Maxwell School News and Commentary

“Israel had no intention of agreeing to the emergence of a viable, contiguous, and independent Palestinian state,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history. “Israel was able to pursue its occupation and settlement policies with the political cover of endless negotiations,” he says.

"One initial impetus for the book was my desire to bring geography’s concepts and insights into better conversation with topics in Middle East area studies," says Timur Hammond, assistant professor of geography and the environment. "Although over a decade has passed since I started research on this topic, expanding the disciplinary connections between geography and Middle East area studies continues to be a core goal."

"Statements are easy, action is more difficult," says Daniel McDowell, associate professor of political science. "For oil-producing states, like Saudi Arabia, these sorts of statements and agitations are also a way to get America's attention. Flirting with the Chinese may make American policymakers focus more attention on the interests of the Gulf states." 

“If they [Saudi Arabia] want to be able to guarantee their population food security, they know that they can’t really do that domestically,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. The Arizonan land was particularly appealing to the kingdom “because you can get more bang for your buck when you buy that farm,” says Koch.

"Progressive forces internationally must call for the arrest and trial of the military forces that have unleashed genocidal violence on the Sudanese peoples since 1989," writes Horace Campbell, professor of political science. "The Resistance Committees’ and the popular forces are calling for solidarity and non-intervention to push the process of transition from militarism to one where the peoples of Sudan can enter into new relations."

“If you can invest the capital to drill a deep well that can get deep into the groundwater supply, then you can really pump as much as you want,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. “This was appealing to the Saudis as well to go [to La Paz County], where they’re not being charged for water they extract because there’s no measuring of it.”

The Iraq War veteran is director of national security for The American Legion and is pursing an executive master’s in international relations degree.

Timur Hammond, assistant professor of geography and the environment, has written “Placing Islam: Geographies of Connection in Twentieth-Century Istanbul” (University of California Press, 2023). 

"Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees" (Oxford University Press, 2021), written by Associate Professor of Political Science Lamis Abdelaaty, received the Distinguished Book Award from the International Studies Association's Ethnicity, Nationalism, & Migration Studies section.

“The U.S. has always been promoting and setting up this entire thing,” says Natalie Koch, professor of geography and the environment. “It’s not like the Americans are passive in this. We have absolutely helped sow the seeds for that Saudi agricultural industry that has come back to us now.”