VVolumeolume 9 - NumberNumber 3 AAprilpril – MMayay 22013013 ££44 | €€55 | UUS$6.5S$6.5 TTHISHIS ISSUEISSUE: SSAUDIAUDI ARABIAARABIA ● TThehe ggiantiant wwithith thethe feetfeet ooff cclaylay ● IInn tthehe sshadowhadow ooff rrevolutionsevolutions ● A ppowerfulowerful culturalcultural statement:statement: DressDress inin SaudiSaudi ArabiaArabia ● WWomenomen aappointedppointed toto tthehe MMajlisajlis Ash-ShuraAsh-Shura forfor thethe firstfirst timetime ● EExplorerxplorer SSt.t. 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JJohnohn PPhilbyhilby aandnd hhisis ccollectionollection ooff ‘‘manymany ttreasures’reasures’ ● CContemporaryontemporary SSaudiaudi ArabianArabian aartrt iinn LLondonondon ● RRiyadh’siyadh’s NNewew UUndergroundnderground RRailway:ailway: ‘‘TheThe llargestargest ssingleingle engineeringengineering projectproject everever undertaken’undertaken’ ● TThehe iinternationalnternational pprizerize forfor AArabicrabic fi cctiontion iiss ssixix yyearsears ooldld ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews aandnd eeventsvents iinn LLondonondon Patches of embroidery usually on Bani Malik tribal dresses, found in Ta'if market © Art of About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) Heritage in Riyadh Volume 9 - Number3 Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide April – May 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. With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic Professor Nadje Al-Ali SOAS membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also Ms Narguess Farzad has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle SOAS East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which Mr Roger Hardy it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specifi c components of its King's College, London programme of activities. Mrs Nevsal Hughes Association of European Journalists Mr Najm Jarrah Dr George Joff é Mission Statement: Cambridge University Mr Max Scott Th e aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle Gilgamesh Publishing East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with Ms Sarah Searight British Foundation for the Study those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in of Arabia London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the Dr Kathryn Spellman Poots AKU and LMEI Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education Dr Sarah Stewart 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 College Director Dr Hassan Hakimian Co-ordinating Editor Executive Offi cer Louise Hosking Sarah Johnson Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci-Delton Administrative Assistant Valentina Zanardi Listings Vincenzo Paci-Delton Designer Disclaimer: Letters to the Editor: Shahla Geramipour Th e Middle East in London is published Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East Please send your letters to the editor at fi ve times a year by the London Middle East Institute at SOAS in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal the LMEI address provided (see left panel) views of authors and do not refl ect the views of their or email [email protected] Publisher and organisations nor those of the LMEI or the Editorial Editorial Offi ce Board. Although all advertising in the magazine is Th e London Middle East Institute carefully vetted prior to publication, the LMEI does SOAS University of London not accept responsibility for the accuracy of claims Th ornaugh Street, Russell Square made by advertisers. London WC1H 0XG 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: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affi liation/ ISSN 1743-7598 Contents 4 18 LMEI Board of Trustees EDITORIAL Th e international prize for Professor Paul Webley (Chair) Arabic fi ction is six years old Director, SOAS 5 Peter Clark Dr John Curtis British Museum INSIGHT H E Sir Vincent Fean KCVO Consul General to Jerusalem Th e giant with the feet of clay 19 Professor Ben Fortna, SOAS George Joff é REVIEWS Professor Graham Furniss, SOAS BOOKS Mr Alan Jenkins 7 Islamist Radicalisation in Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS In the shadow of revolutions Europe and the Middle East: Professor Annabelle Sreberny, SOAS Madawi Al-Rasheed Reassessing the Causes of Dr Barbara Zollner Terrorism Birkbeck College 9 Edward Mortimer LMEI Advisory Council SAUDI ARABIA Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) ‘A huge step forward’: Women 20 Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem Near and Middle East Department, SOAS appointed to the Majlis Politics of Qat: Th e Role of a Mr Stephen Ball Ash-Shura for the fi rst time Drug in Ruling Yemen KPMG H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Hoda al Helaissi Helen Lackner Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani Arab International Women’s Forum 11 21 Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa President, University College of Bahrain A powerful cultural statement: Unshook till the End of Time: A Professor Tony Allan Dress in Saudi Arabia History of Britain and Oman King’s College and SOAS Aisa Martinez Peter Clark Dr Alanoud Alsharekh Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS Mr Farad Azima 12 22 Iran Heritage Foundation Dr Noel Brehony Explorer St. John Philby and his Books in brief MENAS Associates Ltd. collection of ‘many treasures’ Mr Charles L. O. Buderi Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP Debbie Usher 24 Ms Zeynep Dereli APCO Worldwide PROFILE Mr Shafi k Gabr 14 Adam Hanieh ARTOC Group for Investment and Development Contemporary Saudi Arabian Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna art in London 25 British Egyptian Society Michelle Smith and Janet Rady EVENTS IN LONDON HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Mr Zaki Nusseibeh 16 Riyadh’s new underground Founding Patron and Member of the railway: ‘Th e largest single Advisory Council engineering project ever Sheikh Mohamed bin Issa al Jaber undertaken’ MBI Al Jaber Foundation Ionis Th ompson April-May 2013 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL © Ionis Thompson © Ionis DDearear RReadereader A man looks out at the sunset on Jebel Hijaz, western Saudi Arabia Ionis Thompson, MEL Editorial Board hrough all the recent disturbances in Saudi society reacted to the events Saudi costumes. In the fi eld of literature, in our region, following the Arab of the Arab Spring and its aft ermath. Peter Clark talks about the so-called ‘Arab Tuprisings of 2011, Saudi Arabia has Joff e discusses King Abdullah’s moves to Booker’ prize competition which this year appeared to remain (with one or two little- modernise and change society, slow by the has a Saudi author on its short-list. An publicised exceptions) a still point of calm. standards of other countries but signifi cant important archive of papers relating to How people there are reacting to events in Saudi terms, and some of the problems the early history of the Kingdom and now around them, and what developments in that result. One of the King’s reforms has housed in Oxford, the Philby collection, thought and in society are taking place, is been the introduction of women to the is described by Debbie Usher. In terms of not particularly well known outside the consultative council, the Majlis ash-Shura infrastructure huge developments are taking Kingdom. In this issue we throw light on and we have an interview with one of the place in Saudi Arabia, one of which, the new some of the important developments that fi rst women to be chosen, Hoda al-Helaissi. metro in Riyadh, is discussed here. are being implemented within the country. Janet Rady describes a fl owering of George Joff e and Madawi al-Rasheed Saudi art which has appeared on the introduce us to the ferment of new ideas contemporary art scene