Middle East Studies Association Condemns ADL Philadelphia Office

by Betsy Barlow

The annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) took place Nov. 21-24 in Providence, RI, with Abdallah Laroui, professor of history at the University of Rabat, Morocco, as Fulbright 50th Anniversary Distinguished Fellow. Laroui’s topic was “Western Orientalism and Liberal Islam: Mutual Distrust?”

At the annual business meeting of the association, MESA passed a sense of the meeting resolution deploring the actions of the Philadelphia Regional Office of the Anti-Defamation League in creating a climate of fear when a visiting lecturer was invited to speak at the May 1996 annual conference of the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies at Villanova University. The ADL wrote and phoned officials at Villanova University suggesting that the speaker was a terrorist, and that students on campus might not be safe if he delivered his paper. This is the second time that MESA has passed a resolution critical of the ADL. In 1984 a resolution was debated and passed which criticized the ADL and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) for maintaining blacklists of academics, and using these blacklists to adversely affect their careers.

ACSIS Call for Papers

The American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies (ACSIS) has issued a call for papers for its 14th annual conference, to be held May 2-3, 1997 at Villanova University. The years' theme will be “Cultural, Artistic, and Popular Expressions in Islam,” and will include papers on Muslims and Islamic sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb, South Asia and China, and their interactions with non-Muslim peoples and cultures. Proposals for panels and papers should be addressed to the Program Chairperson, Dr. Weston Cook, Department of History, University of North Carolina at Pembroke, NC 28372. No deadline was given for the receipt of proposals. For other questions, contact Susan Hausman, Program Coordinator, 421 SAC, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085; phone (610) 519-4791.

Textile Museum Exhibits

The Textile Museum in Washington, DC announces two exhibitions open until Feb. 23, 1997. “Suzani: Embroideries from the Oases of Central Asia,” featuring suzani (Persian for “needlework”) embroideries used as wall hangings and bedcovers, made by girls and women for their dowries in the cities and towns of present-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

“Symmetry and Pattern: The Art of Oriental Carpets” introduces the visitor to the mathematical principles of symmetry and pattern and applies these principles to the study of carpets. The Textile Museum is located at 2320 S St., NW, Washington, DC.

New Teaching Materials

The Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine has published Water and War in the Middle East: The Hydraulic Parameters of Conflict by Thomas R. Stauffer. After an analysis of the water resources captured by Israel in the Jordan, Yarmuk and Litani river basins, the author discusses two alternatives Israel may face as peace negotiations progress. Should they seek to replace the captured water through desalination plants? If so, the cost may be $l.4 billion a year, which the U.S. may be asked to pay to Israel annually, as the U.S. paid annual grants to the Israelis for the “loss” of oil after their withdrawal from Sinai.

The other alternative, which makes more sense economically, is the rationalization of agricultural policy. The author argues that Israel would be better off using less water (i.e., moving away from irrigated agriculture). He tells us that “If a third or more of the water used for agriculture were throttled back, it is calculated that Israel’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would go up significantly. By cutting back another third, it would go up just a little bit. But basically, two-thirds of agriculture enjoys such large subsidies, that, by reducing water use, thereby reducing subsidies, the net benefit is positive.”

Stauffer points out that the“inexpensive option is not replacement of water but rationalization of agriculture, i.e., ‘liberating’ water by cutting back highly-subsidized, economically inefficient cropping. The efficiency option is not merely cheap, it is profitable.”

The article, Information Paper Number 5, is available for $4.95 from the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, 2435 Virginia Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20037; phone (202) 338-1290.

The World Affairs Council of Philadelphia has a booklet of lessons developed by teachers following their participation in “Ethnic, Religious and Territorial Conflict in the 1990’s,” a series of teacher seminars that were supported by the United States Institute of Peace. The material contains a section on the Kurds and on Yugoslavia. There is a $2.00 postage and handling fee. Contact the World Affairs Council at phone (215) 731-1100 or fax (215) 731-1111.

Six Iranian feature films are available with English subtitles from Facet Multimedia. Titles currently available are “The Peddler,” “The Need,” “The Key,” “The Cyclist,” “Where is My Friend’s Home?” and “Life and Nothing More.” Contact Facet at (800) 331-6197.

Ned Hanauer, executive director of the Search for Justice and Equality in Palestine/Israel, a group dedicated to working for more balanced presentation of Israeli/Palestinian issues in the media, spoke last July at the Cleveland City Club. Both audio and video tapes of his talk, which raised the issue of ethnic cleansing by Israelis in the Jerusalem area, are available. The 30-minute presentation, followed by 30 minutes of questions, is suitable for use in raising the issue in classrooms or in public forums. The video tape has previously been run on the C-SPAN channel. Contact the Cleveland City Club for a copy of either the video or the audio tape at (216) 621-0082. The City Club charges only a modest fee for the cost of the tape and its duplication and mailing.

Barbara Aswad and Barbara Bilge, professors of anthropology at Wayne State University and Eastern Michigan University respectively, have just edited a book on Family and Gender Among American Muslims: Issues Facing Middle Eastern Immigrants and Their Descendants. The book contains 15 chapters which will be welcomed by students of Islam, Muslims in America and American culture. The book was published by Temple University Press in Philadelphia.

The National Council on US-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) has just published the first issue of Majlis, a newsletter for discussion about the Arab world for alumni of the Malone Fellowship Program in Arab and Islamic Studies. The program now has 600 alums throughout the U.S. who have visited one or more Arab countries on study tours arranged by the NCUSAR. The newsletter contains articles about Arab history and culture, future study tours in the Arab world, and news of Malone program alums. NCUSAR can be reached at 1140 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 1210, Washington, DC 20036, phone (202) 293-0801 or e-mail: malone@NCUSAR.org.

NCUSAR is now hard at work on its plans for Model Arab Leagues, to be held in several areas of the country. Teams from various colleges represent the different Arab states. Recently Arab Leagues have been set up for high school teams. Contact NCUSAR at the address above for more information.

“Benaat Chicago” is a 30-minute documentary about the lives of young women growing up as Arab Americans in Chicago. With about 150,000 Arab Americans in Chicago, a community feeling has developed. Yet the young women growing up as both Arab and American do feel conflict over issues such as wearing the headscarf, dating, marriage arrangements and choices, and do feel stigmatized, especially at times of national crisis, such as during the Gulf war and in the early moments after the Oklahoma City and the TWA Flight 800 disasters.

The film interviews both young women and their mothers, and offers insight into tension of living with dual cultures and a dual heritage. The video was produced and directed by Jennifer Bing-Canar and Mary Zerkel, and is available through the American Friends Service Chicago Office, 59 E. Van Buren St., #1400, Chicago IL 60605; phone (312) 427-2533.