Arab Unity: Revolution CallingWith promises of a unified state broken, uprisings and revolt swept the Middle East.|Listen to this page using ReadSpeakerShare via FacebookShare via TwitterCommentsPrint
Part two of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity, traces the disappointment felt by many Arab tribes who had fought against the Ottomans and had been hoping for independence from foreign colonialism.
In Unity Betrayed, Al Jazeera examines the rise of Arab nationalism in an age of revolt.
As millions of European soldiers were facing off each other in the doomed trenches of Verdun and the Somme during World War I, a fierce guerrilla war was raging in the dunes of Arabia. Thomas Edward Lawrence, a British army captain and archaeology enthusiast, led a ragtag force of several Arab tribes against the military might of the Ottoman Empire. And won.
Called the "First Great Arab revolt", this victorious uprising against nearly 400 years of Ottoman rule inspired the formation of the Arab National Council, a gathering of once warring tribes.
Lawrence's influence in bringing these tribes together inspired Sherrif Hussein ibn Ali, the governor of the Hejaz region of Arabia, to seek a unified Arab state. But the British and French victors of the war had other plans.
They formulated the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement which carved up the Middle East between themselves.
Betrayal
The Arabs felt betrayed. Promises made to them by various British generals - and Lawrence - failed to materialise.
That feeling of betrayal seeped into the collective Arab consciousness and as Fawwaz Traboulsi, a political analyst, explains, 'Arabism' emerged as a result of that betrayal by the West.
"[Arabs] had to put their demands concerning independence and unity in a language which met the dominant nationalism in Europe. So, Arab Nationalism is a vehicle of Arab demands for independence and unity addressed to Europe."
By 1919, when Egyptians clashed with the British troops in Cairo and Alexandria, the die had been cast.
The persecution and exile of the Egyptian nationalist Saad Zaghlul - and his return to power - signalled a new paradigm in Arab-West relations. The age of revolution had begun.
Then there were those who sought some form of regional unity, such as a Greater Syria or the North African union, either permanently or as a step toward a broader Arab unity.
Nationalism
During the 1920s and 1930s, three major nationalist movements took form. Pan-Arabism dismissed existing sovereign states as artificial colonial creations while local nationalism insisted on preserving the independence and sovereignty of individual Arab countries.
In 1919, Zaghlul's famous cry "Egypt for the Egyptians" set the ball rolling for regional nationalism. Zaghlul believed that Egypt and the Nile Valley, including the Sudan, were one entity.
In Lebanon, Antoun Saadeh carried the mantle of regional nationalism, proposing the creation of a Greater Syria and establishing the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) with this aim.
Rejecting the notion, dominant in pan-Arabism, that language was a defining characteristic of a nation, Saadeh argued that geography, history and culture made Greater Syria a naturally unified bloc.
'Awakening Arab consciousness'
Baathism took off after 1948, when a lack of Arab unity was held responsible for the loss of Palestine and the defeat of Arab forces at the hands of the new state of Israel.
During the later half of the 20th century the party played a critical role across the region but the nationalist ideals of its founders were rarely reflected in their implementation.
Arab Unity: Rising nationalism
Secularism and Islamism emerged as political movements during the 1920s and 30s.
|
Listen to this page using ReadSpeaker
Share via Facebook
Share via Twitter
Comments
Print
The Arabs sought ways to free themselves of foreign rule and create a united nation
In the wake of World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, new political ideologies started to take root across the Arab World.
Many of the competing parties that emerged during this time shared one common feature, secularism.
The third instalment - Trials and Tribulations - of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity, examines the rise of a secular Arab nationalism after the Sykes-Picot agreement divided the region.
Into this was added an urge by some to return to the fundamentals of political Islam. With the creation of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Middle East was now moving in different directions as Arabism and Islamism diverged.
During the 1920s and 1930s, three major nationalist movements took form.
Pan-Arabism dismissed existing sovereign states as artificial colonial creations while local nationalism insisted on preserving the independence and sovereignty of individual Arab countries.
Then there were those who sought some form of regional unity, such as a Greater Syria or the North African union, either permanently or as a step toward a broader Arab unity.
In 1919, Saad Zaghlul's famous cry "Egypt for the Egyptians" introduced the concept of regional nationalism. Zaghlul believed that Egypt and the Nile Valley, including the Sudan, were one entity.
In Lebanon, Antoun Saadeh carried the mantle of regional nationalism, proposing the creation of a Greater Syria and establishing the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) with this aim.
Rejecting the notion, dominant in pan-Arabism, that language was a defining characteristic of a nation, Saadeh argued that geography, history and culture made Greater Syria a naturally unified bloc.
'Awakening Arab consciousness'
Around the same time a group of Syrian intellectuals proposed that differences among Arabs were, in fact, "accidental and unimportant" and that they would all "disappear with the awakening of Arab consciousness".Like Saadeh, Michel Afleq and Salah Bitar, the founders of the Baath party, wanted to rid the Middle East of foreign domination but, in contrast to Saadeh's regional nationalism, their party promoted the idea of the "common destiny" of all Arabs.
Baathism took off after 1948, when a lack of Arab unity was held responsible for the loss of Palestine and the defeat of Arab forces at the hands of the new state of Israel.
During the latter half of the 20th century the party played a critical role across the region but the nationalist ideals of its founders were rarely reflected in their implementation.
Islam is the key
But a school teacher in Egypt believed there was another path to unifying the region. Hassan Al-Banna turned to the Quran, Islam's holy book, and the sunnah - teachings of the Prophet Muhammad - for inspiration and guidance to chart the course of unification.
He urged that the Arabs take up the banner of Islam, rather than embrace secularism, to rid the region of foreign occupation.
Al-Banna said the Quran and sunnah "will lead the Islamic states, reunite the scattered Muslims, restore their glory, and retrieve for them their lost lands and stolen homelands."
1948: A Cause for Unity?The events of 1948 became a rallying call for Arab unity.|Listen to this page using ReadSpeakerShare via FacebookShare via TwitterCommentsPrint
Was the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 a cause for Arab unity? [AFP]More than any other issue the Palestinian-Israeli conflict appears to unite Arab public opinion and serve as a rallying call for Arab unity.The fourth episode of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity, looks at the roots of that conflict and asks if the Palestinian question is A Cause for Unity?
In November 1947, the UN voted to divide Palestine in two. While the British accepted the resolution and made plans to withdraw, the Arabs and Palestinians rejected it.
On May 14, 1948, the day before the British withdrawal, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, declared the creation of the State of Israel on the land granted by the Partition Plan.
The next day, as the last British troops were leaving, war broke out between Palestinians and the Haganah.
Seven Arab armies entered the war.
Hani Abdel Hadi, from the Palestinian Strategic Studies Institute, says: "You could see Arab leaders interest in having a say in Palestine, since Palestine is the core of not the Arab-Palestinian conflict or Arab-Israeli conflict, but is the consciousness of the Arab world. He who governs Jerusalem, he who has a say in Palestine will have the upper hand in the Arab World."
The Nakba
After nine months of fighting the Arab armies, including the forces of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Transjordan, were defeated and the Israelis captured 75 per cent of Palestine, giving it an area one-third greater than the area assigned to them under the UN partition plan.The remainder of Palestine, namely the West Bank, was controlled by Jordanian forces, while the Gaza Strip was left under Egyptian control.
This period is known by the Arabs as the Nakba, or catastrophe.
Abu Talab, a Palestinian refugee, says: "The Arab army didn't help. When the Jews attacked, they ran for their lives before the locals had a chance to flee. They abandoned the country and its helpless population with no means of defence."
Over 750,000 Palestinian refugees fled to neighbouring Arab countries where they were housed in camps. The camps were crowded and unsanitary and the fate of the refugees lay in the hands of their hosts.
The official policy of most Arab states was that the Palestinian refugees should be kept in a permanent state of readiness, prepared to return to Palestine at any moment.
In December 1948, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 194 which recognised the right of refugees to return to their homes.
Symbolic unity
The occupation of Palestine and the plight of the refugees caused new awareness amongst ordinary Arabs. Now, more than ever before - united by tragedy - they began to think in collective terms.Fawwaz Traboulsi, a political analyst, says: "The tragedy of Palestine to begin with, became a rallying point for Arabs, in a sense became one form of Arab unity, you unite around Palestine.
"Second, you can say the opposite. Palestine became a supplement or a displacement of a wish or a desire, which is not implemented, which is the desire for Arab unity. So the Arabs cannot be united effectively but they can be united symbolically around Palestine."
The unanimity on the Arab street did not translate into concerted action. Preoccupied with managing the transition from colonial domination to independence, most Arab leaders were concerned with matters closer to home.
One future Arab leader, however, gained his first battle experience in the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, and the defeat had a profound influence on him. Gamel Abdel Nasser became determined to solve the Palestinian problem and make Arab unity work.
Arab Unity: Nasser's RevolutionIn 1952, an Egyptian army officer stepped forward to lead the drive for Arab unity.|Listen to this page using ReadSpeakerShare via FacebookShare via TwitterCommentsPrint
Between 1952 and 1970 there was one man at the heart of the drive for Arab unityThe years between 1952 and 1970 saw the drive for Arab unity at its strongest. It was an age of solidarity and the pursuit of unity through mass political movements. And it was an era dominated by a leader the likes of whom the Arabs had not seen in a long time.Part five of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity, examines the achievements of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the second president of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and asks if one person could really close the gap between the dream and reality of Arab unity.
Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is the Arab World's largest city. Home to over 18 million people, it is often called the heart of the Arab World.
It is also considered by many to be the cradle of modern Arab nationalism for it was in Cairo that the idea of a unified Arab nation found its greatest expression.
Bloodless coup
At the end of World War Two, colonialism still dominated large parts of the Arab World. Egypt was a monarchy under British rule and the base of Britain's presence in the Middle East.
Egyptian discontent at still being a colony was rising and Egyptians felt angry and humiliated after their poorly-armed military lost the 1948 war against Israel.
On July 23, 1952, a group of Egyptian army officers, calling themselves the Free Officers Movement, took power in a bloodless coup.At the forefront of the uprising was a charismatic young army officer called Gamal Abdel Nasser.
This was the first military coup to happen in the Arab World and it set a precedent for many to follow.
After assuming power, Nasser and the Free Officers formed the Revolutionary Command Council, which constituted the real power in Egypt. General Muhammad Naguib became Egypt's first president.
However, it soon became clear that the revolution was driven by the charisma of Nasser, and his strong ideological notions. Conflict with Naguib over strategies soon resulted in his removal, and in October, 1954 Nasser was appointed president of Egypt. He was the first native Egyptian to rule Egypt in over 2500 years.
Dia' El Din Mohammad Daoud, the secretary-general of the Nasserite movement, says: "Nasser was an ordinary man of the people, not a man of the upper classes, he came from the working classes, the father was a simple employee, his allegiance was always to the people, that's where he came from, that was his image."
Vision
Nasser set about changing Egypt. He had his own vision for both a new nation and the Arab World. Politically, he transformed Egypt into a republic, introducing centralised parliamentary rule, but he is better known for his domestic social programmes.
Nasser and Naguib became bitter enemies after the coup Nasser's aim was to improve the conditions of the peasant majority - establishing land reforms, free educational programmes for boys and girls and developing the country's medical infrastructure.Egypt was captivated, and the Arab World watched closely as Nasser expanded on his brand of socialism. He believed that if the people had real equality they would feel more united and act as one entity.
Saadedine Ibrahim, an Egyptian political activist, says: "One of the very early phrases that Nasser coined was addressing the common man: 'Raise your head fellow brother, the end of colonialism has come.' And that is the kind of language, message that echoed very deeply with the average man, because it was a simple language and people who were downtrodden, people who were beaten, mistreated, felt worthless, began to gain that kind of confidence, spirit that they didn't have before."
Never before had an Arab leader achieved such popularity outside his own capital.
Rarely had the population of an underdeveloped Arab World felt that they could participate in the future of their own nations.
Winning Arab hearts
Daoud says: "For the first time an Egyptian leader from the people and not from the upper classes, was able to win the hearts of the Arab people, there was now contact with various Arab forces and dialogue, there was a common language, one with which all Arabs could identify, this paved the way for a common Arab strategy."
Nasser's modern take on nationalism inspired Arabs, in a way which the Nahda, the Arab renaissance of the 19th century, had not. Nasserism had taken Arabism a step further. He believed Arabs would be stronger if united, that they shared a common struggle against colonial powers and that the liberation of Palestine should be an Arab duty.
Nasser's vision extended far beyond Egypt. He believed that the lessons of the revolution should be applied in other Arab countries.
His charisma and influence were so great that he inspired Arabs elsewhere to dream of a unified Arab nation. His defiant attitude towards Egypt's former colonial masters made him even more popular. Nasserism swept the region.
Suez Canal crisis
One of Nasser's main concerns was foreign occupation of Arab lands and it was events surrounding this issue which lead to a dramatic turn towards Arab unity.
As early as 1954, he supported Algeria's struggle for independence from the French, by providing arms and military training to Algeria's independence movement. But liberating his own nation from occupation proved to be one of the milestones of his career.
The British, who had originally agreed to remove their troops from the Suez Canal by 1954, still occupied it.
At the same time Egypt desperately needed electricity and the Americans had promised Nasser over $200m to build a hydroelectric power station in Aswan - known as the High Dam. But the US was a strong ally of Israel who - by 1954 - occupied large parts of Palestine.
Nasser's opposition to Israel and what he saw as US and European colonialism as well as his growing relationship with the communist block angered Western powers. The US refused to finance the dam.
In response Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal on July 26, 1956 and turned to the Soviets for financial aid.
The British and French no longer controlled this vital seaway. The old colonial powers were humiliated.
Ibrahim says: "It was fantastic, we went down to the streets, it was late at night, it was summer... streets were full of demonstrations, joy, people cheering... it was like a festival, it was like a feast, a moment of victory again."
What followed was military conflict between Egypt and a coalition of French, British and Israeli forces.
The operation to take the canal was a military success but a political disaster for the coalition - the US fearing Soviet intervention imposed an end to the crisis but allowed Israel to occupy the Sinai.
Arab hero
Despite the military defeat, Nasser had forced the West into submission. The Arab World had a new hero.
The Arab World now felt it could rally behind a strong leader. The effects of his revolution in Egypt soon spread to other Arab nations.
In 1958, the Iraqi Free Officers' Movement, modelled around Nasser's revolution, toppled the monarchy.
In Lebanon, events in 1958 led to a minor civil war between the existing regime and more revolutionary currents, influenced by Nasser's ideas. The US was asked to intervene. US forces landed on Beirut's shores in support of the local government but in the end it was Nasser who brokered a political agreement among the warring factions.
But the most notable spread of Nasserism in 1958 came in Syria.
A power struggle erupted within the military between Baathist and Nasserist currents. Fearing their country might be divided and that this could derail the drive towards Arab unity, a group of Syrian army officers asked Nasser to join Egypt with Syria.
Nasser was reluctant as the two countries had different political systems and experiences; he preferred a federation of two states. But with increasing pressure to find a rapid solution to Syria's situation, Nasser finally agreed, stressing that the two nations would be ruled on his terms.
The United Arab Republic (UAR) was born.
Problems persist
Nasser was a charismatic leader who came
from humble beginnings
At the peak of his rule in the late 1950s, Nasser was the most important leader in the Arab World. He had succeeded in uniting at least one Arab nation with another, and ruled over both.
He had outmanoeuvred the old colonial powers and hastened their decline, restoring to the Arabs long lost feelings of pride, self confidence and above all, he managed to set the stage for the creation of an aspirational dream - a unified Arab World.
The dream of Arab unity had taken a huge leap.
But there were problems in the new Middle East. Jewish peoples had either been forced or persuaded to leave their ancestral homes in Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco and Syria and emigrate to Israel.
The newly formed UAR was begin to tear apart under the dissent borne of suspicions and rivalries between the Egyptians and Syrians.
The Arab World had a hero, but it had still not been able to win back Palestine. And while Nasser had won many political battles, he had yet to score a battlefield victory against the Israelis who had delivered a punishing defeat to the Arabs in 1948.
Nearly 20 years later, the Arabs new-found sense of pride would come face to face with the harsh realities of yet another defeat.
Peace after the Yom Kippur War?In the 1970s, the Arabs and Israelis fought wars but Egypt soon sued for peace.|Listen to this page using ReadSpeakerShare via FacebookShare via TwitterCommentsPrint
The struggle to keep Palestine, the homeland of the Palestinian Arab people, an inseparable part of the greater Arab Nation is one of the main issues at the heart of the Question of Arab Unity. The two states - Arab and Jewish - as envisioned in the 1947 UN partition plan never came into fruition as Arabs and Israelis fought wars, gained and lost land and further plunged the region into conflict.
Over half of the Palestinian population fled the violence or were expelled by Jewish settlers. Almost two decades after the war of 1948, the Palestinians found themselves still living in camps. New solutions were needed, and the Palestinians began to think about pro-actively tackling their problems. Could Arab Unity be forged through war against a common enemy?
As the Palestinian Right of Return became an integral rallying call at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the defeated powers of Egypt and Syria began to plan a military strategy to retake territory lost in the 1967 war.
Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian president who was humiliated in June 1967, began a campaign to re-equip, retrain, and revitalise the Egyptian Army in hopes of eventually recpaturing the Sinai peninsula.
Syria also began to retrain its military forces with an eye on securing the lost Golan Heights.
Part seven of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity, looks at the aftermath of the 1967 defeat and the Arab 'victories' of 1973, which paved the way for an Egyptian peace treaty with Israel and subsequent peace negotiations in the 1990s.
Yom Kippur War
Part two of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity, traces the disappointment felt by many Arab tribes who had fought against the Ottomans and had been hoping for independence from foreign colonialism.
In Unity Betrayed, Al Jazeera examines the rise of Arab nationalism in an age of revolt.
As millions of European soldiers were facing off each other in the doomed trenches of Verdun and the Somme during World War I, a fierce guerrilla war was raging in the dunes of Arabia. Thomas Edward Lawrence, a British army captain and archaeology enthusiast, led a ragtag force of several Arab tribes against the military might of the Ottoman Empire. And won.
Called the "First Great Arab revolt", this victorious uprising against nearly 400 years of Ottoman rule inspired the formation of the Arab National Council, a gathering of once warring tribes.
Lawrence's influence in bringing these tribes together inspired Sherrif Hussein ibn Ali, the governor of the Hejaz region of Arabia, to seek a unified Arab state. But the British and French victors of the war had other plans.
They formulated the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement which carved up the Middle East between themselves.
Betrayal
The Arabs felt betrayed. Promises made to them by various British generals - and Lawrence - failed to materialise.
That feeling of betrayal seeped into the collective Arab consciousness and as Fawwaz Traboulsi, a political analyst, explains, 'Arabism' emerged as a result of that betrayal by the West.
"[Arabs] had to put their demands concerning independence and unity in a language which met the dominant nationalism in Europe. So, Arab Nationalism is a vehicle of Arab demands for independence and unity addressed to Europe."
By 1919, when Egyptians clashed with the British troops in Cairo and Alexandria, the die had been cast.
The persecution and exile of the Egyptian nationalist Saad Zaghlul - and his return to power - signalled a new paradigm in Arab-West relations. The age of revolution had begun.
Then there were those who sought some form of regional unity, such as a Greater Syria or the North African union, either permanently or as a step toward a broader Arab unity.
Nationalism
During the 1920s and 1930s, three major nationalist movements took form. Pan-Arabism dismissed existing sovereign states as artificial colonial creations while local nationalism insisted on preserving the independence and sovereignty of individual Arab countries.
In 1919, Zaghlul's famous cry "Egypt for the Egyptians" set the ball rolling for regional nationalism. Zaghlul believed that Egypt and the Nile Valley, including the Sudan, were one entity.
In Lebanon, Antoun Saadeh carried the mantle of regional nationalism, proposing the creation of a Greater Syria and establishing the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) with this aim.
Rejecting the notion, dominant in pan-Arabism, that language was a defining characteristic of a nation, Saadeh argued that geography, history and culture made Greater Syria a naturally unified bloc.
'Awakening Arab consciousness'
Baathism took off after 1948, when a lack of Arab unity was held responsible for the loss of Palestine and the defeat of Arab forces at the hands of the new state of Israel.
During the later half of the 20th century the party played a critical role across the region but the nationalist ideals of its founders were rarely reflected in their implementation.
Arab Unity: Rising nationalism
Secularism and Islamism emerged as political movements during the 1920s and 30s.
|
Listen to this page using ReadSpeaker
Share via Facebook
Share via Twitter
Comments
The Arabs sought ways to free themselves of foreign rule and create a united nation
In the wake of World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, new political ideologies started to take root across the Arab World.
Many of the competing parties that emerged during this time shared one common feature, secularism.
The third instalment - Trials and Tribulations - of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity, examines the rise of a secular Arab nationalism after the Sykes-Picot agreement divided the region.
Into this was added an urge by some to return to the fundamentals of political Islam. With the creation of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Middle East was now moving in different directions as Arabism and Islamism diverged.
During the 1920s and 1930s, three major nationalist movements took form.
Pan-Arabism dismissed existing sovereign states as artificial colonial creations while local nationalism insisted on preserving the independence and sovereignty of individual Arab countries.
Then there were those who sought some form of regional unity, such as a Greater Syria or the North African union, either permanently or as a step toward a broader Arab unity.
In 1919, Saad Zaghlul's famous cry "Egypt for the Egyptians" introduced the concept of regional nationalism. Zaghlul believed that Egypt and the Nile Valley, including the Sudan, were one entity.
In Lebanon, Antoun Saadeh carried the mantle of regional nationalism, proposing the creation of a Greater Syria and establishing the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) with this aim.
Rejecting the notion, dominant in pan-Arabism, that language was a defining characteristic of a nation, Saadeh argued that geography, history and culture made Greater Syria a naturally unified bloc.
'Awakening Arab consciousness'
Around the same time a group of Syrian intellectuals proposed that differences among Arabs were, in fact, "accidental and unimportant" and that they would all "disappear with the awakening of Arab consciousness".Like Saadeh, Michel Afleq and Salah Bitar, the founders of the Baath party, wanted to rid the Middle East of foreign domination but, in contrast to Saadeh's regional nationalism, their party promoted the idea of the "common destiny" of all Arabs.
Baathism took off after 1948, when a lack of Arab unity was held responsible for the loss of Palestine and the defeat of Arab forces at the hands of the new state of Israel.
During the latter half of the 20th century the party played a critical role across the region but the nationalist ideals of its founders were rarely reflected in their implementation.
Islam is the key
But a school teacher in Egypt believed there was another path to unifying the region. Hassan Al-Banna turned to the Quran, Islam's holy book, and the sunnah - teachings of the Prophet Muhammad - for inspiration and guidance to chart the course of unification.
He urged that the Arabs take up the banner of Islam, rather than embrace secularism, to rid the region of foreign occupation.
Al-Banna said the Quran and sunnah "will lead the Islamic states, reunite the scattered Muslims, restore their glory, and retrieve for them their lost lands and stolen homelands."
1948: A Cause for Unity?The events of 1948 became a rallying call for Arab unity.|Listen to this page using ReadSpeakerShare via FacebookShare via TwitterCommentsPrint
Was the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 a cause for Arab unity? [AFP]More than any other issue the Palestinian-Israeli conflict appears to unite Arab public opinion and serve as a rallying call for Arab unity.The fourth episode of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity, looks at the roots of that conflict and asks if the Palestinian question is A Cause for Unity?
In November 1947, the UN voted to divide Palestine in two. While the British accepted the resolution and made plans to withdraw, the Arabs and Palestinians rejected it.
On May 14, 1948, the day before the British withdrawal, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, declared the creation of the State of Israel on the land granted by the Partition Plan.
The next day, as the last British troops were leaving, war broke out between Palestinians and the Haganah.
Seven Arab armies entered the war.
Hani Abdel Hadi, from the Palestinian Strategic Studies Institute, says: "You could see Arab leaders interest in having a say in Palestine, since Palestine is the core of not the Arab-Palestinian conflict or Arab-Israeli conflict, but is the consciousness of the Arab world. He who governs Jerusalem, he who has a say in Palestine will have the upper hand in the Arab World."
The Nakba
After nine months of fighting the Arab armies, including the forces of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Transjordan, were defeated and the Israelis captured 75 per cent of Palestine, giving it an area one-third greater than the area assigned to them under the UN partition plan.The remainder of Palestine, namely the West Bank, was controlled by Jordanian forces, while the Gaza Strip was left under Egyptian control.
This period is known by the Arabs as the Nakba, or catastrophe.
Abu Talab, a Palestinian refugee, says: "The Arab army didn't help. When the Jews attacked, they ran for their lives before the locals had a chance to flee. They abandoned the country and its helpless population with no means of defence."
Over 750,000 Palestinian refugees fled to neighbouring Arab countries where they were housed in camps. The camps were crowded and unsanitary and the fate of the refugees lay in the hands of their hosts.
The official policy of most Arab states was that the Palestinian refugees should be kept in a permanent state of readiness, prepared to return to Palestine at any moment.
In December 1948, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 194 which recognised the right of refugees to return to their homes.
Symbolic unity
The occupation of Palestine and the plight of the refugees caused new awareness amongst ordinary Arabs. Now, more than ever before - united by tragedy - they began to think in collective terms.Fawwaz Traboulsi, a political analyst, says: "The tragedy of Palestine to begin with, became a rallying point for Arabs, in a sense became one form of Arab unity, you unite around Palestine.
"Second, you can say the opposite. Palestine became a supplement or a displacement of a wish or a desire, which is not implemented, which is the desire for Arab unity. So the Arabs cannot be united effectively but they can be united symbolically around Palestine."
The unanimity on the Arab street did not translate into concerted action. Preoccupied with managing the transition from colonial domination to independence, most Arab leaders were concerned with matters closer to home.
One future Arab leader, however, gained his first battle experience in the Arab-Israeli war in 1948, and the defeat had a profound influence on him. Gamel Abdel Nasser became determined to solve the Palestinian problem and make Arab unity work.
Arab Unity: Nasser's RevolutionIn 1952, an Egyptian army officer stepped forward to lead the drive for Arab unity.|Listen to this page using ReadSpeakerShare via FacebookShare via TwitterCommentsPrint
Between 1952 and 1970 there was one man at the heart of the drive for Arab unityThe years between 1952 and 1970 saw the drive for Arab unity at its strongest. It was an age of solidarity and the pursuit of unity through mass political movements. And it was an era dominated by a leader the likes of whom the Arabs had not seen in a long time.Part five of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity, examines the achievements of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the second president of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and asks if one person could really close the gap between the dream and reality of Arab unity.
Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is the Arab World's largest city. Home to over 18 million people, it is often called the heart of the Arab World.
It is also considered by many to be the cradle of modern Arab nationalism for it was in Cairo that the idea of a unified Arab nation found its greatest expression.
Bloodless coup
At the end of World War Two, colonialism still dominated large parts of the Arab World. Egypt was a monarchy under British rule and the base of Britain's presence in the Middle East.
Egyptian discontent at still being a colony was rising and Egyptians felt angry and humiliated after their poorly-armed military lost the 1948 war against Israel.
On July 23, 1952, a group of Egyptian army officers, calling themselves the Free Officers Movement, took power in a bloodless coup.At the forefront of the uprising was a charismatic young army officer called Gamal Abdel Nasser.
This was the first military coup to happen in the Arab World and it set a precedent for many to follow.
After assuming power, Nasser and the Free Officers formed the Revolutionary Command Council, which constituted the real power in Egypt. General Muhammad Naguib became Egypt's first president.
However, it soon became clear that the revolution was driven by the charisma of Nasser, and his strong ideological notions. Conflict with Naguib over strategies soon resulted in his removal, and in October, 1954 Nasser was appointed president of Egypt. He was the first native Egyptian to rule Egypt in over 2500 years.
Dia' El Din Mohammad Daoud, the secretary-general of the Nasserite movement, says: "Nasser was an ordinary man of the people, not a man of the upper classes, he came from the working classes, the father was a simple employee, his allegiance was always to the people, that's where he came from, that was his image."
Vision
Nasser set about changing Egypt. He had his own vision for both a new nation and the Arab World. Politically, he transformed Egypt into a republic, introducing centralised parliamentary rule, but he is better known for his domestic social programmes.
Nasser and Naguib became bitter enemies after the coup Nasser's aim was to improve the conditions of the peasant majority - establishing land reforms, free educational programmes for boys and girls and developing the country's medical infrastructure.Egypt was captivated, and the Arab World watched closely as Nasser expanded on his brand of socialism. He believed that if the people had real equality they would feel more united and act as one entity.
Saadedine Ibrahim, an Egyptian political activist, says: "One of the very early phrases that Nasser coined was addressing the common man: 'Raise your head fellow brother, the end of colonialism has come.' And that is the kind of language, message that echoed very deeply with the average man, because it was a simple language and people who were downtrodden, people who were beaten, mistreated, felt worthless, began to gain that kind of confidence, spirit that they didn't have before."
Never before had an Arab leader achieved such popularity outside his own capital.
Rarely had the population of an underdeveloped Arab World felt that they could participate in the future of their own nations.
Winning Arab hearts
Daoud says: "For the first time an Egyptian leader from the people and not from the upper classes, was able to win the hearts of the Arab people, there was now contact with various Arab forces and dialogue, there was a common language, one with which all Arabs could identify, this paved the way for a common Arab strategy."
Nasser's modern take on nationalism inspired Arabs, in a way which the Nahda, the Arab renaissance of the 19th century, had not. Nasserism had taken Arabism a step further. He believed Arabs would be stronger if united, that they shared a common struggle against colonial powers and that the liberation of Palestine should be an Arab duty.
Nasser's vision extended far beyond Egypt. He believed that the lessons of the revolution should be applied in other Arab countries.
His charisma and influence were so great that he inspired Arabs elsewhere to dream of a unified Arab nation. His defiant attitude towards Egypt's former colonial masters made him even more popular. Nasserism swept the region.
Suez Canal crisis
One of Nasser's main concerns was foreign occupation of Arab lands and it was events surrounding this issue which lead to a dramatic turn towards Arab unity.
As early as 1954, he supported Algeria's struggle for independence from the French, by providing arms and military training to Algeria's independence movement. But liberating his own nation from occupation proved to be one of the milestones of his career.
The British, who had originally agreed to remove their troops from the Suez Canal by 1954, still occupied it.
At the same time Egypt desperately needed electricity and the Americans had promised Nasser over $200m to build a hydroelectric power station in Aswan - known as the High Dam. But the US was a strong ally of Israel who - by 1954 - occupied large parts of Palestine.
Nasser's opposition to Israel and what he saw as US and European colonialism as well as his growing relationship with the communist block angered Western powers. The US refused to finance the dam.
In response Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal on July 26, 1956 and turned to the Soviets for financial aid.
The British and French no longer controlled this vital seaway. The old colonial powers were humiliated.
Ibrahim says: "It was fantastic, we went down to the streets, it was late at night, it was summer... streets were full of demonstrations, joy, people cheering... it was like a festival, it was like a feast, a moment of victory again."
What followed was military conflict between Egypt and a coalition of French, British and Israeli forces.
The operation to take the canal was a military success but a political disaster for the coalition - the US fearing Soviet intervention imposed an end to the crisis but allowed Israel to occupy the Sinai.
Arab hero
Despite the military defeat, Nasser had forced the West into submission. The Arab World had a new hero.
The Arab World now felt it could rally behind a strong leader. The effects of his revolution in Egypt soon spread to other Arab nations.
In 1958, the Iraqi Free Officers' Movement, modelled around Nasser's revolution, toppled the monarchy.
In Lebanon, events in 1958 led to a minor civil war between the existing regime and more revolutionary currents, influenced by Nasser's ideas. The US was asked to intervene. US forces landed on Beirut's shores in support of the local government but in the end it was Nasser who brokered a political agreement among the warring factions.
But the most notable spread of Nasserism in 1958 came in Syria.
A power struggle erupted within the military between Baathist and Nasserist currents. Fearing their country might be divided and that this could derail the drive towards Arab unity, a group of Syrian army officers asked Nasser to join Egypt with Syria.
Nasser was reluctant as the two countries had different political systems and experiences; he preferred a federation of two states. But with increasing pressure to find a rapid solution to Syria's situation, Nasser finally agreed, stressing that the two nations would be ruled on his terms.
The United Arab Republic (UAR) was born.
Problems persist
Nasser was a charismatic leader who came
from humble beginnings
At the peak of his rule in the late 1950s, Nasser was the most important leader in the Arab World. He had succeeded in uniting at least one Arab nation with another, and ruled over both.
He had outmanoeuvred the old colonial powers and hastened their decline, restoring to the Arabs long lost feelings of pride, self confidence and above all, he managed to set the stage for the creation of an aspirational dream - a unified Arab World.
The dream of Arab unity had taken a huge leap.
But there were problems in the new Middle East. Jewish peoples had either been forced or persuaded to leave their ancestral homes in Iraq, Yemen, Egypt, Morocco and Syria and emigrate to Israel.
The newly formed UAR was begin to tear apart under the dissent borne of suspicions and rivalries between the Egyptians and Syrians.
The Arab World had a hero, but it had still not been able to win back Palestine. And while Nasser had won many political battles, he had yet to score a battlefield victory against the Israelis who had delivered a punishing defeat to the Arabs in 1948.
Nearly 20 years later, the Arabs new-found sense of pride would come face to face with the harsh realities of yet another defeat.
Peace after the Yom Kippur War?In the 1970s, the Arabs and Israelis fought wars but Egypt soon sued for peace.|Listen to this page using ReadSpeakerShare via FacebookShare via TwitterCommentsPrint
The struggle to keep Palestine, the homeland of the Palestinian Arab people, an inseparable part of the greater Arab Nation is one of the main issues at the heart of the Question of Arab Unity. The two states - Arab and Jewish - as envisioned in the 1947 UN partition plan never came into fruition as Arabs and Israelis fought wars, gained and lost land and further plunged the region into conflict.
Over half of the Palestinian population fled the violence or were expelled by Jewish settlers. Almost two decades after the war of 1948, the Palestinians found themselves still living in camps. New solutions were needed, and the Palestinians began to think about pro-actively tackling their problems. Could Arab Unity be forged through war against a common enemy?
As the Palestinian Right of Return became an integral rallying call at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the defeated powers of Egypt and Syria began to plan a military strategy to retake territory lost in the 1967 war.
Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian president who was humiliated in June 1967, began a campaign to re-equip, retrain, and revitalise the Egyptian Army in hopes of eventually recpaturing the Sinai peninsula.
Syria also began to retrain its military forces with an eye on securing the lost Golan Heights.
Part seven of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity, looks at the aftermath of the 1967 defeat and the Arab 'victories' of 1973, which paved the way for an Egyptian peace treaty with Israel and subsequent peace negotiations in the 1990s.
Yom Kippur War
On October 6, 1973, as Jews celebrated Yom Kippur, Arab forces - mostly comprising of Egyptian and Syrian troops - launched a surprise attack against Israeli forces.
Crossing the Suez, the Egyptians breached the Bar-Lev defence perimeter, which Israeli tacticians had believed to be impregnable.
Initially, the Arabs made remarkable gains on the battlefield.
The Iraqi contingent - which consisted of 30,000 troops and 550 tanks - that was sent to assist the Syrians caught the Israelis completely by surprise, pushing back their counterattack forces.
But within one week, Israel turned the tide, forcing Egypt and Syria to the verge of another massive defeat.
International pressures and Cold War diplomacy between the US and the Soviet Union brought the war to an end on October 26.
Though Egypt, Syria and Iraq suffered losses at the end of the war, the initial gains proved that the Arabs could win major battlefield engagements.
These 'victories' provided the Arabs with psychological momentum, overturning the humiliations stemming from the 1967 defeat, and paving the way for diplomacy.
Camp David
On November 19, 1977, Anwar Sadat, the Egyptian president, became the first leader to visit Tel Aviv and address the Israeli Knesset.
He called for a full implementation of UN resolutions 242 and 338, which were considered the cornerstones of any Arab-Israeli peace treaty.
By the time Egypt and Israel formally signed a peace treaty and opened diplomatic relations at Camp David in 1978, the Arab World had become fragmented.
Suspicions that Sadat had betrayed the Egyptians during the 1973 War came to the forefront as Damascus and Baghdad accused Cairo of prioritizing its own interests while abandoning the rest of the Arab World.
In 1979, the Arab League expelled Egypt. In 1982, Israel invaded and occupied Lebanon as Iraq and Iran were engaged in a bloody border war.
In 1989, the Arab League reinstated Egypt in the hopes of unifying the Arab World.
But a year later, another conflict, this time between two sovereign Arab states, would further split the Arab World.
Nasser's 1967 Disillusion
In six days, Israel gained battlefield superiority and smashed the myth of Arabism.
 |
| Israeli troops guard captured Egyptian troops and Palestinians at the start of the Six-Day War on June 5, 1967 in Rafah, Gaza Strip. [GALLO/GETTY] |
By the late 1950s, Egypt's president Gamal Abdel Nasser was the Arab world's most powerful and influential leader. With his own brand of socialist ideology and political victories he impressed and inspired the Arabs, giving a new meaning to Arab nationalism.
In the meantime, Nasser was also coming under increasing pressure to confront Israel. Arab leaders began doubting his sincerity in defending Palestine, the cause he claimed to support.
Counting heavily on Arab support, Nasser's stated his intention to attack Israel, although militarily stretched to breaking point with a large part of Egypt's army fighting in Yemen. The Arab Defence Pact was put to the test in 1967, in what became known as the Six-Day War.
In a pre-emptive strike on June 5, Israel destroyed most of Egypt's air force on the ground.
Arabs refer to this as the Naksa – the Defeat. The Arab Defence Pact failed, and after six days of fierce fighting, Israel had seized control of Jordan's West Bank, Syria's Golan Heights and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Nasser was humiliated.
The military defeat of 1967 showed lack of coordination among Arab states, Arab land was lost, the common enemy was victorious, it served a big blow to Arab self confidence.
Part six of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity,look at what is left of Nasserism and discuss the implications of the defeat of 1967 which worked its way deep into the collective Arab psyche.
Divided Arab World
It has now been 41 years since the war that changed the shape of the Middle East and the region is as divided as ever.
A swift victory for Israel gave rise to the belief that the young Jewish state could not be destroyed by its powerful neighbours.
But, for Arab nations, the shock and scale of the sudden defeat came as a huge blow.
The Sinai was later returned to Egypt.
However the West Bank, home to 2.4 million Palestinians, and the Golan Heights, a key source of water and fertile land, remain under occupation.
Today, despite the military victory, many uncertainties remain.
The unresolved fate of millions of Palestinians, the ongoing violence in Gaza, the recent war in Lebanon with Hezbollah and continuing rocket attacks on Israeli territory have shown all too sharply how many problems from the 1967 war remain unresolved.
More than forty years later, a lasting peace in the region remains as far out of reach as ever.
Arab Unity: The end?
As their governments argue, Arabs look to non-political ways to bridge differences.
| Infighting, political disputes and alliances with foreign powers have led to a very visible disunity at the Arab League summit in Damascus [AFP] |
The Arab League – ideally a symbol of unity – has often served as an arena for regional disputes.
The league was established in 1945 with the express goal of strengthening ties among member states and co-ordinating policies for their common good.
But in reality, Arab League meetings have too often been marked by heated disputes and divisions between individual members.
Has the dream of Arab unity run out of steam?
As the 20th Arab Summit gets underway in Damascus, Arab governments appear more divided than ever.
Previous Arab summits have exposed cracks in unity and nationalism, but this year the differences have become more public - and pronounced.
Nearly half of the 22-member Arab League is represented in Damascus by low-ranking official delegations. Lebanon is boycotting the sessions entirely.
Some commentators have blamed US influence on its Arab allies as one of the reasons behind attemps to scuttle the summit. Others have blamed Iran.
Dangerous crossroads
| Our blood and our language may be one, but there is nothing that can unite us" |
The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians remains as elusive as ever; human rights organisations say the people of Gaza are on the verge of a catastrophe as the Israeli-enforced economic blockade continues.
Political infighting and armed clashes between Fatah and Hamas have also taken their toll.
Iraq, on the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion and occupation, is falling apart as the much-feared sectarian warfare enters a new dimension - fierce fighting between rival Shia factions and the Shia-led Iraqi government.
Lebanon is without a president and internal political disputes have boiled over into the international sphere with France and the US blaming Syria and Iran for much of the country's woes.
Algeria and Morocco still have ongoing disputes over the Western Sahara. Sudan has been unable to bring stability to Darfur as tensions soar with neighbouring Chad.
Somalia enters its second decade of disarray with the central government in Mogadishu unable to assert control on armed tribes.
This is the Arab nation of 2008.
Disunity and inaction
 |
| Gaddafi bitterly - and bluntly - criticised Arab leaders for their disunity [GALLO/GETTY] |
Gaddafi asked: "How can we accept that a foreign power comes to topple an Arab leader while we stand watching?"
He said Saddam Hussein, the executed Iraqi president, had once been an ally of Washington, "but they sold him out".
He said Saddam Hussein, the executed Iraqi president, had once been an ally of Washington, "but they sold him out".
"Your turn is next," Gaddafi told the Arab officials gathered for the conference, some of whom looked stunned while others broke into laughter at his frankness.
In his speech, the Libyan leader also criticised Arab disunity and inaction on the region's multiple crises.
"Where is the Arabs' dignity, their future, their very existence? Everything has disappeared," he said.
"Our blood and our language may be one, but there is nothing that can unite us."
Hoping for unity
But Ahmed Bin Hali, a senior Arab League official, played down differences and said that there will always be diverse political currents in the Arab nation.
"The Arabs, in co-ordination with the Iraqi government, must open a discussion with the US - with the inclusion of Turkey and Iran - to stabilise Iraq," he told Al Jazeera.
He said that the Damascus summit will provide Arab leaders a chance to overcome their differences and stabilise relations.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, the Qatari prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, said Arab League summits provide member states the opportunity to air their differences and to try to bridge the gaps that may exist between them.
He said he disagreed with the concept of boycotting the summit.
"If we have differences with Syria, we will face Syria and discuss these differences," Sheikh Hamad said recently.
He said he disagreed with the concept of boycotting the summit.
"If we have differences with Syria, we will face Syria and discuss these differences," Sheikh Hamad said recently.
A unifying media?
In the ninth and concluding part of Al Jazeera's nine-part series, A Question of Arab Unity, we explore the relationship between Arab countries and their media, and explore whether political differences can be bridged culturally.
The Arab World is being brought together in a shared cultural and political experience by trans-national media based on fast evolving satellite technology.
Pan-Arab media are creating platforms for dialogue and for shared experiences - and in the process are bringing Arabs together.
Slogans like the "Arab Street" are being bandied about and the ordinary citizen is voicing discontent with the state of the world around him.
Building on a common language and traditions, the people of the region are sharing their experiences in ways that were unimaginable even a decade ago.
The proliferation of independent media means hard-hitting realities are often televised and reported immediately.
And Arab audiences have access to an instant and up-close view of the daily struggles, squabbles and suffering of their fellow Arabs.
But this has lead to accusations that the new media has been a force of disunity in the region
No comments:
Post a Comment