Palestine’s Membership in the Commonwealth as a Contribution to a Lasting Peace in the Middle East

With the re-election of Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu for another four-year term as prime minister of Israel there is a real danger that the peace process has reached an irrevocable impasse. It is argued that bold moves must be considered by the international community to breathe life back into the peace process. To coax Netanyahu into negotiations real pressure must be brought to bear on his government to respect the international consensus on Palestinian statehood and to halt settlement activity in occupied territory. To coax the Palestinian leadership back into a negotiation process with Israel, membership in the Commonwealth should be considered as a stepping stone to membership in the United Nations, to be followed by Israel’s membership in the Commonwealth—but on condition that Israel agrees to abide by international law, and respect the international consensus on the two-state solution, completely freeze settlement activity, including in East Jerusalem, and on condition that Palestine agrees to enter into final status negotiations with Israel to conclude a peace treaty to resolve all remaining disputes.     

Defining ‘America’ from a Distance: Local Strategies of the Global in the Middle East

This article focuses on the policy of population dispersion and the plan that transferred new Jewish immigrants from North Africa to settlements in Israel's periphery during the mid-1950s. Populating the frontier was a national task. The lack of candidates among old-timers contributed to the idea of sending new immigrants to those areas. The first wave of immigrants, immediately after Israel's independence, came at such a speed that a direct connection to population dispersion was almost impossible. The transit camps, created as temporary accommodation for the immigrants in populated area of the country, became permanent. With the second wave of immigration, a policy of directing the immigrants to the frontier was adopted. This policy required tight control on the immigrants and very efficient processing. This second wave of immigrants included mostly North African Jews. However, this policy was abandoned when East European Jews immigrated to Israel. The population dispersion of the 1950s shaped Israel's spatial gaps, and had long-lasting influence on the creation of an ethnic gap in Israel.     

Some allied misunderstandings in the Middle East, 1918–1920

Mizh—A Monograph. By Sir Evelyn Howell, K.C.I.E., C.S.I. Published by Government of India Press, Simla, 1931.

The Culture and Art of India. By Radhakamal Mukerjee. Published by George Allen and Unwin. 1959. Pp. 447. 55 illustrations. 50s.

Sources of Indian Tradition. Compiled by Wm. Theodore de Bary, Stephen Hay, Royal Weiler, Andrew Yarrow. Columbia University Press, New York, and Oxford University Press, London. Pp. 961. Indexed. U.K. price 55s.

Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism. By Lama anagarika Govinda. Published by Rider and Co., 1959. Pp. 310. Index, bibliography. 30s.

The Revolt in Tibet. By Frank Moraes. Macmillan Co. of New York. 1960. Pp. 223. (Price not given.)

The Naked Hills. Tales of Afghanistan by Charles Beardsley. Peter Davies. Pp. 275. 16s.

Riding to the Tigris. By Freya Stark. John Murray. 21s.

Ottoman Imperialism and German Protestantism, 1521–1555. By Stephen A. Fischer‐Galati. O.U.P. for Harvard University Press. 1959. Pp. viii +140. 32s.

The Soviet Union and the Middle East. By Walter Z. Laqueur. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London. Pp. x + 360. Index. 35s.

A Political Study of the Arab‐Jewish Conflict. The Arab Refugee Problem. By Rouy E. Gabbay. Published by Librairie E. Droz, Geneva. Bibliography, index. Pp. 611. Swiss Frs. 50.

History and Tribes of Jordan. By F. G. Peake. Published by University of Miami Press. Pp. 253. Maps.

Lebanon in the Last Years of Feudalism, 1840–1868. A contemporary account by Antūn Dahir al‐'Aqiqi, and other documents translated by Malcolm H. Kerr. Published by the American University of Beirut, 1959. Pp. 159. Index.

Sun and Shadow at Aswan. By Herbert Addison. Chapman and Hall. 1959. Pp. 166. 18s. Indexed and illustrated.

Bankers and Pashas. International Finance and Economic Imperialism in Egypt. By David S. Landes. Heinemann. 1958. Illustrated. Pp. 344. 30s.

The Tales of Marzuban. Translated from the Persian by Reuben Levy. Thames and Hudson. Pp. 254. 25s.

Human Relations Area Files Incorporated. Subcontractor's Monograph. Afghanistan. Edited by Donald N. Wilber (1956). 2 vols. Indexed. 460 and 842 pages.

The Foundation of Dutch Power in Ceylon, 1638–1658. By K. W. Goone‐wardena. Under the Auspices of the Netherlands Institute for International Cultural Relations. Amsterdam, Djambatan. 1958. Pp. xx+196. Maps and illustrations. Dfl. 30 (57s.).

Dutch Power in Ceylon, 1658–1687. By S. Arasaratnam. Under the Auspices of the Netherlands Institute for International Cultural Relations. Amsterdam, Djambatan, 1958. Pp. xxii + 246. Maps and illustrations. Dfl. 32 (60s.).

The Junkman Smiles. By G. R. G. Worcester. Chatto and Windus, London. Pp. 254. 8 Plates, drawings and map by the author. 21s.

Chinese Art and Culture. By Rene Grousset. Published by André Deutsch. 55s.     

Lion in the Sand: British Policy in the Middle East, 1945–67

The crisis that unfolded after Iran's June 2009 presidential election exposed the absolutist nature of the state's highest religious authority (wali-ye faqih), Ayatullah ‘Ali Khamena'i. It also revealed the urgent need to critically interrogate Ayatullah Khomeini's doctrinal justifications for the governance of the jurist (wilayat al-faqih) in light of how ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shi‘i Imam, assumed the caliphate: divine bestowal (nass) combined with public investiture that took the form of bay‘a (oath of allegiance). Ayatullahs Husayn ‘Ali Montazeri, Mohsen Kadivar, Yousef Saanei, Bayat Zanjani and Mehdi Karrubi have attempted to devise a model in which sovereignty belongs to the public and limits the clergy's role in daily matters of the state to oversight and guidance. In contrast, Ayatullahs Kazemeyni Boroujerdi and Mojteba Shabestari argue for a clear-cut separation between the church and the state so that the public can choose its form of government since no specific form is prescribed in Islam. On the other hand, Ayatullah Mesbah Yazdi, a member of the Assembly of Experts, has consistently been a passionate advocate of the absolute authority of the jurist in its most comprehensive form and a vehement opponent of any dissenting discourse on this subject.     

The Baghdad railway: Its new rôle in the Middle East

General

Gardens of Paradise: The History and Design of the Great Islamic Gardens. By John Brookes. London, Weidenfeld &; Nicolson, 1987. Pp. 240. Maps. Bibliog. Index. Chronology. Illus. £20.00.

The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia. By E. L. Jones. Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp. 279. Bibliog. Index. £27.50 Hb, £9.95 Pb.

Expansion of Third World Navies. By Michael A. Morris. London. Macmillan, 1987. Pp. 293: Index £35.00.

Central Asia

Searches for an Imaginary Kingdom ‐ the Legend of the Kingdom of Prester John. By Lev Nikolaevich Gumilev. Translated from the Russian by R. E. F. Smith, Cambridge University Press, 1987. Pp. 403. Bibliog. Index. Maps. (First published in Russian, under the title: Poiski vymyshlennogo Tsarstva: legenda o Gosudarstve presvitera Ioanna, Moscow, 1970). £37.50.

Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan. By Albert von Le Coq. Hong Kong. Oxford University Press, 1987. Pp. 180. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £8.50 Pb.

The Tragedy of Afghanistan: the Social, Cultural and Political Impact of the Soviet Invasion. Edited by Bo Huldt and Erland Jansson. London, Croom Helm, 1988. Pp. 270. Index. £27.50.

South Asia

The New Cambridge History of India. Vol. II 1. Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire. By Dr. C. A. Bayly. Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp. 206. Gloss. Bibliographical Essay. Index. £17.50.

The New Cambridge History of India, II, 2: Bengal: the British Bridgehead: Eastern India 1740–1828. By P. J. Marshall. Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp. 195. Index. Maps. £17.50.

India and Tibet. By Francis Younghusband. Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1985. Pp. 455. Illus. Maps. Index. £21.00.

Below the Peacock Fan: First Ladies of the Raj. By Marian Fowler. New York, Viking, 1987. Pp. 337. Illus. Notes. Bibliog. $19.95.

Mediaevalism to Modernism: Socio‐economic and Cultural History of Hyderabad 1869–1911. By Sheela Raj. London, Sangam Books, 1987. Pp. 340. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £19.95.

The Days of the Beloved. By Harriet Ronken Lynton and Mohini Rajan. London, Sangam Books, 1988. Pp. 279. Illus. £11.95.

South Asia: The Narrowing Options. Economist Intelligence Unit Special Report No. 110. By Brian Slocock. London. Economist Intelligence Unit. 1988. Pp. 119. Map. £115.00 Pb.

The Cat and the Lion. Robert W. Stern. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1988. Pp. 331. Bibliog. Index. $56.00.

Tribal Guerrillas: The Santals of West Bengal and the Naxalite Movement. By Edward Duyker. Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1987. Pp. 201. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £11.95.

The Political Economy of Pakistan, 1947–85. By Omar Noman. London, KPI, 1988. Pp. 218. Bibliog. Index. £25.00.

Banditry in Islam: Case Studies from Morocco, Algeria and the Pakistan North West Frontier. By David M. Hart. London Middle East and North African Studies Press, 1987. Pp. 86. Maps.

Sri Lanka: A History. By Chandra Richard de Silva. London, Sangam books, 1987. Pp. 316. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £14.95.

Crime, Justice and Society in Colonial Sri Lanka. By John D. Rogers. Curzon Riverdale, 1987. Pp. 270. Appendices. Bibliog. Index. No price stated.

South‐East Asia

ASEAN at the Crossroads. Ed. by Noordin Sopiee, Chewhay See and Lim Siang Jin. Kuala Lumpur. ISIS, Malaysia, 1987. Pp. 577. $25.00.

Financing East Asia's Success. By Michael Skully and George Viksnis, London, Macmillan, 1987. Tables. Bibliog. Index. £29.50.

The Commerce in Rubber ‐ The First 250 Years. By Austin Coates. Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1987. Pp. 380. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £25.

Government and Politics in Singapore. Ed. Jon S. T. Quah, Chan Heng Chee and Seah Chee Meow. Southeast Asian Studies Program, Oxford University Press, Singapore, 1987. Tables, Bibliog. Index. Pp. 338. £11.50.

On the Road to Tribal Extinction: Depopulation, Deculturation, and Adaptive Well‐Being Among the Batak of the Philippines. By James F. Eder. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1987. Pp. 276. Maps. Notes. Index. $38.00.

Land, Poverty and Politics in the Philippines. By Mamerto Canlas, Mariano Miranda Jr., and James Putzel. London, Catholic Institute for International Relations, 1988. Pp. 87. Map. Index. £4.95.

Punishing the Poor: The International Isolation of Kampuchea. By Eva Mysliwiec. Oxford, Oxfam Publications, 1988. Pp. 172. £3.95. Pb. £14.95 Hb.

Middle East

Israel and the American National Interest ‐ A Critical Examination. By Cheryl A. Rubenberg. Urbana and Chicago. University of Illinois Press, 1986. Pp. 446. Index. $24.95.

The Zealous Intruders: The Western Rediscovery of Palestine. By Naomi Shepherd. London, Collins, 1987. Pp. 282. Illus. Map. Bibliog. Index. Price not stated.

Far East

The Cambridge History of China. Volume 13. Republican China 1912–1949, Part 2. Edited by John K. Fairbank and Albert Feuerwerker. Cambridge University Press, 1986. Pp. 1111. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £60.00.

The Cambridge History of China. General Editors, Denis Twitchett and John K. Fairbank. Volume 14, The People's Republic, Part 1: The Emergence of Revolutionary China, 1949–1965. Edited by R. L. MacFarquhar and J. K. Fairbank. Cambridge University Press, 1987. Pp. 722. Bibliographical Essays. Bibliog. Gloss. Index. £50.00.

The Archaeology of Ancient China. Fourth edition, revised and enlarged. By Kwang‐Chih Chang. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1987. Pp. 475. Illus. Bibliog. Index. £45.00 Hb. £14.95. Pb.

A Dream of Red Mansions. By Ts'ao Hsüeh‐ch'in and Kao Ngo, (tr. Yang Hsien‐yi and Gladys Yang). London, Unwin Paperbacks, 1986. Pp. 499. £7.95 Pb.

Outlaws of the Marsh. By Shih Nai‐an and Lo Kuan‐chung (tr. Sidney Shapiro). London, Unwin Paperbacks, 1986, Pp. 458. £7.95 Pb.

Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century. By Susan Naquin and Evelyn S. Rawski. New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1987. Pp. 288. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £22.50 US $35.00.

The Origins of the Boxer Uprising. By Joseph W. Esherick. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1987. Pp. 451. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. $45.00.

The Communist Party of China and Marxism 1921–1985: A Self‐Portrait. By Laszlo Ladany. London, C Hurst &; Co 1988. Pp. 588. Bibliog. Index. £32.50.

The Sino‐Soviet Confrontation since Mao Zedong. Dispute, Detente, or Conflict? By Alfred D. Low. Social Science Monographs, Boulder, 1987. Distributed by Columbia University Press. Pp. 332. Notes. Bibliog. $40.

Education and Socialist Modernization ‐ A Documentary History of Education in the People's Republic of China, 1977–1988. Edited by Shi Ming Hu and Eli Seifman. New York, AMS Press, 1987. Pp. 229. $62.50.

East Asian Conflict Zones. Ed. Lawrence E. Grinter and Young Whan Khil. Basingstoke, Macmillan Press, 1988. Pp. 239. Map. Notes. Bibliog. Index. £29.50.

Visions of Virtue in Tokugawa Japan: The Kaitokudō Merchant Academy of Osaka. By Tetsuo Najita. Chicago and London, The University of Chicago Press. 1987. Pp. 344. Index. £29.95. Hb. £11.95 Pb.

Japan in the Victorian Mind: A Study of Stereotyped Images of a Nation, 1850–1880. By Toshio Yokoyama. London, St Antony's/Macmillan, 1987. Pp. 233. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £27.50.

Fire Across the Sea: The Vietnam War and Japan, 1965–1975. Princeton University Press, 1987. Pp. 329. Illus. Notes. Index. £25.00. Hb. £11.70. Pb.

The Monkey as Mirror: Symbolic Transformations in Japanese History and Ritual. By Emiko Ohnuki‐Tierney. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1987. Pp. 269. Illus. Index. Bibliog. £18.75.

Dōgen Kigen: Mystical Realist. By Hee‐Jin Kim. Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1987. Pp. 324. Bibliog. Index. $18.95 Pb.

Hong Kong in Transition. Ed. Joseph Y. S. Cheng. Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1987. Pp. 457. £8.95. Pb.

Chinese Christians: Elites, Middlemen, and the Church in Hong Kong. By Carl Smith. Oxford University Press, 1985, 1988. Pp. 252. Chronology. Plates. Notes. Index. £15.00.

Siberia and the Soviet Far East: Strategic Dimensions in Multinational Perspective. Ed. Rodger Swearingen. Stanford, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University, 1987. Pp. 298. Index. $32.95.

Shorter notes

Soviet Economic Assistance to the Less Developed Countries. By Quintin V. S. Bach. Oxford University Press, 1987. Pp. 175. Bibliog. £27.50.

The Tibet Guide. By Stephen Batchelor. London, Wisdom Publications, 1987. Pp. 466. Illus. Index. £13.95 Pb.

The Second Afghan War 1878–1880 Casualty Roll. Compiled by Anthony Far‐rington. The London Stamp Exchange Limited, 1987. Pp. 189. (A4) £14.95.

Indian General Service Medal 1895 Casualty Roll. Compiled by Anthony Far‐rington. The London stamp Exchange limited, 1987. Pp. 166. (A4) £14.95.

The Makers of Indian Colonial Silver 1760–1860. Wynyard R. T. Wilkinson. London, W. R. T. Wilkinson, 1987. Pp. 229. Illus. Maps. Bibliog. Index. £97.50.

Kashmir. By Raghubir Singh. London, Thames and Hudson, 1987. Pp. 32. Illus. Map. £9.95 Pb.

Bangladesh: Politics, Economy and Society. Ed. Chowdhury E. Haque. Winnipeg, Bangladesh Studies Assemblage, University of Manitoba, 1987. Pp. 139. Price not stated.

Course for Disaster: From Scapa to the River Kwai. By Richard Pool. London, Leo Cooper, 1987. Pp. 196. £13.95.

Medieval Persia 1040–1797. By David Morgan. Longman, London and New York, 1988. Pp. 197. Bibliog. Index. £15.95 Hb. £7.95 Pb.

Iron in the Fire: the Chinese Potters’ Exploration of Iron‐oxide Glazes. London, The Oriental Ceramic Society, 1988. Intro. Plates. £16 (incl. postage).     

Democratization in the Middle East and North Africa: A More Ambidextrous Process?

Democratization is always an ambidextrous process. On the one hand, it triggers a universalistic set of norms, events, processes and symbols. On the other hand, democratization involves a much more particularistic set of ‘realistic’ adaptations to the structures and circumstances of individual countries. In analysing the structures and conjunctures of countries in the Arab World during the past decades, scholars looked at them from the perspective of persistent authoritarianism. This essay exploits democratization theory – as well as its converse ? by analysing the universalistic set of events, processes and symbols of democratization elsewhere in the world, and then identifying the particularistic characteristics of timing, location and coincidence that seem likely to affect the political outcome of regime change in the countries affected by recent popular uprisings in the Arab World.