Current Research Projects:
Israel’s Occupation, Military Violence and Palestinian Suicide Bombings
I am currently writing a book on the history and strategy of Palestinian suicide bombings and their relationship to Israeli military violence. While suicide bombings are often portrayed as individual and random acts of fanaticism or desperation, leading to an excessive focus on the “mind of the suicide bomber,” my research has found that suicide bombings are highly organized and patterned. They are the product of a deliberate strategy by militant groups to both punish Israel for specific acts and to mobilize popular support for their organizations. I trace the origins of this pattern to the first suicide bombing inside Israel in April, 1994 that came exactly 40 days (the standard Muslim mourning period) after the massacre of 29 Palestinians praying in a Hebron mosque by the American-Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein in February 1994. Since that time, my research has shown that Palestinian militant groups have adopted a policy of using Israeli acts of violence, especially assassinations of militant leaders and civilian massacres, as the trigger for launching suicide bombing attacks inside Israel. None of this excuses or justifies murderous attacks on civilians; suicide bombings are clearly war-crimes under international law and have had harmful strategic consequences for the Palestinian national movement. But my research suggests that the pattern of suicide bombings can only be explained in the context of Israel’s violent actions, often war-crimes under international law, which routinely precipitate and provide a rationalization for such attacks. I argue that only a political solution to the conflict and a de-escalation of violence on both sides can limit and undermine the cycle of violence that provides the basis and rationalizations for suicide bombings to take place.
The New Landscape of War in the Middle East: Israel, America and Asymmetrical War
I am also developing a new book project based on a series of articles I have written over the past few years that have sought to investigate the new practices, techniques and strategies of war-fighting in the Middle East. This project traces the emergence of a new paradigm of war-fighting that is being used by both Israel and the United States in the context of their respective foreign military occupations, though for somewhat different ends. This new paradigm combines certain elements developed in the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) paradigm of high-tech network centric warfare, some elements from classical counterinsurgency doctrine, and new techniques of biopower and spatial incarceration. On the other hand, the project examines the evolution of insurgent tactics, techniques and strategies that have developed in conjunction and in response, such as car-bombs, suicide bombings, IEDs and tunneling, as well as network-centric modes of organizing.
Publications
Book Reviews
Review of: Zeev Maoz, Defending the Holy Land: A Critical Analysis of Israel’s Security and Foreign Policy. Journal of Palestine Studies, Jan 2008, Vol. 37, No. 2: 110-111.
Review of: Peter Ezra Weinberger, Co-opting the PLO: A Critical Reconstruction of the Oslo Accords. Journal of Palestine Studies, Apr 2007, Vol. 36, No. 3: 102-104.
Review of Beyond Peace: The Search for Security in the Middle East by Robert Bowker, Middle East Studies Association Bulletin (1998).
Review of After Colonialism: Imperial Histories and Postcolonial Displacements, ed., Gyan Prakash, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, vol. 25, no. 2, Summer.
Review of Riding the Tiger: The Middle East Challenge After the Cold War, Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, vol. 28, No. 2, December 1994.
Publications
“Why suicide bombers are back in Iraq,” Asia Times (on-line), May 7, 2009. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KE07Ak01.html
“Martyrdom’s Strategy: Iraq’s Suicide Bombers Target Obama’s Withdrawal Strategy,” Foreign Policy in Focus, May 5, 2009. http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6100
“Losing Hearts and Minds: Israel’s Futile Way of War,” Seattle Times, January 16, 2009. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008638037_opinb17niva.html
“War of Choice: How Israel Manufactured the Gaza Escalation,” Foreign Policy in Focus, January 7, 2009. http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5776
“Walling Off Iraq: Israel’s Imprint on U.S. Counterinsurgency Doctrine,” Middle East Policy, Volume XV, Fall 2008, Number 3.
“Behind the Surge in Iraqi Women Suicide Bombers,” Foreign Policy in Focus, August 11, 2008. http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5455
“The New Walls of Baghdad: How the U.S. is Reproducing Israel’s Flawed Occupation Strategies in Iraq,” Foreign Policy in Focus, April 21, 2008. http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5162
“Behind the Current Israeli Escalation in Gaza: Questions and Answers,” Dissident Voice, March 7, 2008. http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/behind-the-current-israeli-escalation-in-gaza-questions-and-answers/
“Counterinsurgency American Style: The Symptomatic Case of Brian Baird’s Pro-War Conversion“ Counterpunch, October 17, 2007. http://www.counterpunch.org/niva10172007.html
“Baird’s visit to Iraq must have included trip to ‘Spin City’,” Tacoma News Tribune, October 7, 2007. http://www.thenewstribune.com/471/v-lite/story/151439.html
“Israel’s Apologists Distort the Truth,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 27, 2007. http://www.seattlepi.com/opinion/309199_corrierebut28.html
“A Time-Table for Withdrawing from Iraq: How to Solve a Problem Like Maria’s” Seattle Times, June 15, 2006. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20060615&slug=niva15
“The Hole in the Wall,” Al-Ahram Weekly, August 15, 2004.
“Dangerous Illusions: Why Israel’s Wall Will Fail to Provide Security,” Electronic Intifada, August 6, 2004.
“Israel Ignores the Lessons of History,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 29, 2004.
“Israel’s Assassination Will Only Fuel More Suicide Bombings,” Counterpunch Magazine, March 24, 2004.
“Rachel Corrie Was Killed by Israel’s Illegal Wall,” The Seattle Times, March 16, 2004.
“Israel’s Assassination Policy: Trigger for Latest Suicide Bombings?” Counterpunch Magazine, August 27, 2003.
“A War Without Balance: Rachel Corrie, Nuha Sweidan and Israeli War Crimes,” Counterpunch Magazine and Common Dreams, March 17, 2003.
“Bombings, Provocations and the Cycle of Violence,” Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, Vol 15, No. 1, March 2003.
“A Predictable Cycle of Violence,” Al-Ahram Weekly, 27 Feb. – 5 March 2003, Issue No. 627.
“Sharon’s Fingerprints on Latest Suicide Bombing,” Counterpunch Magazine, January 9, 2003.