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This essay analyzes the war between Iraq and the United States from the perspective of philosopher Carl Schmitt's concept of nomos, Gilles Deleuze's war machine and the new world order. There are at three ways to read the U.S.-Iraq wars, by way of Schmitt. The phrase "beyond the line" recalls Schmitt's division of the planet into sovereign states and nonstates. Schmitt's book "The Nomos of the Earth in the International Law of the Jus Publicum Europaeum," refers to the European legal order maintained by equally sovereign states. The oil wars in the Middle East show clearly that the territory of weak states or nonstates is very much distinguishable from the territory of the truly sovereign states. War can also be understood along the sedentary/nomad divide, claims Deleuze, since sedentary peoples invented the state, while nomads invented the war machine. Even when the state seeks to appropriate it, the war machine is exterior to the State apparatus and should be distinguished from the state military.

The article "The Tradition of Just War: An Introduction" discusses the lack of discussion about the philosophical and theological tradition of Just War in seminaries and academic spaces, which results in limited reach in churches. The authors, David D. Corey and J. Daryl Charles, present a historical rescue of this tradition, showing how thinking about war developed in Christian thought and how postmodernity caused the teachings of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin to be set aside. The book seeks to present a linear and temporal panorama of the tradition of just war, addressing concepts such as "jus ad bellum" and "jus in bello," and highlighting the influence of Augustine. The text also mentions the influence of contemporary theologians, such as Reinhold Niebuhr and John Howard Yoder, in distorting the tradition of just war. The book is relevant in today's world, especially in light of conflicts in the Middle East and the emergence of terrorist groups. [Extracted from the article]

Since the fall of Islamic State's so-called caliphate in March 2019, the United States and other international actors have repeatedly urged states to repatriate their citizens. Analyses of this issue too often focus on citizens of Western countries despite the fact that they constitute only a small fraction of the group's members and affiliates. Focusing on Middle East and North African (MENA) countries, we contend that citizenship law and family law play a central role in determining an individual's prospects for repatriation by forming the basis of a state's articulation of who belongs to the nation and who the state is responsible for. We identify important sub-regional patterns that shape the repatriation of Islamic State affiliates through the differential treatment of women in MENA citizenship and nationality law and family law. In addition, we find that the distinction between custodian and guardian in MENA family law provides a useful basis for the related challenge of reintegrating female-headed family units as well as orphaned children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concepts of human rights and international justice are products of the 20th century and of the so-called enlightened Western civilisation. As the 21st century began, the War on Terror was declared by the US–UK coalition, leading to hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths in the Middle East, as well as long-lasting insecurity in all areas of human life. Yet more than 20 years on, justice and accountability are still pending, when it comes to state violence, while a policy of "kill-not-capture" has dominated responses to violent non-state actors, such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS fighters, hampering any efforts at reconciliation and peace, and adding to regional and global injustice and insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hegemonic narratives have developed considerations of several perspectives on engaging with post-9/11 American imperialism and its system of power. This article deals with post-9/11 American novel, a version of neo-orientalist discourse that is inspired primarily by the American imperial ambitions and politics and the current public debates on Islamic terrorism, aggression, and backwardness. Employing insights from contemporary discussions around post-9/11 American hegemonic narratives and from contemporary hegemonic literature on the Middle East, the study examines narrative discourse to detect literary incitement to typological and racial representations. Analysis provides an examination of different perspectives concerning the origin of Islam in the 7th century in Arab peninsula, focusing on the first generation of Muslims' intolerance towards non-Muslims and the Islamic heritage landscape as receptacle of the Middle East backward ideology and a place where radical ideology propagates the destruction of the west. Applying the notion of hegemonic literature as an exclusivist discourse, this study finds that pot-9/11 narratives and hegemony are symbiotic, reflecting the aspirations of the American policy in the Middle East region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyprus' recent past is composed of elements that make it a lethal cocktail: colonialism, the struggle for independence, geography, ethnic composition, political and ideological differences among the indigenous population, inter and intra-communal conflict, all gravely affected by regional and international politics. Its immediate geographic area, i.e., the Middle East, along with Asia, acquired another dimension within the new climate of a global confrontation of the two superpowers since 1945 with many unforeseen and devastating consequences. Turkey's invasion in July 1974 and the forcible partition that resulted have created a deadlock on the ground that still persists. The inability to come up with a just and viable solution, due to the unwillingness of the occupying power to yield, have led many voices advocating a clean solution instead, the euphemism for the creation of two independent states in the island. Employing history as guidance for similar circumstances, mutatis mutandis, the article seeks to demonstrate how such talk is not only dangerous, but pernicious as well, grossly unjust to the Cypriot people. The not-too distant past and its offspring, i.e., partition, which was implemented in the Middle East and Asia, still haunt memory and serve as warning against adopting similar practices in Cyprus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the arbitrators is to adjudicate the dispute away from traditional procedural constraints with its complex formalities and a long time before the courts. One of the basic rules on ١vhich the arbitration system was based was the freedom of the parties at all stages of arbitration to choose arbitration as an alternative dispute resolution route, by selecting the law applicable to arbitration proceedings or the law applicable to the subject matter of the dispute and by the execution of the arbiti'al award. The role of the arbitral tribunal stems from the agreement of the parties to the arbitration dispute and from the regulations in the arbitration contract or the arbitration document requiring the parties to the arbitration to sign an arbitration document at the commencement of the proceedings, and the proceedings begin since a party to the arbitration dispute has indicated its willingness to settle the dispute by arbitration. In other words, the request for arbitration shall be made until the award is finalized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Where the parties to an international contract fail to specify the choice of law, a forum selection agreement is one of the most, if not the most, significant factors to consider in implying the choice of law in many international, supranational, regional instruments, and national jurisdictions. However, it is an ill-defined, notoriously complex, and hotly debated issue as to the weight that should be attached to a forum selection agreement in implying the choice of law. Hence, this article is devoted to discussing this topic from a comparative perspective, in order to propose a guide to global uniform criteria. To achieve this, the article covers all relevant international, regional, and supranational instruments, and selected legal systems in Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. The legal systems compared include those from the global North and global South, including common law, civil law, and mixed legal systems. The article's core proposal is that an exclusive forum selection agreement should be a key factor in implying the choice of law. However, except in such cases as where a forum is chosen on a neutral basis, there should be a general requirement of corroboration with at least one other factor of significance. The aim of the proposal is to contribute to greater uniformity, predictability, and certainty in the global community in this field of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anthropology of the Middle East is the property of Berghahn Books and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the last several years, the AKP government in Turkey has granted exceptional citizenship to more than 200,000 Syrian refugees and 19,000 foreign investors, mostly from the Middle East. This study defines the AKP's recent policy of granting exceptional citizenship as an illiberal inclusion, which is a mode of neoliberal and particularistic inclusion without extending the eligibility and rights of regular migrants and refugees. By means of exceptional citizenship, the AKP transforms the politics of granting particularistic access to Turkish citizenship, from one characterized by an ethno-religious inclusion towards another defined by more explicit religious inclusion entangled with its neo-Ottomanist domestic and foreign policy goals. The study also suggests that the current state of granting exceptional citizenship is intermingled with the AKP's authoritarian neoliberalism, and the structural centralization of executive power under the current presidential system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presented paper revisits the theory of Carl Schmitt from the perspective of border barrier building and applies it to three cases of barriers in the Middle East. It firstly introduces the term nomos as a territorial order that is the basis for all law and is particular to each state. Then, it argues that states build border barriers in order to create or maintain this nomos while facing challenges from hard-to-identify enemies. The process-tracing analysis of the events leading up to a construction of a border barrier and its immediate outcomes in the cases of Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey concludes that these border barriers were built in order to help create or protect the nomos, both through delimitation of space and through identification of enemies challenging it. The outcome of this research suggests that the Schmittian theory might be useful in the analysis of the border barrier construction, but further research is needed to confirm this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the earliest Turkisms that entered Arabic go back to the 9th century - when the Arabs began establishing regular contact with speakers of Turkic languages - a significant number of Turkish loans in both written and spoken Arabic only date from the time of the Ottoman Empire, which in the course of its expansion conquered and for centuries ruled a large part of the Arab world. This paper aims to examine the words of Turkish origin found in the dialects spoken in Egypt and parts of the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine), i.e. the Arabophone regions that have been most exposed to Turkish influence for historical and cultural reasons. It has also been endeavoured to provide information about the etymology of the Ottoman-Turkish words (interestingly, as some of these come from Arabic, the Egyptian, Syrian, etc. words borrowed actually prove to be backborrowings). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of migration policymaking across the Global South is of growing interest to International Relations. Yet, the impact of colonial and imperial legacies on states' migration management regimes outside Europe and North America remains under-theorised. How does postcolonial state formation shape policies of cross-border mobility management in the Global South? By bringing James F. Hollifield's framework of the contemporary 'migration state' in conversation with critical scholarship on postcolonialism, we identify the existence of a 'postcolonial paradox,' namely two sets of tensions faced by newly independent states of the Global South: first, the need to construct a modern sovereign nation-state with a well-defined national identity contrasts with weak institutional capacity to do so; second, territorial realities of sovereignty conflict with the imperatives of nation-building seeking to establish exclusive citizenship norms towards populations residing both inside and outside the boundaries of the postcolonial state. We argue that the use of cross-border mobility control policies to reconcile such tensions transforms the 'postcolonial state' into the 'postcolonial migration state,' which shows distinct continuities with pre-independence practices. In fact, postcolonial migration states reproduce colonial-era tropes via the surveillance and control of segmented migration streams that redistribute labour for the global economy. We demonstrate this via a comparative study of post-independence migration management in India and Egypt, which also aims to merge a problematic regional divide between scholarship on the Middle East and South Asia. We urge further critical interventions on the international politics of migration that prioritise interregional perspectives from the broader Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current radical strategies by which there is, on one hand, an increasing European assistance to developing poor countries of Africa/Middle East and on the other hand, tightened border-security within Europe as a means to reduce migration from the South; may worsen the state of poverty in Europe, particularly on the immigrants and impact on the workforce in Europe with implication on development. Though, these strategies may sound radically appealing, they are however, unlikely to reduce migration flows to Europe. While there is still a "wide development gap" between the poor countries of Africa/Middle East and industrialised countries of Europe, migration will often increase, at least in the next two-three decades. Radical border security in Europe will expose the migrants to human trafficking in different form and manifestation contrary to Article 3 UN Protocol on Trafficking in Person. The paper examines the role of the State and Law and development, in addressing the issues of poverty and migration within the industrialised countries of Europe. The research argues that there is the likelihood that poverty and human right issues will increase in Europe in the near-future, if the State/EU fails to play their role, by changing their policy direction and repositioning themselves by improving their Law and development stance. The research employs the human rights-based approach, interdisciplinary and critical-analytical perspective within the framework of international Law and development. It employs qualitative empirical evidence from developed countries of Europe and poor developing countries for analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of force by the state through its security services has been the topic of much debate, especially in recent years after the Black Lives Matter movement highlighted and protested against the treatment of black people by police officers. The state's use of force through the police and through military campaigns is closely examined and assessed in relation to both the treatment of ethnic minorities in the UK, and to the treatment of civilians by the US–UK coalition in the Middle East as part of the War on Terror. The violation of human rights, despite the principles, rules and laws already in place to protect them, is explored by examining the use of the prone position at home, and the tactic of airstrikes, the use of prohibited weapons and the treatment of detainees by UK forces abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the shifting nature of the concept of extraterritoriality at particular junctures in history from the Italian city states to contemporary visions of floating micro-sovereignties. Extraterritoriality is the exercise of the jurisdiction by one state or non-state actor within the territory of another state. Since extraterritoriality is a challenge to the fundamental principle of sovereignty, it is by definition an exception in relation to sovereignty. As sovereignty evolved and changed over time, so did extraterritoriality – and, in the discussed cases, it changed primarily to be able to fulfil the needs of agents of global capital. The article discusses the privileges granted to the Italian city states by the Byzantines and the Ottoman capitulations, extraterritoriality on the colonial frontier, private investments in the Middle East and the proliferation of ideas of micro-sovereignty by Libertarian politicians and Silicon Valley billionaires. The article makes three distinct arguments: first, extraterritoriality has to be understood in relation to shifting notions of sovereignty. Secondly, extraterritoriality emerged within the context of colonial and imperial inequality and any extraterritorial relations contain the echoes of these structures of inequality. Finally, extraterritoriality is often driven and shaped by the needs of global capital, trying to avoid specific sovereign structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrorism research focuses on the other as the one who will always be using terror as a means to an end. In terrorism research, terror is narrowly understood, trying to distinguish between political activism, radicalism, terrorism, state violence and pointing out that terror is mainly and strictly connected with terrorists. However, the manifestations of terror are noticeable throughout history in different spheres of lives. In this paper, the aim is to acknowledge terror as a phenomenon that can be experienced both physically and mentally affecting the perception of terrorism and terror. Although colonialism is no longer relevant in the 21st century, there are some similarities between the colonization violence and the violence in the Middle East (thus also terrorism). Similarly to the way terrorists are perceived - the other, the inhumane, the colonized were called violent and savages based on the prejudices and ignorance of the colonizers. Analysing how colonizers tried to stop the colonized violence and inhumanity and to teach the colonized to be civilized and become like the colonizers, the paper aims to reveal that terror is both a mental and physical experience, that impacts not only the colonized but also in the end colonizers too. Through analysis of Frantz Fanon, the paper aims to explicitly view colonized violence (relived terror) as an opportunity for the colonized to fight for one of the most important human values - freedom. However, to make it more relevant to the living experience and 21st century daily terrorism, the aspect of "teaching" emerges as important - the colonized were taught to be violent in the process of repression and the imposition of a new culture, thus also terrorists can be regarded as the result of military training in the Middle East. Terror is viewed as forcing the formation of a new model of government on the colonized, as training for troops in the Middle East, as the feeling that gives rise to confusion as colonizers, peace builders leave the newly acquired lands after the completion or even failure of humanitarian projects. People are thrown back into their daily life, about which they no longer know anything. And now the inner terror that took over the colonized takes over the educated, who are striving to regain their freedom and their original, primal state, which they previously knew to be familiar. Don't the phenomenological experience and the newly imposed meanings on everyday life, the organization of life and culture result in what is now known as daily terror? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the ecclesiastical dimension of the Russian operation in Syria. It analyzes pastoral activities within the expeditionary force, and argues that the Orthodox Church provided the military with three deliverables. First, the clergy assisted the commanders in providing a sense of mission to the servicemen and injecting higher levels of motivation among them. Second, the military saw the clergy as enhancing unit cohesion and decreasing post-combat stress effects. Finally, the ROC assisted the Kremlin in legitimizing the intervention domestically. The article concludes with prospective trends of the nexus of religion and policy in the Middle East and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Incendies, Denis Villeneuve's 2010 movie set against the background of a civil war in a Middle East country, tells of a mother's quest for her abducted-at-birth child. To fulfil her will after her death, her two children must conduct an investigation to find a father and a brother they had not previously heard of. This narration raises several fundamental questions: the escalation of violence to extremes, whether from family, religion or politics; the necessity to give precedence to the victims' point of view and to the victim/tormentor entanglement; the specificity of the promise as compared to desire; and the exceptionality of maternal and grand-maternal love in human relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Brasiliana: Journal for Brazilian Studies is the property of Brasiliana: Journal for Brazilian Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Urological Surgery is the property of Galenos Yayinevi Tic. LTD. STI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article investigates why, how, and under which conditions countries naturalise foreign-born athletes. Such nationality transfers are an under-researched topic in academic literature on citizenship and on elite sport. This can be explained by macro data which shows that naturalisations are a negligible factor to explain the overall, historical performance of countries in international sport. However, what makes the current work relevant is that there are some outliers that have recently made excessive use of foreign-born athletes on their national teams, many of whom have no prior connections to their new homes. This research sheds light on the Middle East, a region that has recently been at the forefront when it comes to nationality transfers of migrant athletes, by discussing naturalisation policy in Qatar and Turkey. The motives of naturalised athletes and national federations, the role of governments in transferring nationality to migrant athletes, as well as the rules and regulations of international federations and the International Olympic Committee concerning nationality transfers are discussed. Naturalisations can be explained in regards to low participation rates in national sport and the desire of both countries to gain international prestige through sport. Athletes switch nationalities for economic and sports-related reasons: it is easier for athletes to qualify for international competitions when representing weaker sporting nations. A distinction between both cases is that Qatar only grants temporary passports to many immigrant athletes, a practice that deserves scrutiny by international federations, while Turkey provides naturalised talents with full citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article assesses the impact of the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in the Middle East. Topics discussed include the reevaluation of regional and Islamic agreements such as the Arab Charter on Human Rights, the growing number of refugees and stateless persons from Syria, Iraq and Libya, and the Global Compacts' renewed focus on the protracted and interconnected nature of refugee and statelessness in the region.

The article presents the "politicization" of UNESCO as featured in a documentary done by Daniel Partan, Professor of Law at Boston University. Partan attempted a non-partisan study of the partisan issue of the Arab-Israeli confrontation. The documents of the conflict were gathered as suggested by Gerald Holton, a professor of physics at Harvard University. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has assembled to study the situation of UNESCO concerning the conflict of the Middle East. It looks into the Arab-Israeli conflict and the cases of major political differences between nations.

President George W. Bush and his administration presented a variety of justifications for the 2003 Iraq war. Academic literature and journalism about the communication campaign emphasized two reasons: Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction program and links to terrorism. Drawing on the first systematic content analysis of the administration's official speeches and statements, this study recounts a more complex, changing campaign with surprising findings. Other justifications, such as international law, human rights, and freedom, were at times more common than the most recalled reasons. This article also explores individual officials' arguments and changes over time in response to key events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

States in the Middle East are real states, not yet Weberian and Westphalian, hard rather than strong states in most cases, with few cases of collapse after the Arab Spring. This article develops this idea, by discussing how their aspiring sovereignty over territory with established, if permeable, boundaries is likely to pursue its efforts at consolidation; only the Kurds and the Palestinians militate for a new sovereign entity of their own, with little success after decades of efforts and sympathy. Boundaries are remarkably stable, even often demarcated; challenges arise within the states for control, rather than between states, and at most decentralization in a few states may bring greater self-rule to ethnic groups. The challenge of regional order is not the creation of new boundaries, but the division of the region into a Shi'a Fatal Crescent against a Sunni north and south, both riven by state identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to increasing calls for constitutional reform in The Republic of Turkey, and the escalating conflict in the Middle East, this paper aims to propose appropriate and effective emergency power provisions for Turkey's recently revised constitution. Through the framing of the academic discipline of constitutional design and in light of the best practices literature regarding emergency powers provisions, this paper seeks to apply the knowledge provided by history and by scholars in the fields of comparative constitutional law and political science to the Republic of Turkey, while taking account of the past and present realities concerning military strength and executive power in the country. An understanding of Turkey's important but precarious geopolitical position and its recent history of both military coups d'état and authoritarian rule will inform a necessary analysis upon which the proposals will build. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Basra Studies Journal is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper, we explore the flow of information regarding strategic Middle Eastern countries in the WikiLeaks ‘diplomatic cables’ by applying data-mining techniques to construct directed networks. The results show that between 2002 and 2009, US diplomatic communication related to these countries increased although with notable variation in flow patterns. We discuss the value of a visual display of diplomatic communication patterns in understanding the decentralized nature of information gathering on regional foreign policy issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Arab Uprising is part of a wider mass global quest aimed at establishing legitimate government. While such movements disrupt order in the short term, they could lead to the establishment of effective democratic institutions. This paper critically assesses the role international law plays in such crises, arguing for greater objectivity in ensuring smooth transitions from authoritarian unrepresentative government towards more democratically oriented ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Espaço Jurídico: Journal of Law is the property of Espaco Juridico: Journal of Law and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of the Economic & Social History of the Orient is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The rights of women are still being violated in the Arab countries of Middle East and North Africa (MENA), despite their ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). This article addresses the challenges facing the attainment of gender equality in this region, arguing not only that culture plays a major role in determining this inferior status of women, but also that the ratification of CEDAW did not bring any qualitative change because of the weakness of this legal instrument per se, and because of the numerous reservations placed by the Arab MENA states on it. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The history of the development of Palestinian nationalism is vast and recent scholarship continues to focus on the creation of national identities in the modern Middle East. However, the creation of internationally recognised citizenship of the Arab Middle East during the era of mandates has not been studied in-depth. In the case of Palestine, the creation of Palestinian citizenship by the British as a colonial power was a unique yet delicate process and one which was rejected by the Arabs. The British sought to create an apolitical citizenship, one without civil or political rights, in order to satisfy both the mandate terms and the Jewish national home policy. By the time the citizenship was conferred, the Arab population of Palestine had a detailed counter-discourse to the British notion of citizenship. The Palestinians viewed their civic identity as imbued with rights of citizenship, but they saw themselves in terms of having a primordial nationality by birth. In effect, the certificate of citizenship produced by the British came out of colonial processes despite the fact that the British were instead meant to be an international trustee in Palestine. This article presents that process, with reference to the Palestinian reaction to the legislation of Palestinian mandate citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper (derived from the author's dissertation) is written from an Israeli perspective and examines the Israeli political leadership's Grand Strategy and Defence policy and approach to the use of force in the 2009 Gaza Campaign. It examines whether the Israeli Asymmetrical Deterrence approach, as implemented in the Gaza Campaign, will lead to a new era of reconciliation in the Middle East, or whether the region on its way to another period of increased bloodshed. Drawing upon the geopolitical struggle in the region as well as analysing the challenges of Grand Strategy, the Nature of War, Deterrence and the so called idea of 'Victory,' in the contemporary Middle East, this paper sets out to demonstrate how an historic and strategic opportunity to achieve a stable and secure solution between Israel and the Palestinians has emerged. The aim, therefore, is to examine the Israeli strategic perceptions and the author's interpretations of the course of events in Gaza 2009, and as such is written from an Israeli point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After 9/11, images of the Middle Eastern or Muslim 'Other' have been highly visible in the Western world. Although published 30 years ago, Edward Said's Orientalism provides a useful critical lens through which to examine how these images function in War on Terror discourses. Feminist IR scholars have also highlighted the role gendered representations play in War on Terror discourse, and 'orientalism' as a tool of critical analysis must account for this. Using a concept of 'gendered orientalism' and applying it to three particularly prominent images from the War on Terror, I illustrate how gendered and orientalist logics in official and unofficial War on Terror discourses construct masculinities and femininities according to race, manipulating and deploying representations of the 'Other' to justify military involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Approaches to the Bedouin's importance in the history of the Arab Middle East regularly conflict on whether outside or inside influences are paramount. In particular, have their political structures and activities been a secondary response to processes that stemmed from the polities of sedentary people, or have primary agency and rationales from within their own milieu been pivotal? For the first time, this issue is to undergo methodical diachronic analysis. Distinguishing major periods of Bedouin political development from antiquity to the present, with an emergent focus on northern Arabia and the Fertile Crescent, a constant set of seven key features is assessed period by period in order to compare historical variations. Period-specific and consolidated results show that periods characterised by intrinsic factors differ clearly from periods marked by extrinsic ones, and that they alternate. Even as the Bedouin engage in interaction with the sedentary people, their own dynamics prove persistent and irreducible in themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article seeks peace and hope as Christians and Palestinians amidst perceived suffering under Israeli occupation, and addresses the Palestinian and Israeli societies, the international community, the Christian world and Jewish and Muslim religious leaders on December 11, 2009. It questions the Middle East peace process as it presents what it deems as realities of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and deprivation of human rights and freedom. It talks about faith, hope and love in one God. A list of signatories to the document is provided.

Copyright of Journal of the Economic & Social History of the Orient is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article present abstracts related to blood transfusion which includes the "Russian Blood Service Development in XXI Century," by E. B. Zhiburt and colleagues, the "Blood Safety in the Eastern Mediterranean Region," by A. Al Amiri, and "The Dublin Consensus Statement on Key Global Issues Relating to Blood and Plasma," by B. O. Mahony.

The article presents an examination into the earliest historical instances of international law, focusing on the events and developments of the Ancient Near East between 1200 and 330 B.C.E. An introductory section is provided describing the geopolitical history of the region during the era, citing the dynamics between major powers such as the kingdom of Assyria with smaller individual principalities. An extensive overview is then provided regarding Assyrian inscriptions and Biblical citations concerning Ancient Near Eastern international law discussing subjects such as the declaration of war and diplomacy, religious law, and human rights.

In 2007 and in a drive to modernize its legal system, Saudi Arabia promulgated the new Law of the Judiciary which aims at beginning a process of codifying Shar'ia Law, unifying the Saudi Court System and making the administration of state legislation a function of the reluctant Shar'ia courts. This project, however, entails revisiting traditional Shari's legal principals heretofore held sacrosanct and presumes to redraw the contours of legitimate state power while simultaneously limiting the constraining role of Shar'ia. As such, the new Law of the Judiciary constitutes a major challenge to the Saudi Shar"a establishment and its implementation, or lack thereof, shall reflect on the extent the Saudi constitutional landscape has evolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Martyrdom in Iran and the Middle East is a phenomenon that has been subject to a plethora of religious exegesis. However, scholars, often not having prescribed to the Aristotelian notion of poetics, have not only ignored the literary aspects of this phenomenon in the Middle East but have also failed to realize the poetics that exist within the parameters of religious and Koranic exigencies of martyrdom. This article summarizes and creates reference points for the morphology of a contemporary phenomenon, which finds its prototype not only in the tragic events of Karbala but also in literary occasions that long preceded it in Iran. This paradigm is found to be quite sufficient when dealing with martyrdom in Iran, which with the onslaught of the Safavids was provided with the proverbial "trigger" for its already long-standing literary canons. The importance of a lover-beloved relationship in accordance with a martyr's view of self as pertains to his or her actions in the face of God, country, and man under the rubric of some historical and literary events and productions throughout Iranian history is also epmhasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abatement of particulate matter has traditionally been driven by health concerns rather than its role in global warming. Here we assess future abatement strategies in terms of how much they reduce the climate impact of black carbon (BC) and organic carbon (OC) from contained combustion. We develop global scenarios which take into account regional differences in climate impact, costs of abatement and ability to pay, as well as both the direct and indirect (snow-albedo) climate impact of BC and OC. To represent the climate impact, we estimate consistent region-specific values of direct and indirect global warming potential (GWP) and global temperature potential (GTP). The indirect GWP has been estimated using a physical approach and includes the effect of change in albedo from BC deposited on snow. The indirect GWP is highest in the Middle East followed by Russia, Europe and North America, while the total GWP is highest in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. We conclude that prioritizing emission reductions in Asia represents the most cost-efficient global abatement strategy for BC because Asia is (1) responsible for a large share of total emissions, (2) has lower abatement costs compared to Europe and North America and (3) has large health cobenefits from reduced PM10 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines literary references concerning uses of the henna plant in the ancient world. This plant was first classified as Lawsonia in the 1730s, but its use extends back to circa 1500 BCE. Uses of this plant included as a hair dye, as a skin colorant, and as a medical treatment such as a treatment for canker sores. The article discusses a number of contemporary sources and source fragments and also includes the research of modern historians and anthropologists concerning the literature surrounding Hena plants in the Middle East and Africa. The author also cites the work of the French archaeologist Edme-François Jomard in Egypt during the late 1790s.

Some recent accounts have sought to present Mizraḥim - Jews whose origins are in Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa rather than in eastern and central Europe - as fellow victims of the Zionist project, along with Palestinian Arabs. On this view, Zionism is an essentially Ashkenazi (European Jewish) project. Here, a more complex account of Mizraḥi identity in Israel is presented, showing how Jewish immigrants from Muslim countries, despite being regarded as culturally inferior and treated as colonisation fodder by the Zionist leadership, were nevertheless successfully co-opted to the Zionist project. The Mizraḥim continue to face socio-economic disadvantages in Israel but these are predominantly a reflection of class barriers and are fundamentally distinct from the national oppression of Arabs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pope Benedict XVI's comments about Islam at the University of Regensburg on 12 September 2006 are examined here in terms of the traditions of Orientalism on which he draws and the political functions that they serve. The Pope portrays Islam as tending to irrational violence, in contrast to a Christianity based on a rapprochement between faith and the spirit of Greek philosophical inquiry, a rapprochement that is taken to be the foundation of European identity. This article examines the falsehoods, misrepresentations and weaknesses of the Pope's arguments and locates his understanding of Islam within broader intellectual patterns. It argues that his remarks reflect, more particularly, the specificities of his personal formation and the contemporary needs of the Roman Catholic Church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the intellectual history of the Arab world, there is a remarkable dearth of literature on liberal thought. In comparison, nationalism and Islamism have attracted much more attention and molded our image of the Middle East. This essay takes a new look at liberal thought by arguing that scholars should not confine themselves to searching for an Arab "liberalism" in the form of intellectuals or organizations that describe themselves as "liberals." It would be more fruitful to investigate the rise and decline of liberal ideas within the framework of ideologies that seem at first glance not to be liberal. Here, liberal ideas rarely develop by adopting Western liberal traditions but, rather, are the result of political struggles and experiences. Hence, liberal thought emerges from the criticism of authoritarian rule, even though some intellectuals may have advocated authoritarianism at an earlier stage. In the empirical part of this essay, I analyze four autobiographies of former radical nationalist activists from Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Although the authors still identify themselves as nationalists, they derived a more liberal outlook by reviewing their concrete political experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]