The Middle East Studies Association of North America San Antonio, Texas Rabi' al Akhir 21-24, 1411 November 10-13, 1990

Abstract

The twenty-fourth annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association
of North America (MESA) was held between November 10-13, 1990 in San
Antonio, Texas. Hosted by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of the
University of Texas at Austin and supported by different academic
organizations, MESA featued a number of distinguished speakers, international
and domestic, who spoke on a wide variety of topics.
One topic was the Gulf crisis and the AmWIsraeli conflict. The plenary
session of MESA , entitled "The Current Crisis in the Gulf: Thoughts and
Reflections," featured three main speakers: Richard Murphy of the Council
on Foreign Relations, Rashid Khalidi of the University of Chicago, and Kenneth
stein of hmy University. Though this sessim did not discuss ways of solving
the Gulf crisis, it was the general feeling of the audience that a linkage does
exist between the Gulf situation and the Arab/Israeli conflict, and that a
comprehensive solution in which the U.S. should play a major part is urgently
needed.
The Conference tackled another current complication in the Middle East
during its seminar entitled The Impact of the Possible Mass Immigration
of Soviet Jews to Israel d the occupied Terrieories." Walid Khalidi of Harvard
University expressed the feeling of perhaps millions of Palestinians when
he said that this mass immigration of Soviet Jews is the second most dangerous
situation affecting the Palestinians after their expulsion from their land in
1948. Israel has by now received 200,000 Soviet immigrants since the summer
of 1990, and their number is expected to reach two million by the year 1995.
Muhammad Hallaj of the Palestine Research and Educatimal Center, located
in Fairfax, Virginia, discussed the impact of the Soviet Jews' mass immigration
on Palestinian demography and economy in the occupied territories, and showed
how Israeli politicians, especially the right-wing ones, are more agreeable
than before to transferring a large number of Palestinians to Arab countries,
especially to Jordan. As is well known, since 1967 a number of influential
Israeli politicians have called on successive Israeli governments to expel
Palestinians en masse as a means of keeping the demographic balance in
favor of the Jewish population. It should be noted, however, that transfer,
albeit on a minor scale, has in effect taken place, especially since the start
of the Palestinian intifada in December of 1987. More than 200 Palestinian
leaders, many of whom belong to the Islamic movement HAMAS, have been
deported to Lebanon. This shows the resolve of the Israeli government in
getting rid of the vital elements of Palestinian society ...