RSS
« The Koran: A Very Short Introduction | Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair »
Pan-Arabism before Nasser: Egyptian Power Politics and the Palestine Question
 |
Pan-Arabism before Nasser: Egyptian Power Politics and the Palestine Question (Studies in Middle Eastern History) |
Fascinating book, that while agreeing the pan-Arabism was indeed an organic movement, posits that in the immediate post-WW II era it was at least half-cynically manipulated by Egypt (in alliance with Saudi Arabia and a fragile Syria) as a propaganda tool to counter what were regarded as their primary foreign policy threats - Great Britain (then still a dominant player in the region) and the alliance of Hashemite Jordan (the strongest Arab power militarily at the time) and Iraq, then in detente with Turkey. Israel/Palestine in this analysis was only a very tertiary concern and for example even the 1948 Arab-Israeli War was pushed by Egypt, less because they expected to succeed (soberly, they did not, though they would have been pleased if they had), but more to divert Jordanian attention (in particular from Syria, which they claimed and threatened).
Posted by Tamerlane at March 7, 2006 08:04 PM
Filed Under: Egypt
, Levant
, Pan-Arabism
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.aqoul.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/2476
