Where Are the Middle East Resources?

by James M. Ennes, Jr.

Extensive searching of the Internet can easily lead one to conclude that cyberspace is heavily dominated by pro-Israel viewpoints. Certainly most web sites and most newsgroup discussions seem to support Israeli positions. Critics of American policy toward Israel who leave public mail in newsgroups often are overwhelmed by angry, vitriolic responses. Yet with more than 30 million home pages to choose from and over 13,000 discussions groups, there is plenty of room for every opinion. Lots of good information is out there. The trick is knowing where to look.

A good starting point is the Washington Report’s own home page at Internet address www.wrmea.com. Here you will find sample pages from the magazine, a table of contents, a statement of purpose, reports from the publisher, and links to other sites. I found the “Washington Report ’s Resources Page” at www.wrmea.com/links/index.htmespecially useful. This section offers links to scores of other web sites offering information on Middle East languages, organizations, religions and culture.

The Washington Report’s site offers links to detailed information about most Middle East countries. For instance, a typical country link offers direct access to information about that country including U.S. State Department travel advisories, pictures, maps, weather, culture, libraries, history, languages, charities, economic policy, currency exchange rates, radio and television stations, as well as links to official and unofficial web sites by individuals, institutions, universities and research organizations. Most country links also include a direct Internet connection to the latest official Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook report for the country and even a clock reporting the current time in the country.

Even more useful, starting in mid-August, will be an ever-growing file of back issues of the Washington Report, all available on the site. Eventually, the site will contain every article and letter carried by the magazine since its first issue in April 1982. The file omits graphics and advertisements, but everything else originally printed will be included, along with instructions on how to search it by keyword for material on the people and subjects carried over the years.

www.embassy.org/ , which links directly from the Washington Report’s site, provides the address of every embassy in Washington and a direct link to the web site of each embassy that maintains one and most do.

Another very comprehensive guide to Middle East web information is The Arab Net at www.arab.net. Maintained by Yasser El-Dabbagh in the UK, The Arab Net promises over 1,120 pages of information about Arab countries.

One can learn about Arab culture, cuisine, customs, history and much more.

Here one can learn about Arab culture, movies, art, artists, cuisine, crafts, customs, history and much more. A section explains the logical structure of Arabic names. Another describes the history and practice of falconry. “Camels A to Z” reports the care, feeding, history and utility of the noble camel. The site even offers downloadable software to convert English text automatically to Arabic at 100 words per minute.

Birzeit University on the West Bank in Palestine has a new and promising web site at www.birzeit.edu/ where web travelers may tour the campus and read about the history and problems of the area. Of special interest are the Palestinian Diary at www.birzeit.edu/diary/ and Birzeit Archive at www.birzeit.edu/bzuarc/ both containing detailed accounts of incidents from Palestine history and of life under Israeli occupation.

The Palestine Chamber of Commerce at www.ibnet.com/pccginto.html is fairly sparse, but offers an e-mail address of gazacham@palnet.com where they promise to answer questions about the Palestinian economy and commerce. The site provides links to The Palestine Net at www.palnet.com/. Here one finds detailed reports on the state of the economy, an account of the effects on the population of extended curfews, a report on business opportunities, and an index of government and business directories with voice and fax numbers for government ministries.

The Islamic Association for Palestine web site at www.iap.org/main.html includes an extensive archive of reports by LAWE, Human Rights Watch, and other historical information pertaining to Palestine. Also included is a link to The Palestine Times, which is published monthly in London. The newspaper includes extensive online news and reports on Palestinian human rights issues.

A visit to the Library of Congress’s congressional information site at thomas.loc.gov will answer almost any question about congressional activities or bills in progress. Among other things, The Congressional Record can be found here, and can be searched electronically for key words or for speeches by any member.

A web traveler moved to let a member know what he thinks about it all can visit www.house.gov or www.senate.gov. There he will find direct links to his member’s home page or e-mail box.

Mailing Lists

While most recent Internet publicity is about the World Wide Web, one should not overlook the older and more established features such as mailing lists and news groups.

One such superb source of human rights information from Palestine is LAWE, the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights, formerly known as The Land and Water Establishment. LAWE provides free legal aid to people in Palestine facing land confiscation, property destruction and environmental losses in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.

LAWE publishes periodic reports on detentions, house demolitions, settlement expansion, by-pass roads, and related topics. They are expanding to include human rights issues under both Israeli occupation and the Palestinian area.

One recent case, for example, concerned the detention by Palestinian authorities of Dr. Eyad Sarraj, commissioner general of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights. When Dr. Sarraj was arrested on a series of questionable charges apparently springing from unwelcome political activity, LAWE came to his aid, eventually securing his release. This and similar cases are reported to subscribers to LAWE’s free mailing list.

The LAWE staff consists of five full-time lawyers and four support staff, all Palestinian except Jennifer Moorehead, an American researcher who handles the English-language contacts, mail and e-mail. To subscribe to the LAWE mailing list, send an e-mail request to Jennifer at lawe@netvision.net.il.

The Society of St. Yves, a Catholic legal-aid organization, handles similar cases. An e-mail request to styves@netvision.net.il will bring their periodic press releases to your mailbox.

The Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron sends e-mail summaries of human rights cases there. They work to deter violence and sometimes engage actively in civil disobedience. E-mail to cpt@igc.org will add your name to their mailing list.

The Alternative Information Center is a Jewish/Palestinian group which sends e-mail reports about the Palestinian conflict. E-mail your request to icmail@trendline.co.il.

The Foundation for Middle East Peace publishes a comprehensive Report on Settlements in the Occupied Territories and also has a web page. E-mail your request to jeff@clark.net.

Human Rights Watch/Middle East reports on human rights issues in North Africa and the Middle East. To subscribe to the list, send e-mail to majordomo@igc.apc.org with “subscribe hrw-news” in the body of the message, leaving the subject line blank.

Al-Akhbar sends e-mail reports of news about Palestine and the Middle East, often including reports from the rest of the Arab and Islamic World. To subscribe to Al-Akhbar send e-mail to listserv@yorku.ca with the “sub akhbar [and your name]” in the text.

Palestine Net is a moderated electronic discussion group for e-mail comments and exchange of news about Palestine. Because it is moderated, discussions tend to be less vitriolic than some of the open forums. Here, disruptive people are barred. To subscribe, send a request with a short biographical statement to pnet-sc@banumusa.csl.uiuc.edu. This is a fairly active group, generally putting a dozen or more messages in your mailbox daily.

News Groups

Long before there was a World Wide Web, the Internet contained thousands of discussion groups, called “news groups.” These now support discussions covering nearly every conceivable subject.

The Clari News Service alone publishes daily news in 296 categories, including several related to the Middle East. Almost any story currently in the electronic or print news media can be found in the Clari Net.

Other news groups such as soc.culture.palestine, talk.politics.mideast.palestine, soc.culture.israel and soc.culture.arabic carry public debates on Middle East issues. These can be read with most common net browsers, such as Netscape , or with specialized software that can be found free on the Internet.

The Netscape browser links directly to several search tools that will help find news group discussions quickly. If, for instance, you wish to see what is being said about Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, a quick search will reveal every recent mention of his name in any news group. A mouse click will then put that discussion on your computer screen where you can read the full discussion and leave your own comment, if you wish. Be advised, however, that many of these discussions get very heated.