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Dear Reader:
On the occasion of this, the Middle East
Forum's twentieth anniversary, I have prepared a bibliography of my writings
about it, available here.And the Forum yesterday distributed a press release which to points to information on a very central new issue in Arab-Israeli diplomacy, "Recognizing Israel as the Jewish State - Source Materials." Yours sincerely, Daniel Pipes The Middle East Forum Reaches Twenty Years
  Be the first of your
friends to like this. Today marks the
twentieth anniversary of the Middle East Forum.January 24, 1994, was absolutely the wrong moment to establish an organization that worried about the Middle East. As one potential donor impolitely asked: "Who needs you?" The U.S. victory in Kuwait, the Soviet collapse, and the Oslo Accords had left Middle East watchers feeling uncharacteristically sanguine. As I joked at the time, it was an opportunity to improve one's tennis backhand and barbequing technique. So, at our start, we had to work hard to convince the public that dangers were brewing. That meant dwelling specifically on problems. For example, I wrote in the introduction to the first issue of our journal, the Middle East Quarterly: With the end of the Cold War, the Middle East becomes the most militarized region in the world. Situated in the vortex of Europe, Africa and Asia, the persisting enmities of the region joined to new military technologies portend much trouble both within and outside the region.
A few observations on the past two decades:
·
I chose our slogan, "Promoting American
Interests," to emphasize that U.S. analysts tend to forget this
dimension, and to imply that when Americans pursue their interests, others
benefit as well.
·
The Forum came into existence as a traditional
think tank right on the cusp of the Internet revolution. In our first years,
we sent information by mail, depended on paper publications to get our
writings out, faxed when in a hurry, and lugged tape recorders to events. The
Internet quickly transformed our lives, making possible 20 million page
visits to our website, putting us on Facebook and Twitter, permitting most of the
professional staff to live anywhere, and making it possible for the office to
be functional when everyone's at home during a snowstorm (as happened just
this week).
·
Although the Middle East is in our name, we
have also focused heavily on Middle Easterners living in the West, figuring
that our knowledge of the region could usefully contribute to an
understanding of these new populations and the issues they raise.
·
As a research institute, not being based in
Washington or New York (we're in Philadelphia) has shaped our role and helped
define our niche: We neither focus on the day-to-day issues that drive
government policymakers nor calibrate our work for media attention. Rather,
we specialize in big-picture interpretations.
·
Founded in large part to offer an alternative
to the analyses coming from the Middle East studies establishment, MEF has
done so in two main ways: Positively, the Middle East Quarterly – with
me first as editor followed by Martin Kramer, Michael Rubin, Dennis MacEoin,
and (currently) Efraim Karsh – offers an detailed interpretation of the
region. Negatively, Campus Watch
presents a feisty and frequent critique of what the academics are offering.
·
Inspired by the success of that effort, we
founded three others. Islamist Watch
focuses on countering nonviolent efforts to promote radical Islam, efforts we
consider even more dangerous than the violent ones. The Legal Project protects the rights of
those of us who express ourselves on Islam and related topics. And the Washington Project,
headed by Steven J. Rosen, influences U.S. policy vis-à-vis our favorite
region.
Looking to the future, the greatest challenge, to be candid, is to find successors to us founders. It will not be easy to identify individuals who can nurture our creation and then develop it their own way. But I am optimistic that the Forum's best days lie ahead. Mr. Pipes (DanielPipes.org) is president of the Middle East Forum. © 2014 by Daniel Pipes. All rights reserved.
Related
Topics: Daniel
Pipes autobiographical This text may be reposted or
forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete and
accurate information provided about its author, date, place of publication,
and original URL.
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