brickwork vault and the Institute, SOAS, MBI Al Jaber Elise Burton (University of to future events via e-mail to symbol of the Persian Empire in Building, 21 Russell Square, Cambridge). Organised by: [email protected] the Sasanian era (224-651 AD), London WC1B 5EA. T 020 7898 Department of History, School of when a major part of Mesopotamia 4330 E [email protected] W www. History, Religions & Philosophies, BM – British Museum, Great (modern Iraq) was part of Persia. soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/ SOAS. Near & Middle East History Russell Street, London WC1B Produced by the Persian Dutch Seminar. Convener: Ceyda 3DG Network, in association with Saturday 3 February Karamursel (SOAS). Admission SOAS –SOAS, University of Toos Foundation, and partially free. Wolfson Lecture Th eatre, London, Th ornhaugh Street, funded by the Soudavar Memorial 5:30 pm | Saved from the ISIS Paul Webley Wing (Senate House), Russell Square, London WC1H Foundation. Followed by a bonfi re (Talk) Father Nageeb SOAS. T 020 7898 4602 E ck17@ 0XG Q&A with the director Pejman Michaeel. Organised by: Gulan. soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ Doors open at 5:00pm. Father history/events/ LHM Arab Hall ©The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Image Nageeb will talk about his work courtesy of Will Pryce. An Arabian Feast at Leighton House: 1,001 Flavours, protecting and preserving the 7:30 pm | Words for the Silenced Stories and Sounds from Syria (see March Events p. 30) ancient texts he rescued from the of Iran (Reading) Organised by: Dominican monastery in Mosul Exiled Writers Ink. An evening from the advance of ISIS. Includes focusing on writing about and an exhibition of photographs by from those imprisoned in Iran, Richard Wilding showing Father including the launch of the Nageeb and the rescued library. 2018 tour of Nazanin’s Story, the Tickets: £10 entry on the door. St Howell Productions play about Botolph’s, Bishopsgate, London Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliff e. An EC2M 3TL. E [email protected] Exiled Writer’s Ink Agit Lit event, W www.gulan.org.uk in coordination with Amnesty International, with readings from Sunday 4 February Iranian writers in Iran and from Nasrin Parvaz and Ziba Karbassi 11:00 am | Arabs and Jews in in exile. Tickets: £5/£3 EWI 2018 Palestine and Israel, 1917-2017 members and asylum seekers. (Panel Discussion) Ian Black Poetry Society, 22 Betterton (journalist and LSE), Ahmad Street, London WC2 9BX. E Samih Khalidi (St Antony’s College, [email protected] W Oxford and Geneva Center for www.exiledwriters.co.uk Security Policy, Geneva), Yossi Mekelberg (Regent’s University Tuesday 6 February London and Chatham House). Organised by: how to: Academy. 5:45 pm | Th e Dynamics of

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 25 CENTRE FOR IRANIAN STUDIES – SCHOLARSHIPS

SOAS, University of London, is pleased to announce the availability of several scholarships in its Centre for Iranian Studies (CIS). The Centre, established in 2010, draws upon the range of academic research and teaching across the disciplines of SOAS, including Languages and Literature, the Study of Religions, History, Economics, Politics, International Relations, Music, Art and Media and Film Studies. It aims to

build close relations with likeminded p 25 . of the School Oriental and African Studies, London, 2007, Treasures institutions and to showcase and foster the best of contemporary Iranian talent in art and culture. MA in Iranian Studies *O

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2017/18. Thanks to the generosity of the Fereydoun Djam Charitable Trust, a number of Kamran Djam scholarships are available for BA, MA and MPhil/PhD studies. MA in Iranian Studies For further details, please contact: Dr Nima Mina (Department of the Languages and Culture of the Middle East) Scholarships Offi cer E: [email protected] E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7898 4315 T: +44 (0)20 7074 5091/ 5094 W: www.soas.ac.uk/nme/programmes/ W: www.soas.ac.uk/scholarships ma-in-iranian-studies Centre for Iranian Studies Student Recruitment Dr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam (Chair) T: +44(0)20 7898 4034 E: [email protected] E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7898 4747 W: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis

26 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 Exclusionary Constitutionalism: lse.ac.uk W www.lse.ac.uk/ & Beyond (Concert) Piers Faccini. Department of Middle Eastern Israel as a Jewish and Democratic middle-east-centre/ Singing mostly in English but Studies, King's College London. State (Lecture) Mazen Masri also in French, Italian dialects Hermez examines how people (City, University of London), Th ursday 8 February and Arabic, Faccini’s music is a live between periods of confl ict. Brenna Bhandar (SOAS), Nimer celebration of cultural diversity What do everyday conversations, Sultany (SOAS). Organised by: 5:30 pm | Aspects of Seljuk and pluralism. With Malik Ziad, practices, and experiences look London Middle East Institute, Architecture (title tbc) (Seminar) an Algerian musician who sings like during these moments? SOAS (LMEI), Centre for Richard McClary. Organised by: and plays guembri lute as well How do people attempt to fi nd a Palestine Studies and Centre for Department of the History of as Algerian mandole. Part of the measure of certainty or stability Jewish Studies. Talk by Mazen Art & Archaeology, School of SOAS Concert Series. Tickets: £3 in such times? Admission free. Masri on his book Th e Dynamics Arts, SOAS. Research Seminar donation. Pre-booking required Pre-registration required. K1.28, of Exclusionary Constitutionalism: in Islamic Art. Convener: Anna W www.eventbrite.co.uk Brunei King's Building, Strand Campus, Israel as a Jewish and Democratic Contadini (SOAS). Admission Gallery Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. London WC2R 2LS. E dmes@ State (Hart Publishing, 2017) free. Room B111 (Brunei Gallery), T 020 7898 4500 E musicevents@ kcl.ac.uk W www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/ What does Israel's defi nition SOAS. E [email protected] W soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ departments/mems/events/ as a 'Jewish and democratic' www.soas.ac.uk/art/events/ music/events/concerts/ state mean? How does it aff ect ressemislamicart/ Wednesday 14 February constitutional law? How does Saturday 10 February it play out in the daily life of the Friday 9 February 11:00 am | Tiny Owl Tales people living in Israel? Chair: 11:00 am | Digital workshop: by Rumi (Reading) Also Adam Hanieh (SOAS). Part of the 12:00 pm | Brand Geopolitics? Egyptian photo booth Organised at 1:30pm. Part of Imagine LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture Turkish Airlines and Turkey's by: BM. Turn yourself into a Children's Festival. For ages 4 – Programme on the Contemporary Geopolitical Representations pharaoh, an Egyptian god and 7. Experience the ancient Iranian Middle East. Admission free. (Seminar) Lerna Yanık (Kadir Has other characters using a range of art of pardekhani. Storyteller Alia Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T University, Istanbul). Organised digital technology. Activity lasts Al Zougbi tells tales of Th e Parrot 020 7898 4330/4490 E vp6@soas. by: SOAS Modern Turkish Studies 30–45 mins. Admission free. and the Merchant and Th e Jackal ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ Programme (London Middle East Samsung Centre, BM. T 020 7323 Who Th ought He Was a Peacock events/ Institute) and sponsored by Nurol 8000 W www.britishmuseum.org by the legendary Persian poet Bank. Admission free. MBI Al Rumi. Tickets: £6 child (includes Wednesday 7 February Jaber Seminar Room, London Monday 12 February one accompanying adult). Level 3 Middle East Institute, SOAS, Function Room, Level 3, Blue side, 5:00 pm | Can distributed MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell 6:00 pm | Decoding the Ancient Royal Festival Hall, Southbank ledger technology save Square, London WC1B 5EA. E Babylonian Musical System Centre, Belvedere Road, London Palestinian/Israeli cross-border [email protected] / gm29@soas. (Lecture) Richard Dumbrill (Th e SE1 8XX. T 020 3879 9555 W transactions? (Seminar) Priscilla ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ Institute of Musical Research, www.southbankcentre.co.uk Toff ano (IMF and LSE). Organised events/ Royal Holloway and Senate House, by: Department of Economics, University of London). Organised 7:00 pm | Th e Traditional World SOAS. Toff ano looks at whether 1:15 pm | Reviving Piabrm: by: Anglo Israel Archaeological of Islam: Man & Nature and cross-border transactions between digitally reconstructing a Society jointly with the Institute Circling the House of God: the West Bank and Gaza (WBG) Carian-Egyptian grave stela of Archaeology, UCL. Admission Refl ections on the Hajj by Martin and Israel could be settled via a of the 6th century BC (Gallery free. Lecture Th eatre G6, Ground Lings (Film) Organised by: Th e distributed ledger platform that Talk) Organised by: BM. Joanne Floor, Institute of Archaeology, Prince's School of Traditional Arts avoids the correspondent banking Dyer, Alexandra Villing (BM). University College, London & Th e Temenos Academy. 6:30pm system entirely, and the costs and Admission free. Room 13, WC1H OPY. T 020 8349 5754 E for 7:00pm. A screening of two benefi ts involved. Admission free. BM. T 020 7323 8000 W www. [email protected] W www. fi lms, 27 and 35 minutes long, Alumni Lecture Th eatre, Paul britishmuseum.org aias.org.uk with Q&A. Tickets: £7/£5 conc. Webley Wing (Senate House), (cash only)/full-time students SOAS. T 020 7898 4737 E jt29@ 7:00 pm | Stacey Dooley – Face 7:00 pm | Th e Hungry 1890s: A with student ID card free. Pre- soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ to Face with ISIS (Documentary) Prelude to the Constitutional registration required. Th e Prince's economics/events/ Organised by: Frontline Club. Revolution (Lecture) Stephanie School of Traditional Arts, 19- Screening of a new BBC Cronin. Organised by: Th e Iran 22 Charlotte Road, London 6:00 pm | Kurdish Women documentary followed by a Q&A Society. Admission free for Society EC2A 3SG. T 01233 813663 E Fighters: A Path Out of with presenter Stacey Dooley and Members plus one guest. Pall Mall temenosacademy@myfastmail. Patriarchy? (Lecture) Güneş director Joshua Baker. One year Room, Th e Army & Navy Club, 36- com W www.temenosacademy.org Murat Tezcür (University of on from her fi rst visit to Iraq, 39 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JN Central Florida). Organised Stacey joins Shireen – a 23 year (Dress code calls for gentlemen 7:00 pm | Inana's Descent to by: LSE Middle East Centre. old Yazidi woman who was held to wear jacket and tie). T 020 the Nether World (Concert) Over the last three decades, tens as a sex slave for over two years by 7235 5122 E [email protected] Organised by: ICONEA of thousands of women have the so called Islamic State. Tickets: W www.iransociety.org / www. (International Council of Near- joined the ranks of the PKK £12.50/£10. Pre-booking required. therag.co.uk Eastern Archiomusicology), the and its affi liated organisations. Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, Institute of Musical Research and What factors explain their London W2 1QJ. T 020 7479 8940 Tuesday 13 February Royal Holloway. A one-of-a-kind violent mobilisation despite life- E [email protected] W concert combining the recitation threatening risks? Admission www.frontlineclub.com 6:00 pm | War Is Coming: Between of Sumerian mythology with free. Pre-registration required. Past and Future Violence Japanese Noh theatre. Chancellor's Room 9.04, 9th Floor, Tower 1, 7:30 pm | "I Dreamed An Island": in Lebanon Sami Hermez Hall, Senate House, University 1 Clement's Inn, London WC2A Exploring Crossroads between (Northwestern University, of London, Malet Street, London 2AZ. T 020 7955 6198 E s.sfeir@ the Mediterranean, North Africa Qatar). (Seminar) Organised by: WC1E 7HU. Tickets: £15/£8

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 27 SOAS. T 020 7898 4330 E vp6@ gmail.com W www.soas.ac.uk/art/ soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ islac/ lmei-cis/events/ 7:30 pm | Bedouin and Arab Women in Israel Today (Lecture) Tuesday 20 February Sarah Abu-Kaf, PhD (Ben Gurion University). Organised by: Spiro 5:30 pm | Kamran Djam Annual Ark and sponsored by the Pears Lecture at SOAS: Engineering Foundation. Annual Spiro Tribute Governmentality Mohamad Lecture. Th e Bedouins, a minority Tavakoli-Targhi (University of in Israel, face confl ict between old Toronto). Organised by: Centre for nomadic customs and modernity Iranian Studies, SOAS. Second of with one of the issues being the two lectures by Tavakoli-Targhi on status and role of women. Tickets: Scientifi c Tropes in Modern Iranian £15 (box offi ce)/£12 (website). Politics. In his second lecture JW3, 341-351 Finchley Road, Before Summer Ends (see February Events below) Tavakoli explores the concurrent London NW3 6ET. T 020 7433 political ascendency of Shi‘i clerics 8988 E [email protected] W www. and the national prominence jw3.org.uk / www.spiroark.org conc. Pre-booking required E dochouse.org W http://dochouse. of engineers and engineering [email protected] / www. org/ schools in the aft ermath of the Monday 26 February iconea.org 1979 Revolution. Admission free. Monday 19 February Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. 5:00 pm | Title TBA (Seminar) T 020 7898 4330 E vp6@soas. Hugh Kennedy (SOAS). Organised Th ursday 15 February 5:00 pm | Th e Timurid ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/ by: Department of History, Vocabulary of Sovereignty in the events/ School of History, Religions & 5:45 pm | Th e Travels and Plant Ottoman Empire of the Sixteenth Philosophies, SOAS. Near & Collections of Aucher-Éloy, Century (Seminar) Christopher Wednesday 21 February Middle East History Seminar. Oman, 1838 (Lecture) Shahina Markiewicz (University of Convener: Ceyda Karamursel Ghazanfar (Royal Botanic Birmingham). Organised by: 1:15 pm | Pharaohs and the (SOAS). Admission free. Wolfson Gardens, Kew). Organised Department of History, School of Mediterranean world (Gallery Lecture Th eatre, Paul Webley by: MBI Al Jaber Foundation. History, Religions & Philosophies, Talk) George Hart (independent Wing (Senate House), SOAS. Pierre Martin Remi Aucher-Éloy SOAS. Near & Middle East History speaker). Organised by: BM. T 020 7898 4602 E ck17@soas. was the fi rst person to make a Seminar. Convener: Ceyda Admission free. Room 12, ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/history/ comprehensive collection of plants Karamursel (SOAS). Admission BM. T 020 7323 8000 W www. events/ from northern Oman (then called free. Wolfson Lecture Th eatre, britishmuseum.org the Immamat of Muscat). Th ese, Paul Webley Wing (Senate House), 7:00 pm | Idols and Figural and his other collections from the SOAS. T 020 7898 4602 E ck17@ 6:00 pm | Law and Images in Islam: A Brief Dive Orient, provided a major source soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ Revolution: Legitimacy and into a Perennial Debate (Lecture) of material for the eminent Swiss history/events/ Constitutionalism in the Arab Christiane Gruber (University botanist, naturalist and explorer, Spring (Book Launch) Nimer of Michigan). Organised by: Pierre Edmund Boissier. Part of 7:00 pm | Kamran Djam Sultany (SOAS). Organised by: Gingko in association with the the MBI Al Jaber Foundation Annual Lecture at SOAS: Jinns School of Law, SOAS. Event to London Middle East Institute, Lecture Series. Admission free. to Germs Mohamad Tavakoli- mark the publication of Nimer SOAS (LMEI). Lecture exploring Pre-registration required. MBI Targhi (University of Toronto). Sultany's Law and Revolution: some of the questions and debates Al Jaber Seminar Room, London Organised by: Centre for Iranian Legitimacy and Constitutionalism concerning idolatry and fi gural Middle East Institute, SOAS, Studies, SOAS. First of two lectures in the Arab Spring (Oxford representation from the beginning MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell (second lecture on Tuesday 20 University Press, 2017). Welcome of Islam until today. Admission Square, London WC1B 5EA. E February) by Tavakoli-Targhi on note: Carol Tan (SOAS). free. Pre-Registration required [email protected] W Scientifi c Tropes in Modern Iranian Discussants: Paul O’Connell E [email protected] www.mbifoundation.com Politics in which he will explore (SOAS), Martin Loughlin (LSE), Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T the use of modern scientifi c tropes Lynn Welchman (SOAS). Chair: 020 7823 2312 W www.gingko. Friday 16 February in Iranian political, cultural and Samia Bano (SOAS). Admission org.uk / www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ historical discourses from the late free. Wolfson Lecture Th eatre, events/ Various Times | Before Summer nineteenth century to the present. SOAS. E [email protected] W Ends (Film) Debut feature from Th e fi rst lecture explains how a www.soas.ac.uk/law/events/ Tuesday 27 February director Maryam Goormaghtigh. nineteenth-century public health Until 22 February. Aft er fi ve years crisis prompted the deployment 7:00 pm | In the service of 5:45 pm | Palestinian Citizens of studying in Paris, Arash has of a wide-range of medical and religion? Th e display of ‘science of Israel: Power, Resistance and struggled to adapt to life in France microbiological concepts to from the Islamic world’ in the Struggle for Space (Lecture) and has decided to return to Iran. recount Iran's history and to the museum (Lecture) Silke Sharri Plonski (SOAS). Organised In the hope of changing his mind, off er prognosis and diagnosis Ackermann (Museum of the by: London Middle East Institute, his two friends take him on one of national, social and political History of Science, Oxford). SOAS (LMEI) and the Centre for last trip across France. Tickets: ills. Lecture to be preceded by Organised by: Islamic Art Circle Palestine Studies. Lecture by Sharri £9/£7 conc./£5 off -peak. Bertha a reception at 6:00pm in SG37 at SOAS. Chair: Scott Redford Plonski to mark the publication DocHouse, Curzon Bloomsbury, (ground fl oor, Paul Webley Wing, (SOAS). Admission free. Khalili of her book, Palestinian Citizens Th e Brunswick, London WC1N Senate House). Admission free. Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T of Israel: Power, Resistance and 1AW. T 0330 500 1331 E info@ Djam Lecture Th eatre (DLT), 07714087480 E rosalindhaddon@ the Struggle for Space (I.B. Tauris,

28 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 2018) in which she investigates WC2R 2LS. E [email protected] W screening followed by a discussion Friday 16 February Palestinian communities living www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/ with the director Karl Sabbagh and inside the Jewish state, and their mems/events/ Avi Shlaim (St Antony’s). Chair: 5:00 pm | De Gaulle in Beirut: attempts to disrupt, resist and Eugene Rogan (St Antony’s). Th e Chehab Experiment, 1958- reshape the physical and symbolic Admission free. Investcorp 1964 (Seminar) Anne Sa’adeh borders that discipline their lives. EVENTS OUTSIDE Lecture Th eatre, St Antony's (Dartmouth College). Organised Chair: Gilbert Achcar (SOAS). LONDON College, 68 Woodstock Road, by: Middle East Centre, St Part of the LMEI's Tuesday Oxford OX2 6JF. T 01865 284780 Antony’s College, University of Evening Lecture Programme on E [email protected] W www. Oxford. Chair: Eugene Rogan the Contemporary Middle East. Friday 2 February sant.ox.ac.uk/research-centres/ (St Antony’s). Admission free. Admission free. Khalili Lecture middle-east-centre Investcorp Lecture Th eatre, St Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 7898 5:00 pm | Understanding Antony's College, 68 Woodstock 4330/4490 E [email protected] W Political Islam: In Search of Road, Oxford OX2 6JF. T 01865 www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ the Islamist Other, 1973-2013 Tuesday 13 February 284780 E [email protected] (Seminar) Francois Burgat (Aix W www.sant.ox.ac.uk/research- 6:00 pm | Revolutionary Social Marseille University). Chair: 3:00 pm | Sectarianism and centres/middle-east-centre Contracts and Long-Term Walter Armbrust (St Antony’s). Identity Among Syrian Refugees Legacies: Comparing Former Organised by: Middle East Centre, in Jordan (Lecture) Sarah Tobin. and Current Revolutionaries St Antony’s College, University Organised by: Council for British Wednesday 21 February in Dhufar and Western of Oxford. Admission free. Research in the Levant (CBRL) in Sahara (Seminar) Alice Wilson Investcorp Lecture Th eatre, St partnership wtih the Department 2:00 pm | Women and the Struggle (University of Sussex). Organised Antony's College, 68 Woodstock of Social Anthropology, University for Democracy in Iran (Seminar) by: Department of Middle Road, Oxford OX2 6JF. T 01865 of Sussex. Tobin looks at how Mariam Memarsadeghi (Tavaana). Eastern Studies, King's College 284780 E [email protected] the sectarian orientations and Organised by: Middle East Centre, London. Wilson examines how W www.sant.ox.ac.uk/research- localised histories of Syrian St Antony’s College, University of revolutionary social contracts centres/middle-east-centre refugees have an understudied Oxford. Women’s Rights Research create long-term legacies in potential to create new forms of Seminar. Chair: Nazila Ghanea challenging political conditions Friday 9 February divisiveness in Jordanian society. (Oxford University). Admission of military defeat and protracted Admission free. Arts C, Room free. Board Room, Middle East exile. Admission free. Pre- 5:00 pm | Palestine: Th e Reality C333, University of Sussex, Centre, St Antony’s College, 68 registration required. Nash (Film) Organised by: Middle Brighton BN1 9RH. T 020 7969 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 Lecture Th eatre (K2.31), King's East Centre, St Antony’s College, 5296 E [email protected] W http:// 6JF. T 01865 284780 E mec@sant. Building, Strand Campus, London University of Oxford. Film cbrl.org.uk ox.ac.uk W www.sant.ox.ac.uk/

REPORTING THE MIDDLE EAST TheTh PPracticeti off NNews iin ththe TTwenty-Firstt Fi t CenturyC t Edited by Zahera Harb

How do the media cover the Middle East? Through a country-by-country approach, this book provides detailed analysis of the complexities of reporting from the Arab World. Each chapter provides an overview of a country, including the political context, relationships to international politics and the key elements relating to the place as covered in Western media. The authors explore how the media can be used to serve particular political agendas on both a regional and international level. They also consider the changes to the media landscape following the growth of digital and social media, showing how access to the media is no longer restricted to state or elite actors. By studying coverage of the Middle East from a whole range of news providers, this book shows how news formats and practices may be defined and shaped differently by different nations. Paperback 240 pgs | 216 x 138 mm £16.99 | 9781784532727 ‘a valuable contribution to existing literature on issues of media representation from and of the Arab world’ www.ibtauris.com - Dr Dima Saber, Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 29 research-centres/middle-east- Tickets: £45/£40 (early-bird). in 2015 confronted with a series Mosaic Rooms. Th e Palestinian centre Pre-booking required W www. of unprecedented challenges. multi-instrumentalist combines eventbrite.co.uk Leighton House Th is talk launches the edited sound video and movement in his Friday 23 February Museum, 12 Holland Park Road, volume Salman’s Legacy, which performances which are inspired London W14 8LZ. T 020 7602 interrogates this era and assesses by daily life. Admission free. Th e 5:00 pm | Th e challenges of 3316 / 020 7471 9160 W www. its multiple challenges. Admission Mosaic Rooms, A.M. Qattan healthcare in Gaza (Seminar) leightonhouse.co.uk free. Pre-registration required. Foundation, Tower House, 226 Richard Guy (Oxford University Wolfson Th eatre, New Academic Cromwell Road, London SW5 Hospitals), Omar Abdel- Tuesday 6 March Building, LSE, 54 Lincoln's Inn 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E info@ Mannan (Paediatrician), Fields, London WC2A 3LJ. T mosaicrooms.org W http:// Debbie Harrington (Consultant 5:15 pm | Philippine Migration 020 7955 6198 E [email protected] mosaicrooms.org Obstetrician). Organised to the Middle East and Migrant W www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east- by: Middle East Centre, St International Activism (Seminar) centre/ Saturday 10 March Antony’s College, University of Robyn Magalit Rodriguez Oxford. Chair: Eugene Rogan (University of California, 10:00 am | Th e 2018 British (St Antony’s). Admission free. Davis). Organised by: LSE Th ursday 8 March Association for Turkish Area Investcorp Lecture Th eatre, St Middle East Centre. Part of the Studies (BATAS) Spring Antony's College, 68 Woodstock Social Movements and Popular 4:00 pm | Findin Qumran Cave Symposium Organised by: Road, Oxford OX2 6JF. T 01865 Mobilisation in the MENA 1Q Artefacts (Lecture) Joan BATAS in association with 284780 E [email protected] Research Network. Rodriguez Taylor (King’s College, London). the London Middle East W www.sant.ox.ac.uk/research- looks at how, through the Organised by: Anglo Israel Institute, SOAS (LMEI). Annual centres/middle-east-centre International Migrants Alliance Archaeological Society jointly with symposium which aims to bring (IMA), migrant activists have with the Palestine Exploration together a diverse range of been able to draw attention to Fund. Admission free. Pre- topics relating to Turkey and its MARCH EVENTS issues facing Filipino migrants in registration required T 020 7323 cultural/geopolitical area. Tickets: the Middle East. Admission free. 8181 W www.britishmuseum. £10 non-members/£3 BATAS Pre-registration required. Room org BP Lecture Th eatre, Clore members/ full-time students free. Th ursday 1 March 9.04, 9th Floor, Tower 2, LSE, Education Centre, BM. T 020 8349 Pre-registration required. T 01962 Mobil Court, London WC2A 2AZ. 5754 E [email protected] W 889014 E jill.sindall143@gmail. 5:30 pm | Digitising the past: Th e T 020 7955 6198 E s.sfeir@lse. www.aias.org.uk com W http://batas.org.uk/ / Growing Archival movement ac.uk W www.lse.ac.uk/middle- www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ in Amman (Seminar) Jessica east-centre/ 6:30 pm | Centre for Palestine Rose Holland. Organised by: Studies Annual Lecture Elias Department of the History of 5:45 pm | Ethics as a Weapon of Khouri. Organised by: Centre for Monday 12 March Art & Archaeology, School of War: Militarism and Morality in Palestine Studies, SOAS. Th is year's Arts SOAS. Research Seminar in Israel (Lecture) James Eastwood annual lecture will be delivered by 5:00 pm | Lost Maps of the Islamic Art. Amman has a host (Queen Mary University of the novelist, playwright, critic, and Caliphs: Th e Fatimid View of of archival digitisation projects London). Organised by: London prominent public intellectual Elias the World (Seminar) Yossef underway, in national institutions, Middle East Institute, SOAS Khouri. Chair: Gilbert Achcar Rapoport (Queen Mary University foreign public institutions and (LMEI), Centre for Palestine (SOAS). Admission free, Brunei of London). Organised by: private collections; ranging from Studies and Centre for Jewish Gallery Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T Department of History, School of photographs stretching back 70 Studies. Eastwood launches his 020 7898 4330 E [email protected] History, Religions & Philosophies, years through to multi-media new book Ethics as a Weapon W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cps/ SOAS. Near & Middle East History records of past exhibitions at of War: Militarism and Morality Seminar. Convener: Ceyda the city’s cultural institutions. in Israel (Cambridge University 7:00 pm | Dirar Kalash Karamursel (SOAS). Admission Convener: Anna Contadini Press, 2017). What role does ethics (Performance) Organised by: Th e free. Wolfson Lecture Th eatre, (SOAS). Admission free. play in modern-day warfare? Is it Mosaic Rooms. Sound artist Dirar Paul Webley Wing (Senate House), Room B111 (Brunei Gallery), possible for ethics and militarism Kalash performs a live set at Th e SOAS. T 020 7898 4602 E ck17@ SOAS. E [email protected] W to exist hand-in-hand? Part of the www.soas.ac.uk/art/events/ LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture ressemislamicart/ Programme on the Contemporary Ouroboros, 2017 (fi lm still) by Basma Alsharif. Courtesy of the artist and Middle East. Admission free. Gallerie Imane Farès. The Gap Between Us (see Exhibitions, p. 33) Friday 2 March Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 7898 4330/4490 E vp6@soas. 7:30 pm | An Arabian Feast at ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ Leighton House: 1,001 Flavours, events/ Stories and Sounds from Syria Organised by: Leighton House Wednesday 7 March Museum in collaboration with Sakbeh. Doors open at 7:00pm. 6:00 pm | Salman's Legacy: Leighton House Museum presents Th e Dilemmas of a New Era its fi rst ever supper club. Guests in Saudi Arabia (Talk) Madawi will enjoy an array of dishes Al-Rasheed, (LSE Middle East from Syria while learning of Centre), Steff en Hertog (LSE), their provenance and culinary Michael Farquhar (King's College infl uences. With live music from London). Organised by: LSE the region by Yara Zeitoun. Part Middle East Centre. King Salman of the BBC Civilisations Festival. of Saudi Arabia began his rule

30 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 LONDON MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE SOAS University of London

TUESDAY LECTURE PROGRAMME ON THE CONTEMPORARY MIDDLE EAST SPRING 2018

6 February The Dynamics of Exclusionary Constitutionalism: Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State Mazen Masri, City University Organised jointly with the Centre for Palestine Studies and the Centre for Jewish Studies

13 February Reading Week

20 February *5:30pm start Kamran Djam Annual Lecture at SOAS Scientifi c Tropes in Modern Iranian Politics: Engineering Governmentality Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, University of Toronto Organised jointly with the Centre for Iranian Studies

27 February Palestinian Citizens of Israel: Power, Resistance and the Struggle for Space Sharri Plonski, SOAS Organised jointly with the Centre for Palestine Studies

6 March Ethics as a Weapon of War: Militarism and Morality in Israel James Eastwood, Queen Mary Organised jointly with the Centre for Palestine Studies and the Centre for Jewish Studies

TUESDAYS 5:45 PM Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS University of London, Russell Square WC1H 0XG Admission Free - All Welcome For further information contact: London Middle East Instutute, SOAS University of London, MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EA. T: 020 7898 4330 E [email protected] W: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 31 soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ especially prominent in the been transformed. Discussant: expulsions of the Palestinians from history/events/ Persian Gulf, where migrants, Malu Halasa (writer and editor). their land is growing.’ – Amira sailors, indigenous communities, Admission free. Pre-registration Hass. Tickets: £14/£8 conc. Pre- Tuesday 13 March and laborers have intermingled required. Room 9.04, 9th Floor, registration required. Ondaatje and forged a unique and multi- Tower 2, LSE, Mobil Court, Th eatre, Th e Royal Geographical 6:30 pm | Towfi gh Magazine: a ethnic culture that defi es facile London WC2A 2AZ. T 020 7955 Society, 1 Kensington Gore, satirical newspaper (Lecture) categorisation. Chair: Roham 6198 E [email protected] W www. London SW7 2AR. T 020 7370 Abbas Towfi gh. Organised by: Alvandi (LSE). Admission free. lse.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/ 9990 E [email protected] W Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF). Hong Kong Th eatre, Clement http://mosaicrooms.org Abbas Towfi gh is known as one House, LSE. T 020 7955 6043 7:00 pm | Making fakes and of Iran's foremost satirists and E [email protected] W www.lse. copies of antique rugs in Turkey was the editorial cartoonist for the ac.uk/Events/ (Lecture) Vedat Karadag (Turkey). EVENTS OUTSIDE renowned Towfi gh Magazine. Th e Organised by: Oriental Rug and LONDON magazine was the most popular Friday 16 March Textile Society, UK. Doors open satirical newspaper in Iran but at 6:00pm. A talk by talk Vedat it was eventually banned by the 12:00 pm | Architecture and about new developments in the Friday 2 March Shah's regime in the early seventies. Identity from (Ottoman) Empire making of fakes in carpet making Lecture in Persian. Tickets: £10 to Nation State: Th e emergence of in Turkey and elsewhere. Tickets: 5:00 pm | Religious Freedom Pre-registration required. Asia modern Izmir (Seminar) Kalliopi £7 non-members/£5 students. in Turkey (Seminar) Alexandre House, 63 New Cavendish Street, Amygdalou (Hellenic Foundation Membership of one year for 11 Toumarkine (INALCO, Paris), London W1G 7LP. T 020 3651 for European & Foreign Policy events at £20 Th e Church Hall Ceren Lord (Sasakawa Fellow, 2121 E [email protected] W (ELIAMEP), Athens). Organised Conference Room, St. James Oxford) and Katja Triplett www.iranheritage.org by: SOAS Modern Turkish Studies Church, Piccadilly, London (University of Göttingen and the Programme (London Middle East W1J 9LL. T 020 7639 7593 E Oriental Institute). Organised Wednesday 14 March Institute) and sponsored by Nurol [email protected] W by: Middle East Centre, St Bank. Admission free. MBI Al www.orientalrugandtextilesociety. Antony’s College, University of 7:00 pm | Decagonal and Jaber Seminar Room, London org.uk Oxford. Chair: Laurent Mignon Quasicrystalline Geometry in Middle East Institute, SOAS, (St Antony’s). Admission free. the Architecture of Medieval MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell Th ursday 22 March Investcorp Lecture Th eatre, St Persia and Its Infl uence in the Square, London WC1B 5EA. E Antony's College, 68 Woodstock Greater Islamic World (Lecture) [email protected] / gm29@soas. 5:00 pm | We Crossed a Bridge Road, Oxford OX2 6JF. T 01865 Peter J. Lu (Harvard University). ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ and It Trembled: Voices from 284780 E [email protected] Organised by: Islamic Art Circle events/ Syria (Lecture) Wendy Pearlman W www.sant.ox.ac.uk/research- at SOAS. Th e Seventh Bahari (Northwestern University) centres/middle-east-centre Foundation Lecture in Iranian Monday 19 March Organised by: London Middle East Art and Culture. Chair: Scott Institute, SOAS (LMEI). How can Friday 9 March Redford (SOAS). Admission free. 5:00 pm | Neither Wilson nor we make sense of the tragedy in Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T Lenin: Toward an Intellectual Syria? Pearlman shares a selection 5:00 pm | Israel and Palestine: 07714087480 E rosalindhaddon@ History of the Egyptian of voices from her book We Why Britain Should Recognize gmail.com W www.soas.ac.uk/art/ Revolution of 1919 (Seminar) Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: the Second State (Seminar) Sir islac/ Hussein Omar (University Voices from Syria (HarperCollins Vincent Fean KCVO. Organised of Oxford). Organised by: 2017) to explain the origins and by: Middle East Centre, St Th ursday 15 March Department of History, School of evolution of the Syrian confl ict, as Antony’s College, University of History, Religions & Philosophies, well as what it has been like for the Oxford. Chair: Eugene Rogan 5:45 pm | Title TBC (Lecture) SOAS. Near & Middle East History ordinary people who have lived its (St Antony’s). Admission free. Chris Doyle (CAABU). Organised Seminar. Convener: Ceyda unfolding. Admission free. MBI Investcorp Lecture Th eatre, St by: MBI Al Jaber Foundation. Part Karamursel (SOAS). Admission Al Jaber Seminar Room, London Antony's College, 68 Woodstock of the MBI Al Jaber Foundation free. Wolfson Lecture Th eatre, Middle East Institute, SOAS, Road, Oxford OX2 6JF. T 01865 Lecture Series. Admission free. Paul Webley Wing (Senate House), MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell 284780 E [email protected] Pre-registration required. MBI SOAS. T 020 7898 4602 E ck17@ Square, London WC1B 5EA. T W www.sant.ox.ac.uk/research- Al Jaber Seminar Room, London soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ 020 7898 4330/4490 E vp6@soas. centres/middle-east-centre Middle East Institute, SOAS, history/events/ ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ MBI Al Jaber Building, 21 Russell events/ Square, London WC1B 5EA. E Wednesday 21 March EXHIBITIONS [email protected] W Tuesday 27 March www.mbifoundation.com 6:30 pm | We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from 7:00 pm | Th e Preventable: Israeli Th ursday 1 February 6:30 pm | Th e Arab/Persian Syria (Book Launch) Wendy Fantasies and Techniques of Binary: histories of culture and Pearlman (Northwestern Population Expulsion (Lecture) Ongoing | Kaveh Golestan Series confl ict in the Persian Gulf University). Organised by: LSE Amira Hass (Haaretz). Supported of portraits, taken between 1975 (Lecture) Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet Middle East Centre. Based on by: Th e Mosaic Rooms/A. M. and 1977, that document sex (University of Pennsylvania). interviews with hundreds of Qattan Foundation and London workers from the former red light Organised by: Department of displaced Syrians conducted over Review of Books. Edward W. Said district, Shahr-e No, in Tehran, International History, LSE. Arabs four years across the Middle East London Lecture 2018. ‘As Israeli Iran where Golestan witnessed and Persians have historically and Europe, Pearlman's book politics loses its last traces of ‘the social, fi nancial, hygienic, been placed in a binary and features a collection of intimate shame and sheds the fi nal, tattered behavioural and psychological oppositional relationship. Th is wartime testimonies from a cross- remains of its liberal pretensions, problems that exist in everyday clash of ethnicities becomes section of Syrians whose lives have the danger of more audacious mass society … magnifi ed.’ Exhibition

32 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 on for twelve months. Tickets: See contact details below. Boiler House Level 2 West, Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. T 020 7887 8888 E visiting.modern@ tate.org.uk W www.tate.org.uk/ visit/tate-modern/

Until 10 February | disPLACED Contemporary Arts ReSearch Unit, an interdisciplinary research platform, presents a group exhibition in the P21 Gallery. Upstairs on the ground fl oor, the exhibition brings together artists whose work evokes a wide range of responses to the title theme ‘disPLACED’. Downstairs, Alissar McCreary presents the culmination of her seven-year research into her experience of displacement as a Lebanese refugee. Admission free. P21 Video still showing two bombs in mid-air fractions of a second before impact in the Al Tannur neighbourhood in Gallery, 21-27 Chalton Street, Rafah, Gaza on 1 August 2014. Knowing the distance between the photographer and the exact place where the London NW1 1JD. T 020 7121 bombs hit allowed Forensic Architecture to locate a scaled image plane within the 3D model of the neighbourhood 6190 E [email protected] / info@ and determine the shape, size, and make of the bombs. Image courtesy of Forensic Architecture, 2015. Counter ca-ru.org W http://p21.gallery Investigations, Forensic Architecture (see Exhibitions, p. 33)

Until 10 February | Upright Animal Inaugural exhibition the group and explores the socio- Cemeteries As an unstudied Wednesday 7 March of London-based painter Selma political motivations that drove aspect of Bahraini life and Parlour. Th rough the gossamer- the collective, presenting more illustrating the diversity of Muslim Until 6 May | Counter like application of the oil, so than 100 paintings, photographs, practice in Bahrain and the Gulf, Investigations, Forensic intrinsic to her practice, the drawings, archival documents artefacts, graves, and cemeteries Architecture A survey artist enables colour to appear as and fi lm. Tickets: £10/£8. Tate are represented in the exhibition exhibition of the work of a veil rather than a skin, subtly Liverpool Albert Dock, Liverpool by images and a small display Forensic Architecture, an revealing each decision she makes. Waterfront, Liverpool L3 4BB. T of material culture, collected as independent research agency Her works show how abstract 0151 702 7400 W www.tate.org. part of a larger project recording based at Goldsmiths, University of painting can be mediated by its uk/visit/tate-liverpool historical gravestone inscriptions London. In recent years Forensic related processes and conventions. on Bahrain. Admission free. Th e Architecture has undertaken Admission free. Pi Artworks, Until 24 March | Plan for Street Gallery, Institute of Arab a series of investigations 55 Eastcastle Street, London Feminist Greater Baghdad, a and Islamic Studies, University of internationally into state crimes W1W 8EG. T 020 7637 8403 E solo exhibition by Ala Younis Exeter, Stocker Road, Exeter EX4 and human rights violations, [email protected] W www. Exhibition by the Kuwait-born, 4ND. E [email protected] / spanning events within war zones, piartworks.com Jordan-based artist, writer and [email protected] W https:// and instances of politically and curator Ala Younis, composed socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/iais/ racially motivated violence and Until 1 March | Hustling Fourth of two installations that events/exhibitions/ killing outside of military confl ict. exhibition of the Algerian-born explore Baghdad’s modernist Tickets: £1 Day Membership/ Paris-based artist Mohamed monuments and architecture. Until 31 March | Th e Gap Between Members free. Institute of Bourouissa. Informed by Th e original installation anchors Us First UK solo exhibition by Contemporary Arts (ICA), Th e the discourses of identity itself within the history of a artist and fi lm-maker Basma Mall, London SW1Y 5AH. T 020 politics, Bourouissa takes the Baghdad gymnasium named Alsharif, an LA based artist of 7930 3647 E [email protected] / W conventionally white American aft er Saddam Hussein that was Palestinian descent whose work www.ica.art culture of cars and Western and designed by Le Corbusier. Th e negotiates a new relationship presents us with its appropriation second installation brings to with what it means to create by a black community. Admission the fore the contributions made art about Palestine. Featuring free. kamel mennour Gallery, 51 by female artists, architects and three key works from diff erent Brook Street, London W1K 4HR. other infl uential characters to the periods of the artist’s practice. Th e E [email protected] W development of Baghdad and its exhibition’s central work will be www.kamelmennour.com modern monuments. Admission Ouroboros (2017) Alsharif’s fi rst free. Delfi na Foundation, 29/31 feature length fi lm, screened here Until 18 March | Surrealism in Catherine Place, London, SW1E in a gallery context for the fi rst Egypt: Art et Liberté 1938 – 1948 6DY. T 020 7233 5344 E info@ time. Admission free. Th e Mosaic Th e UK’s fi rst comprehensive delfi nafoundation.com W www. Rooms, A.M. Qattan Foundation, exhibition about Art et Liberté, delfi nafoundation.com Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, a radical collective of artists London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 and writers based in Cairo. Th e Until 28 March | Remembering 9990 E [email protected] W exhibition tracks the history of the dead in Bahraini Shia http://mosaicrooms.org

February – March 2018 The Middle East in London 33 Photograph © Iselin-Shaw

NEW MA PALESTINE STUDIES Ŕ
Develop an understanding of the complexities of modern and contemporary Palestine

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Explore history, political structure, development, culture and society

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Obtain a multi-disciplinary overview

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Enrol on a flexible, inter-disciplinary study programme For further details, please contact: Dr Adam Hanieh E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk 34 The Middle East in London February – March 2018 Middle East Summer School y 182423 June JuneJune-24 - –19 26 JulyJuly July 20182014 2013

AnAn intensive intensive five-week five-week programme programme which which includes includes a two choice courses: of two courses: a language one (Persian or Arabic, the latter at two levels) andan Arabicanother Language on the 'Government Course (introductory and Politics or ofintermediate) the Middle East'and or 'Cultureanother and on Society‘Government in the andMiddle Politics East'. of the Middle East.

Beginners Persian (Level 1) Government and Politics of the Middle East Th is is an introductory course which aims to give the students a reasonable grounding in the basics of Persian grammar and syntax Th is course provides an introduction to the politics of the Middle as well as to enable them to understand simple and frequently used East and North Africa (MENA) region. It gives on a country by expressions related to basic language use. Th ey will be able to hold country basis, an overview of the major political uncomplicated conversations on topics such as personal and family issues and developments in the region since the end of the First information, shopping, hobbies, employment as well as simple and World War and addresses key themes in the study of contemporary direct exchanges of information related to familiar topics. By the Middle East politics, including: the role of the military, social and end of the course they will also progress to read simple short texts. economic development, political Islam, and the recent uprisings (the ‘Arab Spring’). Beginners Arabic (Level 1) Culture and Society in the Middle East

Th is is an introductory course in Modern Standard Arabic. It Th is course examines the major cultural patterns and institutions teaches students the Arabic script and provides basic grounding in of the MENA region. It is taught through a study of some lively Arabic grammar and syntax. On completing the course, students topics such as religious and ethnic diversity, impact of the West, should be able to read, write, listen to and understand simple Arabic stereotyping, the role of tradition, education (traditional and sentences and passages. Th is course is for complete beginners and modern), family structure and value, gender politics, media, life in does not require any prior knowledge or study of Arabic. city, town and village, labour and labour migration, the Palestinian refugee problem and Arab exile communities, culinary cultures, music and media, etc. Beginners Arabic (Level 2)

Th is course is a continuation of Beginners Arabic Level 1. It completes the coverage of the grammar and syntax of Modern Standard Arabic and trains students in reading, comprehending and writing with the help of a dictionary more complex Arabic Timetable sentences and passages. Courses are taught Mon-Th u each week. Language courses are taught To qualify for entry into this course, students should have in the morning (10am-1pm) and the Politics and Culture Courses are already completed at least one introductory course in taught in two slots in the aft ernoon Arabic. (2:00-3:20 and 3:40-5:00pm).

FEES Session (5 weeks) Programme fee* Accommodation fee** 1824 June-19June–26 July July 2018 2013 (two (two courses) courses) £2,700 £2,500 from £300/week (one course) £1,400 * An Early early bird bird discounts discount of 10%10% applyapplies to to course course fees fees before before 1 March15 April 2013. 2014. * An early bird discount of 10% applies to course fees before 30 April 2018. A** discount Accommodation of 15% applies fees mustto SOAS be paid alumni by 1and March 20% 2013 to SOAS to secure students. accommodation. ** Rooms Please cancheck be ourbooked website at the from Intercollegiate mid-October Halls 2012 which for confiare located rmed prices. in the heart of Bloomsbury: www.halls.london.ac.uk. A limited number of partial tuition fee waivers of up to 50% off the fee are available for SOAS’s current students on a fi rst come, fi rst serve basis (please enquire).

For more information, please contact Louise Hosking on

[email protected]. Or check our websiteFebruary www.soas.ac.uk/lmei – March 2018 The Middle East in London 35 February-March 2014 The Middle East in London 35 Kamran Djam Annual Lectures at SOAS 19 and 20 February 2018 Centre for Iranian Studies, London Middle East Ins tute Scien fi c Tropes in Modern Iranian Poli cs

Professor Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, University of Toronto

Lecture One: Jinns to Germs 7.00pm, Monday 19 February, Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT). Preceded by a recep on at 6.00pm in SG37 (ground fl oor, Paul Webley Wing, Senate House)

Lecture Two: Engineering Governmentality 5.30pm, Khalili Lecture Theatre

SOAS University of London, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Admission Free - All Welcome

Enquiries Tel. No. 020 7898 4330 E-mail [email protected] Website www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/ 36 The Middle East in London February – March 2018