Middle East Resources

Speaking of Faith: Two Narratives, Audiofile from American Public Radio. I haven't listened to this yet, but APR is generally quite even handed. Even the title of the show is promising, though it does seem to give slightly more weight to inconveniences placed on Palestinians and not as much emphasis on the terror campaign waged against Israeli civilians by Palestinians. Still, finding the right balance is never achievable in the Middle East.

A website claiming to be neutral on the MidEast. Comes reasonably close. Mid East Web Gateway. Has good maps including water and aquifers. A Peace website.

Here's a remarkable set of resources regarding water issues at the Colombia University Libraries: Middle East and Jewish Studies. And a second set of resources on water at a webpage called Middle East Resources.

Here's an outstanding summary of the water dilemma for Israel as described by Chuck Spinney (who was at the Office of the Secretary of Defense from the mid-1970s (retired in 2003) and was active duty Air Force before that )for a website called Defense and the National Interest. A Quick Tour of Water & the Arab - Israeli Confict.

The Global Education Project for the Middle East is largely impartial and extremely informative.

Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem is a pro-Palestinian think tank funded by the European Union, but it's very academic. It comes across as anti-Israel, but their research is generally unassailable. Why does the European Union fund Palestine, but not Israel?

The Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information is a center bringing together Israelis and Palestinians. Their research is excellent and covers the things we are interested in for class: history, land, environment, the future of peace.

A section of Mid East Web on cultural geography: music, art, recipes, population, geography, and health.

Sands of Sorrow -Depicting the lives of Palestinian refugees soon after Nakba - This is an incredible unique movie that captures Palestinian refugees living conditions few years after Nakba. It contains rare footage of Gaza, Bethlehem, & Jerusalem refugees camps. It documents shortage of health care (i.e. many don't know that 4 out of 5 kids under the age of 6 months died because of disease and malnutrition), education, food, sanitation,...etc.

Palestine Liberation Organization Negotiation Affairs Department is the Palestinian government's site for maps, documents, history, etc. Very interesting.

Jewish Virtual Library is a comprehensive account of all things Jewish, including Israeli history, from a very Israeli perspective.

Palestine Monitor has articles about The Wall, Water, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, Checkpoints, Prisoners, Poverty, Refugees, Settlements

Haaretz.com
A popular Israeli newspaper covering the region.

the New York Times
Keep up to date with the NYT. Creating an account helps. Especially pay attention to the "World," "US" and "Science" sections.

al Jazeera
President Bush would scold you for reading it, but as the standard news carrier for the Middle East region, reading this will stretch your perspectives.

Bitter Lemons
Palestinean-Israeli crossfire, with two Palestineans and two Israeli's expressing their views on a current topic, updated weekly. Be sure to check out their extensive archives.

Friends of the Earth: Middle East
One of the leading cooperative environmental groups in the Middle East. This webpage has some news and links to other sources concerning Middle East environmental issues.

Palestine Remembered a heartbreaking first-person set of accounts of homes and villages abandoned by Palestinians during Al Nahkba, the Catastrophe of Israeli "independence."

Meadville Tribune
The good ol' local rag, this paper may come in handy during our Meadville unit...or if you're looking to buy used farm equipment. Know what's going on in your home away from home.