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Pan-Arabism is a movement that calls for unification among the peoples and countries of the Arab World, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism, which asserts that the Arabs constitute a single nation. The idea was at its height during the 1960s. In theory, and depending on the ruler, Pan-Arabism has tended to be sometimes near secular (in theory) and often based on socialist principles, and has strongly opposed Western political involvement in the Middle East. It also sought to empower Arab states from outside forces by forming alliances and, to a lesser extent, economic cooperation.
Origins and development
Pan-Arabism was first pressed by Sharif Hussein ibn Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, who sought independence from the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of a unified state of Arabia. In 1915-16, the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence resulted in an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Sharif that if the Arabs successfully revolted against the Ottomans, the United Kingdom would support claims for Arab independence. In 1916, however, the Sykes-Picot Agreement between the United Kingdom and France determined that parts of the Arab Mashreq would be divided between those powers rather than forming part of an independent Arab state. When the Ottoman Empire surrendered in 1918, the United Kingdom refused to keep to the letter of its arrangements with Hussein, and the two nations assumed guardianship of several newly-created states, including Jordan and Lebanon. Ultimately, Hussein became king only of Hijaz (later incorporated into Saudi Arabia) in the then less strategically valuable south.
Additionally, the Balfour Declaration of 1917 as reason to administer Palestine and the subsequent creation of the British Mandate upset the pan-Arabists' designs for a geographically contiguous pan-Arab state from the Arab Maghreb and Egypt to the Mashreq. A more formalized pan-Arab ideology than that of Hussein was first espoused in the 1930s, notably by Syrian thinkers such as Constantin Zureiq, Zaki al-Arsuzi and Michel Aflaq. Aflaq and al-Arsuzi were key figures in the establishment of the Arab Ba’ath (Renaissance) Party, and the former was for long its chief ideologist, combining elements of Marxist thought with a nationalism to a considerable extent reminiscent of nineteenth century European romantic nationalism. It's been said that Arsuzi was fascinated with the Nazi ideology of "racial purity" and impacted Aflaq. ,
Abdallah of Jordan dreamed of uniting Syria, Palestine, and Jordan under his leadership in what he would call Greater Syria. He proposed a plan to this effect to Britain, which controlled Palestine at that time, but to no avail. The plan was not popular among the majority of Arabs and fostered distrust among the leaders of the other Middle Eastern countries against Abdallah. This distrust of Abdallah's expansionist aspirations was one of the principle reasons for the founding of the Arab League in 1945. Once Abdallah was assassinated by a Palestinian nationalist in 1951, the vision of Greater Syria was dropped from the Jordanian agenda.
Pan-Arabism has been at times in contrast with pan-Islamism as being more secular. Tariq Aziz, an Aramaic-speaking Chaldean Christian and the once deputy prime minister of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. However in exchange for his status he had to Arabize his name from Mikhail Yuhanna to the Arabic Tareq Aziz. Iraqi statesman Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz (1913-72) argued that Arab national Islam were in perfect harmony because Islam is the national religion of the Arabs, Al-Bazzaz maintained that the dualism (spiritual vs. temporal) of Western Christendom is unknown to true Islam. For al-Bazzaz, Arabism and Islam are inextricably intertwined because the Arabs have been the backbone of Islam. , often these ideologies would work in harmony , Pan-Arab Nationalism in the Egyptian context has a strong Islamic flavor and thus acted as acted as a bridge to pan-Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood, thereby excluding minorities such as the Copts.
In an essay originally written in 1978 called "Pan-Arabism" (published in "From Babel to Dragomans") Bernard Lewis wrote (pp 198 - 201) that Pan-Arabism was conceived by 'Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi (c.1849-1902), who wished for an Arab Caliphate to supersede that of the Turkish Ottomans. Another early ideologue of Pan-Arabism was an anti-Semitic Syrian, Negib Azoury (d. 1916), Lewis claims that Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865 - 1935) (considered a promoter of pan-Arabism ) would be less obsessed with Arab resurgence and focused on an Islamic renaissance. All three were Syrian-born, but lived and wrote in Egypt.
Michel Aflaq embedded Islam within Arabism , in the mind of the Christian (who reportedly later converted to Islam) Michael Aflaq, Islam and Arab nationalism were inseparable He stated in the 1940s that Arab Nationalism was vital to the survival of Islam in the region and the duty of Arab Nationalists was to defend Islam in the name of the Arab nation. He is well noted for his fascination and inspiration for the Islamic faith when he stated his belief that Islam provides Arabs with "the most brilliant picture of their language and literature, and the grandest part of their national history." In Ba'athism he and Sati al-Husri, composed a Koranic super narrative of Arabism, soil and Islam . TheMuslim Brotherhood's Hasan al-Banna incorporated & associated Pan-Arabism with his radical Islamic ideology in view of Arabism’s growing appeal in Egypt at the time.
Along with Islamism Pan-Arabism who both prioritize loyalty to the Arab or Islamic community. with exclusion of others , including Christians & Jews , are seen to be greatly responsible for driving out more than 800,000 Jews from their lands and for the persecution of Iraqi Christians & contributed to driving out non Arab minorities out of Iraq which the Christian community put blame directly on Arab nationalists,Pan-Arabists, and Radical Islamists..
The pan-Arab ideology has been accused of racism, inciting prejudice against and downplaying the role of non-Arab peoples, such as the Berbers,Turks (persecution, mass murder), Jews, Persians (as well as going to war against the Persians in Iran), Maronite , , amongst others, An Egyptian writer Masri Feki wrote that it is the ideology of Pan-Arabism that prevents lasting peace in the Middle East;
Real lasting peace will come the day Israel's neighbors recognize that the Jewish people are on this land de jure, they are not just there de facto. Pan-Arabism is in ruins because it did not take into account the diversity of the region, the specificities of its various identities and the communitarian preoccupations of its minorities.Like pan-Arabism, pan-Islamism is an exclusivist ideology."
Although Pan-Arabism began at the time of World War I, Egypt, the most populous and arguably most important Arabic-speaking country, was not interested in Pan-Arabism prior to the 1950s. Thus, in the 1930s and 1940s, Egyptian nationalism - and not Pan-Arabism - was the dominant mode of expression of Egyptian political activists:
What is most significant is the absence of an Arab component in early Egyptian nationalism. The thrust of Egyptian political, economic, and cultural development throughout the nineteenth century worked against, rather than for, an "Arab" orientation.... This situation—that of divergent political trajectories for Egyptians and Arabs—if anything increased after 1900.
Azoury's league rejected the incorporation of Egypt into the Arab empire because "the Egyptians do not belong to the Arab race," In 1931, following a visit to Egypt, Syrian Arab nationalist Sati' al-Husri remarked that " did not possess an Arab nationalist sentiment; did not accept that Egypt was a part of the Arab lands, and would not acknowledge that the Egyptian people were part of the Arab nation." The later 1930s would become a formative period for Arab nationalism in Egypt, in large part due to efforts by Syrian/Palestinian/Lebanese intellectuals. Nevertheless, a year after the establishment of the League of Arab States in 1945, to be headquartered in Cairo, Oxford University historian H. S. Deighton was still writing:
The Egyptians are not Arabs, and both they and the Arabs are aware of this fact. They are Arabic-speaking, and they are Muslim —indeed religion plays a greater part in their lives than it does in those either of the Syrians or the Iraqi. But the Egyptian, during the first thirty years of the century, was not aware of any particular bond with the Arab East... Egypt sees in the Arab cause a worthy object of real and active sympathy and, at the same time, a great and proper opportunity for the exercise of leadership, as well as for the enjoyment of its fruits. But she is still Egyptian first and Arab only in consequence, and her main interests are still domestic.
Attempts at Arab union
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It was not until the Gamal Abdel Nasser era more than a decade later that Arab nationalism, and by extension Arab socialism, became a state policy and a means with which to define Egypt's position in the Middle East and the world, usually articulated vis-à-vis Zionism in the neighboring Jewish state of Israel.
There have been several attempts to bring about a Pan-Arab state by many well known Arab leaders, all of which ultimately resulted in failure. The United Arab Republic (UAR) in 1958 was the first attempt. Formed under Nasser, it was a union between Egypt and Syria, although Nasser exerted so much control over the union that the UAR functioned more as a Nasserist takeover rather than a cooperation between two governments. It lasted in this form until 1961 when Syria's withdrew from the union. In April 1963, Egypt, Syria and Iraq agreed to form a new 'United Arab Republic', which was to be entirely federal in structure, leaving each member state its identity and institutions." The UAR was finally abolished in 1971 due to irreconcilable differences between Syria and Egypt.
Two later attempts were conducted by Libya's Muammar al-Gaddafi; these were the Federation of Arab Republics and the Arab Islamic Republic. Both failed before beginning. The unity of seven Arab emirates that form the United Arab Emirates stands today as the only example of successful unification between Arab neighbors. The current Syrian government is, and the former government of Iraq was, led by the Ba’ath Party, which espouses pan-Arabism.
Decline
However, Pan-Arabism was strongly hurt following the Arab defeat by Israel in the Six Day War and the inability of pan-Arabist governments to generate economic growth. Nasser overplayed his hand in trying to form a pan-Arab hegemony under himself. "By the mid-1970s," according to The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East, "the idea of Arab unity became less and less apparent in Arab politics, though it remained a wishful goal among the masses."
The Egyptians' attachment to Arabism was particularly questioned after the 1967 Six-Day War. Thousands of Egyptians had lost their lives and the country became disillusioned with Arab politics. Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel in 1978 further fractured the Arabic-speaking countries. Nasser's successor Anwar Al Sadat, both through public policy and his peace initiative with Israel, revived an uncontested Egyptian orientation, unequivocally asserting that only Egypt and Egyptians were his responsibility. The terms "Arab", "Arabism" and "Arab unity" became conspicuously absent.
By the late 1980s, Pan-Arabism began to be eclipsed by both nationalist and Islamist ideologies. In the 1990s, many voiced their opposition to Pan-Arabism. For instance, some Kuwaitis viewed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 as caused by an urge for Pan-Arabism.
Egyptian critics of Arab nationalism contend that it has worked to erode and/or relegate native Egyptian identity by superimposing only one aspect of Egypt's culture. These views and sources for collective identification in the Egyptian state are captured in the words of a linguistic anthropologist who conducted fieldwork in Cairo:
Historically, Egyptians have considered themselves as distinct from 'Arabs' and even at present rarely do they make that identification in casual contexts; il-'arab as used by Egyptians refers mainly to the inhabitants of the Gulf states... Egypt has been both a leader of pan-Arabism and a site of intense resentment towards that ideology. Egyptians had to be made, often forcefully, into "Arabs" because they did not historically identify themselves as such. Egypt was self-consciously a nation not only before pan-Arabism but also before becoming a colony of the British Empire. Its territorial continuity since ancient times, its unique history as exemplified in its pharaonic past and later on its Coptic language and culture, had already made Egypt into a nation for centuries. Egyptians saw themselves, their history, culture and language as specifically Egyptian and not "Arab."
See also
- Arab Federation
- Arab Islamic Republic
- Arab Maghreb Union
- Arab socialism
- Federation of Arab Republics
- Pan-Arab colors
- Pan Arab Games
- United Arab Republic
References
- ^ "Arab Unity." The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. Ed. Avraham Sela. New York: Continuum, 2002. pp. 160-166.
- The Syrian Arab Republic: a handbook, Anne Sinai, Allen Pollack, 1976, p. 45
- http://books.google.com/books?id=sVzEipGCy9oC&pg=PA141
- Pan-Arabism and Arab nationalism: the continuing debate by Tawfic Farah, Publisher Westview Press, 1987, p. 37
- Islam and politics, John L. Esposito, p. 77
- http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.4995/pub_detail.asp
- The government and politics of the Middle East and North Africa, David E. Long, Bernard Reich, Mark Gasiorowski, Mark J. Gasiorowski, p. 420
- http://books.google.com/books?id=bl2I4uXHMvAC&pg=PA92
- http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.4995/pub_detail.asp
- http://www.arabphilosophers.com/English/philosophers/modern/modern-names/eMichel_Aflaq.htm
- ^ http://www.aijac.org.au/review/2002/2712/essay2712.html
- http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~nmwoods/arab.htm
- http://albaath.online.fr/English/Aflaq-04-on%20heritage.htm
- http://www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/michel_aflaq.htm
- http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=115549
- http://www.tau.ac.il/dayancenter/d&a-hamas-litvak.htm
- http://books.google.com/books?id=OOGTyh675JYC&pg=PA33
- http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/000033.html
- http://books.google.com/books?id=iyn6JKv5tQ0C&pg=PA315
- http://books.google.com/books?id=0LooyExir7EC&pg=PA278
- http://www.pierrerehov.com/exodus.htm
- http://www.fredaprim.com/who_assyrians.php
- http://www.christiansofiraq.com/whoisdriving-assyrians-outof-iraq.html
- El Watan, July 18, 2007
- http://books.google.com/books?id=2PbLcYdLUgsC&pg=PA104
- http://books.google.com/books?id=te2Jg-RTi4YC&pg=PA432
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38710-2005Apr8.html
- Raymond A. Hinnebusch, Anoushiravan Ehteshami, The Foreign Policies of Middle East States. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002. pg 169
- http://www.dailyalert.org/archive/2008-03/2008-03-14.html
- Jankowski, James. "Egypt and Early Arab Nationalism" in Rashid Khalidi, ed. The Origins of Arab Nationalism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990, pp. 244-45
- http://books.google.com/books?id=3kbU4BIAcrQC&pg=PA118&lpg=PA118
- qtd in Dawisha, Adeed. Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century. Princeton University Press. 2003, p. 99
- Jankowski, "Egypt and Early Arab Nationalism," p. 246
- Deighton, H. S. "The Arab Middle East and the Modern World", International Affairs, vol. xxii, no. 4 (October 1946), p. 519.
- "Before Nasser, Egypt, which had been ruled by Britain since 1882, was more in favor of territorial, Egyptian nationalism and distant from the pan-Arab ideology. Egyptians generally did not identify themselves as Arabs, and it is revealing that when the Egyptian nationalist leader met the Arab delegates at Versailles in 1918, he insisted that their struggles for statehood were not connected, claiming that the problem of Egypt was an Egyptian problem and not an Arab one." Makropoulou, Ifigenia. Pan - Arabism: What Destroyed the Ideology of Arab Nationalism?. Hellenic Center for European Studies. January 15, 2007.
- "United Arab Republic (UAR)." Sela. The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East. 873-874.
- Dawisha, p. 237
- Dawisha, pp. 264-65, 267
- http://kuwait-embassy.or.jp/E_outline_09.shtml
- Haeri, Niloofar. Sacred language, Ordinary People: Dilemmas of Culture and Politics in Egypt. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2003, pp. 47, 136.
External links
- Arab Nationalism: Mistaken Identity by Martin Kramer
- Sample chapter from Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century by A. Dawisha
- "Pan-Arabism on the March?: Israel Weighs the New Challenge" by Nissim Rejwan