Part 1. Peer-Reviewed Articles: Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI)
Posted by: adonis49 on: June 19, 2018
Part 1. Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI): Peer-Reviewed Articles
“Protection Against Domestic Violence in Jordanian Law and International Conventions”
By: Laith K. Nasrawin
Abstract: This article addresses the issue of protection against domestic violence in both Jordanian law and international conventions. It does so by defining domestic violence and its various causes, and by exploring the relevant global standards and best international practices for combating it.
The article also deals with the reality of protection against domestic violence in Jordan by referring to the special protection of the family and to the related follow-up by national and governmental institutions, and the relevant national standards.
The Law Regarding Protection from Domestic Violence (Law No. 6/2008) contains protective provisions and other treatments to reduce this phenomenon, but it fails to provide optimal protection against domestic violence. (Optimal protection? Like changing human passions and myths?)
The article proposes a set of recommendations to improve national standards for protection against domestic violence so that Jordan’s laws concerning protection against domestic violence can conform to international standards.
“Sub-Centres of Power in Shiʿi Islam: Women of ʿAlid descent in the Contemporary Near East”
By: Raffaele Mauriello
Abstract: A peculiar characteristic of the Islamic civilization is represented by the Prophet’s family (Ahl al-Bayt), whose history spans over 14 centuries and whose members have played at different times and places an important role in the Muslim world.
The Prophet’s kinfolk are collectively known either as sādat (sing. sayyid) or as ashrāf (sing. sharīf). Within this kinfolk, the ‘Alids claim to descend from the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima and his cousin ‘Ali.
(Note 1: Muhammad had 2 boys who died before age 5. He had 4 girls who married to sa7abats, those who emigrated to Yathreb (Al Madina) from Mecca)
It has been argued that the ‘Alids represent a formidable example of the necessity to re-formulate the two categories of ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’ in accordance with the distinctive features of the Islamic civilization.
In this respect, Biancamaria Scarcia Amoretti has coined the terms centri dislocati (‘sub-centres’ or ‘centres in the periphery’) and centro deputato (‘designated centre’) to analyse the role of the ʿAlids as key actors in the dialectical dynamics that define the ‘centre’ and in initiating political, religious, and cultural movements or changes.
This essay argues for the importance of including ‘Alid women in the human geography framework formulated by Scarcia Amoretti. The case study concerns women of a remarkable ʿAlid family of the Shiʿi religious establishment of the Near East, the al-Sadr.
(Note 2: Women in the 7th century had plenty of power and wrote themselves their marriage contracts. They divorced once a clause was reneged upon. This generation of women were taught and learned their rights from Aicha, the beloved wife of Muhammad)
“Refugees and the Case for International Authority in the Middle East: The League of Nations and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East Compared”
By: Laura Robson
Abstract: In the immediate aftermath of World War I, the newly formed League of Nations saw Middle Eastern refugees—particularly displaced Armenians and Assyrians scattered in camps across the Eastern Mediterranean—as venues for working out new forms of internationalism.
Note: The Armenians and minority religious groups who were transferred from Turkey (genocide) were sheltered by the Syrians in Aleppo and Deir Zour, before many transferred to Lebanon, Europe and USA. They didn’t feel like living in concentration camps since they could leave any time and work in the cities)
In the late 1940s, following the British abandonment of the Palestine Mandate and the subsequent Zionist expulsion of most of the Palestinian Arab population, the new United Nations revived this concept of a refugee crisis requiring international intervention.
This paper examines the parallel ways in which advocates for both the nascent League of Nations and the United Nations made use of mass refugee flows to formulate arguments for new, highly visible, and essentially permanent iterations of international authority across the Middle East.
“The New Arab Left and 1967”
By: Sune Haugbolle
Abstract: In Arab political culture, the Naksa of 1967 (The term Nakba is reserved for 1948 as Israel transferred Palestinians from their villages to neighboring States, like Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, and Gaza) had a number of watershed effects.
Scholars have paid a lot of attention to the decline of secular Arab nationalism, and the concurrent rise of Islamism. Much less research has been done on the way 1967 spurred radical left organizations, also known as ‘the new Arab left’, to organize resistance against Israel as well as gain a foothold in national politics.
This article analyzes what 1967 meant for groups such as P.F.L.P., D.F.L.P., O.C.A.L. and the Syrian Communist Party – Political Bureau, and the wider political culture associated with the new left: its media, journals and art.
Based on readings of this cultural production and new research on the tri-continental movement, revolutionary socialism and Third-Worldism in the late 1960s and early 1970s, this article argues that the defeat of 1967 helped to determine the shape of the revolutionary moment that followed.
This moment has had a lasting impact on Arab political culture and is being re-interpreted in interesting ways today by Arab revolutionaries post-2011.
“Islamizing the Palestinian–Israeli Conflict: The Case of the Muslim Brotherhood”
By: Noha Mellor
Abstract: The Arab capitulation in the Six Day War was posited to stimulate the so-called Islamic resurgence in the region since the 1970s, which several scholars see as a sign of Islamic resistance to the Western cultural presence within the Arab world.
This article argues that Islamizing the conflict began well before the 1967 defeat, and that the hegemony of the Islamist discourse has been made possible owing to its penetration into mainstream political and media discourses.
It is also argued that by ‘religionizing’ the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, Islamists provide a new narrative to reshape and reframe the perception of this conflict as being religious rather than political in nature. (Actually, it is the “Christian” Evangelical Zionists that financed and supported politically the establishment of State of Israel)
The article takes the Muslim Brotherhood as a topical case study, demonstrating how its print and digital media highlighted the Islamization of the conflict with Israel, and providing frequent references to the 1967 defeat as evidence of God’s wrath meted out on Arab rulers, not only for abandoning the Islamic State project, but also for oppressing Islamist movements.
Note: Erdogan of Turkey is wrapping himself with the flag of Muslim Brotherhood movement to lead them in Egypt, Syria, Libya and Qatar. This movement was first instituted in Egypt in the early 1920’s.
“In the Shadow of the 1967 War: Israel and the Palestinians”
By: Amal Jamal
Abstract: The 1967 war in the Middle East has had major ramifications on the entire region including Israel. This article focuses on 3 of the major longstanding ramifications, namely the change in the demographic balance between Jews and Palestinians west of the Jordan River, and the challenge that the military regime imposed on the Palestinians in the newly occupied Palestinian territories poses regarding the nature of the Israeli regime as a whole and the reconnecting of Palestinians and citizens of Israel, with their fellow Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
This article demonstrates how Israeli policies towards Palestinians impacted the disposition of the Palestinian community inside Israel, and how the coming together of Israeli policy changes in the Palestinian struggle for independence and social transformations inside the Palestinian community in Israel have led to different adaptation strategies among the Palestinians to face their in-between reality.
“Syria – From the Six Day War to the Syrian Civil War”
By: Eyal Zisser
Abstract: The story of Syria during the Six-Day War is the story of a state whose leadership was young, inexperienced, reckless, and radical; it sowed fire and reaped a firestorm.
For a while, the war seemed as a turning point in the history of Syria since it led to the rise of Hafiz al-Asad, who gave his country political stability that enabled him to turn it into a powerful and esteemed state at home and abroad.
Asad’s era was marked by freeze, stagnation, and the maintenance of the status quo which became the essence of the Syrian regime’s policies and course of action not only vis-à-vis Israel, but also in its activity domestically, whether in the social, political, or economic sphere.
The ultimate result, as this article argues, was the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in March 2011, which demonstrated that the appearance of stability and strength projected by the regime was a complete facade.
Note: Syria in that period was the only State with No sovereign foreign debt and was economically independent in matter of foodstuff. It established universal healthcare and free education, even in the universities.
“From Cooperation to Normalization? Jordan–Israel Relations Since 1967”
By: Ronen Yitzhak
Abstract: This article deals with the relations between Jordan and Israel from 1967 until 2015. The mutual interest of the Hashemite regime and the Zionist movement, namely to oppose the Palestinians, created the first opportunity for cooperation, which developed into economic ties and intelligence exchanges during the reign of the first appointed King by Britain King Abdullah I.
A real strategic alliance between Jordan and Israel was formed in the 1950s, when Egyptian President Gamal Abd al-Nasser, together with other nationalist Arab elements, tried to subvert King Hussein’s regime and topple him.
Israel unhesitatingly came to the side of the Hashemite ruler to protect Jordanian territorial sovereignty. This perception of Jordan informed Israel’s policy, which aimed to aid Jordan in confronting new challenges to the regime.
The fact that Israel has stood by the Hashemite regime through most of its existence indicates a strategic partnership that will sustain, even if the peace treaty were to be revoked one day.
Note: Jordan was created mainly because Britain and the USA expected to chase out the Palestinians after the recognition of Israel. The intelligence agency of Jordan monarchy was trained from its inception to secure Israel and gather intelligence from the neighboring States to back Israel policies. It never changed its objectives till now
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