New Article: Kaufman, The Trans-Arabian Pipeline and the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Kaufman, Asher. “Between Permeable and Sealed Borders: The Trans-Arabian Pipeline and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 46.1 (2014): 95-116.

 

URL:  http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9173781

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S002074381300130X

 

Abstract

The Trans-Arabian Pipeline (Tapline), which extended from Dhahran in Saudi Arabia to Zahrani in Lebanon and operated from 1950 to 1982, was haunted by the Arab–Israeli conflict throughout the years of its operation. The route of the pipeline—which traversed Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon—was chosen so as to circumvent Palestine/Israel. However, following the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights in the 1967 war, Israel became an active participant in this project, with the full consent of the transit states and Egypt. This article uses Tapline as a means to analyze the interconnected world facilitated by oil pipelines, which defies common wisdom about state sovereignty or the function of interstate boundaries. In addition, Tapline demonstrates how this interconnected network created possibilities for Arab–Israeli cooperation that might have seemed inconceivable initially, given the hostile dynamics of the conflict.

ToC: Bustan (Middle East Book Review) 2 (2011)

Several Book Reviews of interest in Bustan: The Middle East Book Review, issue 2, 2011:

 

– Itamar Rabinovich on Laura Zittrain Eisenberg and Neil Caplan, Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace: Patterns, Problems, Possibilities (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), 45-47.

– Josef Joffe on George W. Bush, Decision Points (New York: Crown Publishing, 2010), 51-54.

– Itamar Rabinovich on Neil Caplan,The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories (Contesting the Past Series; Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 59-61.

 

You can see full Table of Contents here:

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/mebr/2011/00000002/00000001

 

Also, note that the first issue is offered for free browse, and includes, among others, the following reviews:

 

– Itamar Rabinovich, “Making Peace and Writing about It,” 21-28.

– Eyal Zisser, “Israelis Confront the Second Lebanon War,” 29-43.

– Eyal Zisser on Yigal Kipnis, The Mountain that was as a Monster: The Golan between Syria and Israel (Heb.); Michael Milstein, Mukawama, The Challenge of Resistance to Israel’s National Security Concept (Heb.); Götz Nordbruch, Nazism in Syria and Lebanon: The Ambivalence of the German Option, 1933-1945. 45-46

– Asher Susser on Marwan Muasher, The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation; Benny Morris, One State, Two States: Resolving the Israel/Palestine Conflict. 47-49

– Ephraim Lavie on As’ad Ghanem, Palestinian Politics after Arafat: A Failed National Movement. 54-57

Cite: Lesch, The Evolution of Bashar al-Asad

David W. Lesch. "The Evolution of Bashar al-Asad." Middle East Policy 17.2 (2010): 70-81.

 

URL: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123508060/abstract