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Middle East Studies After September 11, 2001

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

Extract

The office of MESA president is mainly honorific; the associated duties are normally not particularly onerous. The very capable staff of the secretariat does most of the hard work involved in running this organization. None of you could have known at the time of the MESA elections in the summer and early fall of 2000 that you would be giving me the opportunity to serve as your president in the post-September 11, 2001 era, when public interest in the Middle East, demands on those with expertise in the region, and incongruously, attacks on MESA, university-based programs in Middle East Studies, and more than a few individual MESA members have reached unprecedented levels. Serving as your president in this period has been a more exciting ride than it would have been at almost any other time I can imagine; I thank you all for making it possible. I would also like to acknowledge my wife Miriam, who also received a fuller plate than she could have imagined as a result of my serving as MESA president. Her support has always been indispensable in everything I have done.

Type
Essays and MESA 2002
Copyright
Copyright © Middle East Studies Association of North America 2003

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References

1 The most recent research on the circumstances of the coup is Abrahamian, Ervand, “The 1953 Coup in Iran,” Science & Society 65 (no. 2, 2001):182215.Google Scholar

2 New York Times, February 14, 1980.

3 The low figure is the official Israeli estimate. The high figure is the one proposed by Israeli journalist Kapeliouk, Amnon, who investigated the matter and reported his conclusion in Sabra and Sha tila: Inquiry into a Massacre (Belmont, MA: Association of Arab-American University Graduates, 1984).Google Scholar

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6 Mishnah Sanhedrin, 4:5.

7 Qur’an, 5:32.

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