This study reassesses several accepted truths about Arab village society. It shows first that one cannot speak about the position of women in general, because there is a great difference among women depending on the structure of their households and relationships. Women whose work contributes to the family's income, who have been able to acquire property, who exert control over their sons, and who have the quickness of mind to exploit suitable opportunities, often have their way in the economic and political affairs of their households and beyond.

Ginat's analysis of marriage patterns dispels the common notion that men customarily seek the hand of their father's brother's daughter, and that this type of marriage illustrates a principle of endogamy in Arab village society. After carefully examining the numerous reasons for each marriage, he concludes that a combination of material and political considerations of the families involved, and not stated norms, determines the choice of spouses.

The author clarifies the notion of honor, which hitherto has been used to explain so many things in Arab society. In Arab societies a man's honor often seems to depend on the reputation of his women. Now it appears that his honor is gauged not by the actual sexual comportment of women for whom he is morally responsible, but by public attitudes towards that sexuality. Ginat's analysis adds to our understanding of some central themes in Arab society. He provides valuable and complete information about aspects of family life that have rarely been covered in such detail.

Trials by ordeal, a judicial practice in which the guilt or innocence of the accused is determined by subjecting them to a painful task, have taken place from ancient Mesopotamia until the present day. This volume focuses on a special type of ordeal by fire called the bishah ceremony, which originated in Bedouin societies and continues to be practiced in Egypt today. In Bedouin and Arab rural societies, when somebody suspects another person of theft, property damage, murder, manslaughter, illicit sexual relations, rape, or witchcraft, and there are no witness to the crime, this individual can request the suspect or suspects to accompany him to the mubasha', a Bedouin notable who conducts the ordeal by fire. The bisha'h ceremony was previously performed in Jordan and in Saudi Arabia as well as in Egypt. In Jordan, the late King Hussein banned the ordeal by fire in 1976. In Saudi Arabia, the mubasha' died in the late 1980s, without leaving a successor. Today, in Egypt, near Ismaliyya, a mubasha' continues to practice the ceremonial ordeal in which the suspect licks a ladle that is heated to between 600-900 degrees Celsius. If the suspect's tongue blisters, they are deemed guilty. If the tongue is clear, they are declared innocent. The author observed 169 of such ordeals, many of which are documented and illustrated in this volume. People who take part in the bisha'h ceremony not only come from various regions in Egypt, but also from other North African countries, and from several Middle Eastern countries, including the Gulf States. Most of the cases involve rural peasants rather than Bedouin, but there are also instances where city dwellers take part in the ordeal.

A book about blood homicide in Bedouin and rural Arab society in Israel.

"Water in the Middle East" presents historical and cross-cultural perspectives on water and conflict, prospects for future cooperation in the water arena among Middle Eastern countries, the political economy of water and technical solutions to water shortages in the Jordan Valley, and the relationships among water, agriculture, and environmental sustainability. Through case studies and essays, natural and social scientific water experts from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and the United States examine: The role of water in Middle East conflicts and the possibility of regional solutions to water scarcity requiring cooperation among states; Long-term prospects of various aquifers and other fresh-water sources, including desalination; current and future environmental deterioration of water resources; Breakthroughs and developments increasing regional agricultural productivity, depending less on high-quality waters while turning to lower quality resources, such as recycled and brackish waters; alternatives to current water-usage patterns, particularly with regard to agriculture and the possibility of redirecting water to tourism and other economic sectors. While this book highlights the complexities pertaining to regional water scarcity and inequitable distribution, the contributors offer no definitive conclusions or facile solutions; yet there is a broad consensus that regional solutions to maximize water resources must be pursued even as desalination becomes more viable both from technical/economic standpoints. The continuing deterioration of existing water supplies in terms of quantity and quality mandate that any solution must be achieved within a political/social framework of peace, enlightened economic policies, and the application of technical solutions that take due account of environmental concerns.

In this intriguing book, social psychologist Irwin Altman and anthropologist Joseph Ginat examine husband-wife and wife-wife relationships in contemporary Mormon polygamous families. They describe how husbands and wives in plural families cope with their complex lifestyle in various facets of everyday life, including courtship, weddings, honeymoons, adjustments to a new life, living arrangements, and the husband's rotation among his wives. Other important topics include budget and resource management, psychological attachments to homes, and the social-emotional relationships between family members. This pioneering, comprehensive analysis of life in modern day Mormon polygamous families uses first-hand interviews and observations to describe this unusual family lifestyle. It adds to our understanding of close relationships and complements knowledge on other modern relationship forms, such as single-parent families, blended families, and cohabiting partners.

Despite major political advances in the Middle East, there has been little progress on the refugee problem. This is because of official Palestinian public positions, other Arab countries' approach to the "right of return" of all Palestinian refugees, and the contrasting Israeli public policy of not allowing any refugees to return to Israel. Such conflicting approaches can never resolve this difficult and longstanding humanitarian problem. By working collectively, the world's leading experts from Arab countries, the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Europe and the United States have developed a chessboard of proposed solutions.;This text in part reflects the polarization that exists on the issue, and in part moves away from the political slogans of both sides, toward concrete proposals for negotiating a comprehensive agreement.

This volume, which contains a chapter entitled "Great Scholar, Great Man, Great Friend (Remembering Ernest Gellner)," brings together leading anthropologists who discuss how pastoralists are coping and changing as the societies they inhabit change at an unprecedented pace. The different issues pertaining to the different geographic areas covered are united by a general theme: socioeconomic and cultural changes in contemporary pastoralist societies and groups. These changes are far from being spontaneous. They result from the painful adaptation of the mobile and extensive pastoralists to the modern (some scholars would argue already postmodern) world, in which pastoralists occupy only a marginal and inferior economic and social position. This is true even with regard to Middle Eastern countries, although in some of them a social prestige connected with pastoralism is still quite high. Discussion focuses on the worldwide deterioration of the socio-political and economic standing of the pastoralist, the historical factors of colonization/de-colonization, and how modernizing sedentary society (with its technological inventions, modern infrastructure, and national requirements of taxation and education) impacts on change in nomadic societies.

Distinguished academic and practitioner contributors from the Middle East, Europe and the US present a range of social science oriented options to get the peace process back on track. Using the history of the last half century of talks and negotiations, and contributor experience in negotiations, suggestions, proposals and formulas are presented to the contending parties that would develop a greater level of mutual empathy, understanding and trust that is required to jump-start the stalled peace talks into sincere and serious negotiations needed to achieve a comprehensive, lasting Middle East peace accord. The focus of this volume is on how to achieve an agreement, not on the components of viable peace agreements, which the editors believe largely exist and are the subject of a number of earlier studies, books and the texts of draft accords reached previously in government-to-government and in private-parties negotiations. The editors and contributors assume a two-state solution based on "land for peace" and emphasise the importance of the role of outside mediators, especially the United States. Throughout the arguments presented, potential dialogue and agreement is overshadowed by the increasingly violent and chaotic environment of the Middle East that began worsening in 2001 with the second intifada and the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. Peace and a final agreement can only be reached through Arabs and Israelis making tough decisions and compromises. Readers will be intrigued, amused, encouraged and disappointed by accounts of incidents that de-railed past talks, the innovative analyses concerning past negotiations, and the potential for application of social science knowledge to the building of trust needed for attaining agreement.

There has been little progress on the refugee problem because of official Palestinian public positions, other Arab countries' approach to the 'right of return' of all Palestinian refugees, and the contrasting Israeli public policy of not allowing any refugees to return to Israel. Such polar-opposite approaches can never resolve this difficult and longstanding humanitarian problem. By working collectively, the world's leading experts from Arab countries, the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Europe and the United States have developed a chessboard of proposed solutions. The volume in part reflects the polarization that exists on the issue, and in part moves away from the political slogans of both sides, toward concrete proposals for negotiating a comprehensive agreement.

A distinguished panel of Middle East experts highlight the options for cooperation between Jordanians, Palestinians and Israelis. The Triangle faces substantial social, economic and political difficulties in promoting peace and this book looks to the dangers and opportunities to be faced over the next few years.

Contents include:
-- Development of the Jordanian Tourism Industry
-- Bilateral and Trilateral Political Cooperation
-- The Jerusalem Triangle
-- Emotional Aspects of the Path to Peace
-- Operationalizing the Triangle by Bilateral Agreement
-- Regional Economic Cooperation in the Middle East

This volume, which contains a chapter entitled "Great Scholar, Great Man, Great Friend (Remembering Ernest Gellner)", brings together leading anthropologists who discuss how pastoralists are coping and changing as the societies they inhabit change at an unprecedented pace. The different issues pertaining to the different geographic areas covered are united by a general theme: socio-economic and cultural changes in contemporary pastoralist societies and groups. These changes are far from being spontaneous. They result from the painful adaptation of the mobile and extensive pastoralists to the modern (some scholars would argue already post-modern) world, in which pastoralists occupy only a marginal and inferior economic and social position. This is true even with regard to Middle Eastern countries, although in some of them a social prestige connected with pastoralism is still quite high. Discussion focuses on the world-wide deterioration of the socio-political and economic standing of the pastoralist, the historical factors of colonisation/de-colonisation, and how modernising sedentary society (with its technological inventions, modern infrastructure, and national requirements of taxation and education) impacts on change in nomadic societies.

In this intriguing book, social psychologist Irwin Altman and anthropologist Joseph Ginat examine husband-wife and wife-wife relationships in contemporary Mormon polygamous families. The authors describe how husbands and wives in plural families cope with their complex lifestyle in various facets of everyday life, including courtship, weddings, honeymoons, adjustments to a new life, living arrangements, and the husband's rotation among wives. Other topics include budget and resource management, psychological attachments to homes, and the social-emotional relationships among family members. This pioneering, comprehensive analysis of life in modern day Mormon polygamous families uses first-hand interviews and observations to describe this unusual family lifestyle. It adds to our understanding of close relationships and complements knowledge on other modern relationship forms, such as single-parent families, blended families, and cohabitating partners. This is important reading for researchers in social psychology, anthropology, and religious studies. Lay readers will also find the subject matter to be fascinating.

The signing of the September 1993 Israel-PLO agreement, one of the twentieth century's most dramatic political events, coincided almost to the day with the twentieth anniversary of the October 1973 war. While the precise timing was coincidental, the relationship between the two events is crucial. The 1973 war ironically marked the beginning of an era in which a long diplomatic effort could finally bridge the passionately intense Arab-Israeli conflict.

"From War to Peace" reveals new first-hand material gleaned through personal involvement at a high political level. It examines the initial warfare, the peace process, and the final breakthrough through the eyes of participants and close observers of these events and reveals the diplomatic and military stratagems they pursued. The contributors explore a number of controversial issues, including whether the 1973 war was avoidable, why peace could not have been concluded sooner, and how the chief parties have changed during this period. The book also looks to the future, explaining Israel and PLO strategies, U.S. and Russian involvement, and the potential for broadening the peace to include additional Arab states.