Middle East Research and Information Project

Critical Coverage of the Middle East Since 1971

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Latest Issue:

Material Politics of Normalization
Material Politics of Normalization

Hardwiring Normalization—Infrastructures, Extraction and Gaza’s Future

The Military-Industrial Backbone of Normalization

From Oslo to Offshore—The Rise of Energy Normalization in the Eastern Mediterranean

The Abraham Accords and Sudan’s Global Counterrevolution

Identity and Cultural Diplomacy of the Abraham Accords

On the Road to Rafah—The Sumud Convoy and New Maghrebi Geographies of Resistance
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Current Analysis

The Military-Industrial Backbone of Normalization
A drone used for law enforcement at the International Exhibtion For National Security and Resilience in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi, 2022. (Karim Sahib / AFP via Getty Images)

The Military-Industrial Backbone of Normalization

In February 2025, as international condemnation of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza reached new heights, Abu Dhabi hosted the International Defence Exhibition and Conference. Over five days a record 34 Israeli arms companies, including giants like Israel Aerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, showcased their latest wares alongside
Tariq Dana • 11 min read
The Limits of Protection and Profits—Five Years into the Abraham Accords
A billboard in Tel Aviv in June 2025 by the “Coalition for Regional Security” Israeli political-security initiative depicting (L to R) leaders of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United States, Israel, UAE, Oman, Morocco and Bahrain, with the Hebrew slogan “A time for war, a time for settlement; now is the time for the ‘Abrahamic Covenant.'” Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

The Limits of Protection and Profits—Five Years into the Abraham Accords

A Review of Elham Fakhro’s ‘The Abraham Accords: The Gulf States, Israel, and the Limits of Normalization.’
Arang Keshavarzian • 11 min read
Artificial Humanitarianism—The Data-Driven Future of Refugee Responses
A Sudanese girl who fled the war in Sudan gets her iris scanned using a biometric registration machine at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, South Sudan, on February 13, 2024. Luis Tato/AFP via Getty ImagesSophia at the AI for Good Global Summit 2018, Geneva. Photo courtesy of the UN’s ITU ((International Telecommunication Union). Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.

Artificial Humanitarianism—The Data-Driven Future of Refugee Responses

AI and big data are changing contemporary humanitarianism for better and worse.
Samer Abboud • 9 min read

Primers

Latest Issues

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Material Politics of Normalization
New Gender Frontlines
Resistance—The Axis and Beyond
Carceral Realities and Freedom Dreams
Post-Fossil Politics
The Struggle for Sudan
Palestine
Front Lines
The State of Iraq—20 Years After the Invasion
Peripheries and Borderlands