How are women in the Arab world negotiating the male-dominated character of Islamist movements? Is their participation in the Islamic political project-including violent resistance against foreign invasion and occupation-the result of coercion, or of choice? Questioning assumptions about female powerlessness in Muslim societies, Maria Holt and Haifaa Jawad explore the resistance struggles taking place in Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, and elsewhere in the Middle East from the perspectives of the women involved. The authors make extensive use of vivid personal testimonies as they examine the influence of such factors as religion, patriarchy, and traditional practices in determining women's modes of participation in conflicts. In the process, they add to our knowledge not only of how women are affected by political violence, but also of how their involvement is beginning to change the rules that govern their societies.

"So we left without glory but without disaster" - Sir Humphrey Trevelyan, the last High Commissioner of the Federation of South Arabia

In 1967, 139 years after their arrival in Aden, the British withdrew from the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Their departure was abrupt, messy and controversial. Using important, previously unpublished material and original interviews with a range of individuals, both British and Yemeni, who lived through this defining period of colonial history, Without Glory in Arabia tells the story of the final few years of British rule in Aden and the neighboring Eastern and Western Aden Protectorates. While some view British rule, on the whole, as beneficial to the local population, others insist that very little was achieved. Worse, Britain did not provide a structure of government constitution which met the conflicting needs of Aden and the Protectorate. This illuminating book brilliantly sets the "scuttle" - as the episode came to be known - in context with a thorough re-examination of the background against which the events of the 1960s unfolded in this obscure backwater of the British Empire.

Violence Against Women in Peace and War: Cases from the Middle East explores violence against women in the Middle East. Through a narrative research approach, Maria Holt compares a range of settings and experiences, arguing that (1) violence against women tends to increase during periods of conflict; (2) such practices are legitimized by an already existing environment in which violence against women is tolerated; (3) women are building strategies, both at local and regional levels, to combat and eliminate violence, thus enabling them to play a more constructive role in processes of conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction; and (4) the greater the commitment by public authorities to creating sound local frameworks to address violence against women the stronger will be Arab women's ability to resist conflict.

Women in conflict zones face a wide range of violence from a variety of sources: from physical and psychological trauma to political, economic and social disadvantage. Maria Holt uses her research gathered in the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon and in the West Bank to look at the forms and effects of violence suffered by women in the context of the wider conflict around them. After the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, Palestinian refugees fled over the border into Lebanon, and in the wake of tumult in other host states, such as Jordan, many more sought refuge there. Today more than 400,000 Palestinians reside in Lebanon, and the theme of violence is one that informs their daily life. Holt explores these varying forms of violence, including physical personal violence and the violence of war as well as the more symbolic violence of the disintegration of daily life and erasure of homeland, furthermore highlighting ongoing exclusion and isolation Palestinians are subjected to by the Lebanese state. Nevertheless, this condition of being - but not belonging - in Lebanon has influenced refugees' perceptions of themselves. Holt therefore analyses the daily life of Palestinians, recognising the unique community that has emerged in response to exile. In an atmosphere of violence, these refugees find coping mechanisms and appropriate strategies to counter the pressures of conflict. Adherence to religious belief and valued traditional practices, as well as involvement in political and welfare activities and, on occasion, militant activism, are some of the methods employed by women. With its systematic examination of forms of violence as well as an appreciation of daily life in the refugee camps, Women and Conflict in the Middle East makes essential reading for students of the Israel-Palestine conflict as well as those interested in the gender dimension of violence.