Historical analysis from a knowledgeable Arab point of view.

Hicham Ben Abdallah El Alaoui is founder of the Institute for the Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia at Princeton University. He was an international observer at the Palestinian elections of 1996 and 2006. This article is drawn from a paper he gave on 29 January as Regent lecturer at the University of California.

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