ARAB MIDDLE EAST IN THE MODERN ERA

Zones of Agricultural Production

Significance of the region for the Early-Modern Ottoman

Empire

The Ottoman Levant before 1800• Ottomans in Syria: 1516, in Egypt: 1517

• 1606–7 The rebellion of Ali Pasha Janbulat of Aleppo, member of a powerful Kurdish clan in northern Syria.

• 1613 An Ottoman army moved against Fakhr al-Din II of Lebanon for his encroachment on territories in the province of Damascus. Fakhr al-Din fled to Italy but returned to power in 1618 after obtaining an amnesty from Istanbul

• 1623 Fakhr al-Din attacked the governor of Damascus to dislodge him• 1635 The Ottomans arrested and put to death Fakhr al-Din in Istanbul

and replaced his administration with the Ma‘nid family until 1697• 1711 Amir Haydar Shihab consolidated the hegemony of the Shihab

family which governed the region “for the Ottoman Empire” until 1842 • 1771 Governor of Egypt, in alliance with the governor of of Galilee, Zahir

al-Umar, overthrew Ottoman authority in Palestine and captured Damascus.

• 1775 Zahir al-Umar was removed from power by an Egyptian force acting on behalf of the Ottoman government. Soon after he was killed, and his territories reverted to the provinces of Damascus and Sidon. Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar (“the Butcher”), a ruthless power figure of Bosnian origin, was appointed governor of Sidon to restore Ottoman authority there. He made Acre the base of a powerful dominion extending over Palestine and southern Syria.

• Following a revolt in 1775 central authority in Aleppo declined as the Janissaries and the ashraf (local notables who claim to be descendants of the prophet Muhammad) steadily took control. This was the first in a string of such revolts during the next 30 years (1784, 1787, 1791, and 1804).

The Ottoman Levant before 1800

• The significance of local notables for effective administration

• The Lebanese Maronite Order– An eastern catholic order following the

teachings of St Maroun (5th century Christian monk) with significant following in the Levant

– The “Lebanese” Maronite order was founded in 1700, by permission from the Patriarch Istifan al-Doweihy.

– Local notables served as patrons of the church

– 1711 rise of the Shihab family– 1750s the emergence of a relatively

independent church active in politics

• Bashir Shihab II (1788-1840) and the Maronites vs. Ottomans and the Druzes

• French interest in the region

Ethno-religious Diversity

19th Century Transformations in the Levant

• Increased colonial significance• The local impact of cash crops

– Credit and financing– Land laws

• Reforms for a “modern state”– The Ottomans

• Young Ottomans and the significance of administration

– The Egyptians • Muhammad Ali and the significance of industrialization

– The French and the British• Education, conversion (Saint-Simonism)

• Muhammad Ali’s expansion

19th Century Transformations in the Levant

• Increased colonial significance• The local impact of cash crops• Reforms for a “modern state”• Muhammad Ali’s expansion• Young Turks and Turkish Nationalism• Consequences:

– Arab Nationalism and the Ottoman Empire – Faith in modernization – Politics of Minorities and foreign powers

WWI and the Middle East• Husayn bin Ali

– Significance of Mecca

• Husayn Mc-Mahon correspondence.

1916 Husayn became the King and rebelled against the Ottoman forces with T. E. Lawrence.

1917 Husayn’s son Faysal became the governor of “Damascus”

WWI and the Middle East

1919 WW I ended – oil, oil, oil…

1920 San Remo Conference

What is going to happen to Faysal?

•1920 a home found for the homeless king•Anti British revolt in North•1922 Kurdish revolt•Anglo-Iraqi Treaty: Military, financial, judicial, foreign affairs•1924 Anglo-Turkish Treaty on the status of Mosul. •Constitutional Monarchy •1930 GB control limited•Kurdish revolt•1932 Kurdish revolt•1937 Sadabad Pact

Iraq

OIL• 1912 TPC was formed to explore for Iraqi oil. APOC—future BP—owned

50%• 1925 TPC obtained a concession to explore for oil. “Independent” Iraqi

government was given a “generous” share from a potential find (20-yrs delay)

• 1927-8 Oil was found, company restructured. APOC, Royal Dutch/Shell, the Compagnie française des pétroles (predecessor of Total), and the Near East Development Corporation (a consortium of five large US oil companies, incl. Standard Oil) each received 23.7% of the shares, and Gulbenkian 5%. Did we forget anything?

• Monopoly power and limited production until 1961

•Interwar years:•Educational reform 1920 -10,000 students, 1950 -240,000. •Political Instability 59 governments between 1921-1958•Rebellions Kurds, Assyrians and Tribal Leaders•Coup d’états: 1936, 1940, 1941

•1945-1958: British supported the Sunni Monarchy•1947 Ba’ath Party was founded in Syria•1955 Baghdad Pact: Turkey and Iraq. Great Britain, Pakistan, and Iran (Same year with Bandung Conference)•1958 Coup d’état: end of Monarchy, Abd al-Karim Qassim•1959 Repudiation of the Baghdad Pact •1960 Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia: OPEC•1961 Revoking of Oil concessions (1953-Iran, 1956-Egypt)

• Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development•1963 Coup d’état: end of Qassim, Ba’ath Party (CIA)•1964 The Arab Common Market, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, and Syria.•1967 10 Arab states’ oil embargo against the U.S. and Britain (June-August)•1968 Kuwait, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Tunisia (OAPEC)•Coup d’état: end of Ba’th, Husayn’ s Takriti Ba’ath Party

Iraq: a timeline

•A very strict party organization•1972 Iraqi Petroleum Company nationalized•1973 Oil crisis and increased revenues•Massive education reforms •Award-winning free health care services •Infrastructural investments in transportation•Agricultural subsidies and cooperatives•Industrialization and mining•Judicial secularization•Mukhabarat•Osirak and Israel•Oppression – Kurds – Iran •Kuwait

Iraq: Husayn years 1968-today

• 1922 Established by the British, Amir ‘Abdallah was imported as the ruler

• 1928 Constitutional Monarchy• 1930 John Bagot Glubb and

the AL– Army state vs. state for an

army• 1946 “Independent”• Post-1948 Jordan x 3• 1951 Assasination of

‘Abdallah. King Husayn• 1952 Constitution• June 67 (Six-day War)• 1970 Black September• 1978 National Consultative

Council-a step toward democracy

• 1988 Back to trans-Jordan • 1991 End of martial law• 1993 Multi-party election (20)• 1994 Peace Treaty w/ Israel• 1997 parliamentary elections:

a failure?

Jordan

Formation of the State of Israel

• Rising nationalisms and persecutions at the turn of the century– Re-drawing the boundaries of

western Eurasia– Imagining nations

• 1896 Theodor Herzl, The Jewish State

• 1899 Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland

• Husayn-McMahon Rothschild Balfour correspondence

The Balfour DeclarationForeign OfficeNovember 2nd, 1917

Dear Lord Rothschild,I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His

Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours sincerely,Arthur James Balfour

Formation of the State of

Israel• Early settlements

– Why migrate?– Where to?– How to make a

living?• Understanding the

heterogeneity of the Jewish community

• 1939-almost half a million

• 1930s Middle East and the world

• Increased agitation and frustration

The White Paper of 1939"His Majesty's Government believe that the framers of the

Mandate in which the Balfour Declaration was embodied could not have intended that Palestine should be converted into a Jewish State against the will of the Arab population of the country. [...] His Majesty's Government therefore now declare unequivocally that it is not part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State. They would indeed regard it as contrary to their obligations to the Arabs under the Mandate, as well as to the assurances which have been given to the Arab people in the past, that the Arab population of Palestine should be made the subjects of a Jewish State against their will."

"The objective of His Majesty's Government is the establishment within 10 years of an independent Palestine State in such treaty relations with the United Kingdom as will provide satisfactorily for the commercial and strategic requirements of both countries in the future. [..] The independent State should be one in which Arabs and Jews share government in such a way as to ensure that the essential interests of each community are safeguarded."

Arab-Israeli Conflict

• Putting the “conflict” in a context: the Arab Middle East in the 1950s:– Ba’ath Party 1947– Suez canal 1956– End of Iraqi monarchy

1958 – Refugees in Jordon

and Lebanon• A heterogeneous

resistance– Earlier groups– 1967 PLO

• Al-Fatah• Popular Front

1967 war:

End of Nasser

Realization of Israel’s power.

Reflections of the change in the conflict

Arab-Israeli Conflict

• The exiles in the 1980s and 1990s

• Radicalization of the Islamic groups– 1987 intifada

• A heterogeneous Knesset

• 1993 Oslo Accords

• What the future holds