THIS ISSUE: the MEDIA Seismic Shifts in the Middle East Politics
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VVolumeolume 9 - NumberNumber 2 FFebruaryebruary – MMarcharch 22013013 ££44 | €€55 | UUS$6.5S$6.5 TTHISHIS ISSUEISSUE: TTHEHE MEDIAMEDIA ● SSeismiceismic shiftsshifts iinn thethe MiddleMiddle EastEast ● PPolitics,olitics, ppetrodollarsetrodollars andand thethe presspress ● SSyria:yria: TThehe mmediaedia asas battlegroundbattleground ● ‘‘PeoplePeople don’tdon’t wantwant toto bebe liedlied tto’o’ ● IIranianranian jjournalismournalism aandnd ‘‘thethe landland ofof freedom’freedom’ ● LLeaveseaves ooff llearningearning ● FFromrom GGazaaza rrefugeeefugee ccampamp toto rrunningunning a LondonLondon newspapernewspaper ● DDefyingefying tthehe odds:odds: HowHow oneone bookshopbookshop becamebecame LLondon’sondon’s basebase forfor ArabArab cultureculture ● A vvibrantibrant ddiasporaiaspora ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews andand eventsevents inin LondonLondon VVolumeolume 9 - NumberNumber 2 FFebruaryebruary – MMarcharch 22013013 ££44 | €€55 | UUS$6.5S$6.5 TTHISHIS IISSUESSUE: TTHEHE MMEDIAEDIA ● SSeismiceismic sshiftshifts iinn tthehe MMiddleiddle EEastast ● PPolitics,olitics, ppetrodollarsetrodollars aandnd tthehe ppressress ● SSyria:yria: TThehe mmediaedia aass bbattlegroundattleground ● ‘‘PeoplePeople don’tdon’t wwantant ttoo bbee lliedied tto’o’ ● IIranianranian jjournalismournalism aandnd ‘‘thethe llandand ooff ffreedom’reedom’ ● LLeaveseaves ooff llearningearning ● FFromrom GGazaaza rrefugeeefugee ccampamp ttoo rrunningunning a LLondonondon nnewspaperewspaper ● DDefyingefying tthehe oodds:dds: HHowow oneone bbookshopookshop becamebecame LLondon’sondon’s bbasease fforor AArabrab ccultureulture ● A vvibrantibrant ddiasporaiaspora ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews aandnd eeventsvents iinn LLondonondon The Al Jazeera English studio in Doha, Qatar © Paul Keller About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) Volume 9 - Number2 Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide February – March 2013 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 Editorial Board individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. Professor Nadje Al-Ali With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic SOAS membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also Ms Narguess Farzad SOAS has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle Mr Roger Hardy East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which Kings College, London it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specifi c components of its Mrs Nevsal Hughes programme of activities. Association of European Journalists Mr Najm Jarrah Dr George Joff é Cambridge University Mission Statement: Mr Max Scott Gilgamesh Publishing Th e aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle Ms Sarah Searight East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with British Foundation for the Study of Arabia those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in Dr Kathryn Spellman Poots London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the AKU and LMEI 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. Mrs Ionis Th ompson Saudi-British Society and BFSA Dr Shelagh Weir SOAS LMEI Staff: Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck, University of London Director Dr Hassan Hakimian Co-ordinating Editor Executive Offi cer Louise Hosking Sarah Johnson Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci-Delton Listings Administrative Assistant Valentina Zanardi Vincenzo Paci-Delton Designer Shahla Geramipour Disclaimer: Letters to the Editor: Th e Middle East in London is published fi ve times a year by the London Middle Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East Please send your letters to the editor at East Institute at SOAS in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal the LMEI address provided (see left panel) Publisher and views of authors and do not refl ect the views of their or email [email protected] Editorial Offi ce organisations nor those of the LMEI or the Editorial Th e London Middle East Institute Board. Although all advertising in the magazine is School of Oriental and African Studies carefully vetted prior to publication, the LMEI does University of London Th ornaugh Street, Russell Square not accept responsibility for the accuracy of claims London WC1H 0XG made by advertisers. United Kingdom T: +44 (0)20 7898 4490 SSubscriptions:ubscriptions: F: +44 (0)20 7898 4329 E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ To subscribe to Th e Middle East in London, please visit: ISSN 1743-7598 www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affi liation/ Contents 4 17 LMEI Board of Trustees EDITORIAL Defying the odds: How one Professor Paul Webley (Chair) bookshop became London’s Director, SOAS 5 base for Arab culture Dr John Curtis British Museum INSIGHT Sarah Searight H E Sir Vincent Fean KCVO Consul General to Jerusalem Seismic shift s in the Middle Professor Ben Fortna, SOAS East 18 Professor Graham Furniss, SOAS Edward Chaplin A vibrant diaspora Mr Alan Jenkins Gholam Khiabany Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS 7 Professor Annabelle Sreberny, SOAS THE MEDIA 20 Dr Barbara Zollner Politics, petrodollars and the REVIEWS Birkbeck College press BOOKS LMEI Advisory Council Najm Jarrah Turkey: What everyone needs to Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) know Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem Near and Middle East Department, SOAS 9 Andrew Finkel H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait Syria: Th e media as Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani battleground 21 Arab International Women’s Forum Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Dina Matar Books in brief President, University College of Bahrain Professor Tony Allan King’s College and SOAS 10 23 Dr Alanoud Alsharekh ‘People don’t want to be lied to’ EVENTS IN LONDON Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS Naomi Sakr Mr Farad Azima Iran Heritage Foundation Dr Noel Brehony MENAS Associates Ltd. 12 Mr Charles L. O. Buderi Iranian journalism and ‘the Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP Ms Zeynep Dereli land of freedom’ APCO Worldwide Hossein Shahidi Mr Shafi k Gabr ARTOC Group for Investment and Development 14 Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna British Egyptian Society Leaves of learning HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud Ehsan Masood Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Mr Zaki Nusseibeh 16 Founding Sponsor and From Gaza refugee camp to Member of the running a London newspaper Advisory Council Abel Bari Atwan Sheikh Mohamed bin Issa al Jaber MBI Al Jaber Foundation February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL DDearear RReadereader A range of Arab titles are sold along Edgware Road in London Roger Hardy, MEL Editorial Board n this issue, we revisit London’s role Secretaries would tear off strips of news- Iran was experiencing the tumult that as a centre for Middle East media and agency material and distribute them by followed the disputed presidential elections Ipublishing. Najm Jarrah looks at some hand. My wars were fought in studios. of 2009. of the factors that drew Arab editors to the During the Kuwait war of 1990-91, I learnt In my time the Middle East has been city, while Naomi Sakr addresses some of the perils of the live interview. Th at was transformed, and so has its relationship the issues – of credibility, censorship and CNN’s war: Saddam Hussein and George with London. Th e city has become a freedom of speech – that this brought to Bush Senior, in their respective bunkers, global media centre, a city of Muslims and the fore. Abdel Bari Atwan tells us of his were both said to be glued to it. Th e BBC mosques, and a magnet for Middle East life as editor of a well-known, and oft en saw the importance of television in the tourists, investors and political exiles. It controversial, London-based pan-Arab Arab world and embarked on its fi rst, has also become, as LMEI can attest, an newspaper. For Iranians, too, London unsuccessful, foray into Arabic television. important centre of Middle East studies. As has played an important role, both for Aft er its demise, it was Al-Jazeera's turn. for life in the media, with all its rough and governments in Tehran and their opponents Th e Iraq war was an intensely painful tumble, I don’t regret a minute of it. – as Gholam Khiabany and Hossein Shahidi moment. For my generation, this was our explain. Ehsan Masood and Sarah Searight Suez, with Blair a latter-day Eden. Th ere Roger Hardy was a Middle East analyst with visit some of London’s many Middle East was a war of attrition between the Blair the BBC World Service for over twenty years. bookshops. government and the BBC. I believe we He currently holds visiting fellowships at LSE For me, all this has a personal resonance. should have been more robust in speaking and King’s College, London, and is a member I started out in journalism just