Arab nationalism

Theflag of the Arab Revoltwas originally used against theOttoman Turks,and remains a prominent symbol of Arab nationalism. The design andpan-Arab coloursare the basis of many modernArab states' flags.

Flag of theUnited Arab RepublicunderGamal Abdel Nasser.

TheAqaba FlagpoleinAqaba,Jordan bearing theflag of the Arab Revolt.The Aqaba Flagpole is the sixth tallest free standing flagpole in the world.

Arab nationalism(Arabic:القومية العربية,romanized:al-qawmīya al-ʿarabīya) is a political ideology asserting thatArabsconstitute a singlenation.As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotesArab culture and civilization,celebratesArab history,theArabic languageandArabic literature.It often also calls forunification of Arab society.It bases itself on the premise that the people of theArab world— from theAtlantic Oceanto theArabian Sea— constitute one nation bound together bya common identity:ethnicity, language, culture, history,geography,andpolitics.

One of the primary goals of modern Arab nationalism is ridding the Arab world of influence from theWestern world,and the removal of those Arab governments that are considered to be dependent uponWestern hegemony.This form of the ideology is rooted in the undesirable outcome of theArab Revolt;in successfully achieving their primary goal ofdissolving the Ottoman Empire,the Arab rebels simultaneously enabled thepartitioning of their would-be unified Arab stateby Western powers.Anti-Western sentimentgrew as Arab nationalists centralized themselves around the newfoundPalestine cause,promoting the view thatZionismposed an existential threat to the territorial integrity and politicalstatus quoof the entire region, and that the resultingArab–Israeli conflictwas directly linked to Western imperialism due to theBalfour Declaration.Arab unity was considered a necessary instrument to "restoring this lost part" of the nation, which in turn meant eliminating the "relics" of foreign colonialism.Arab nationalism emerged in the early 20th century as an opposition movement in the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire, later evolving into the overwhelmingly dominant ideological force in the Arab world.Its influence steadily expanded over subsequent years. By the 1950s and 1960s, the charismatic Egyptian leaderGamal Abdel Nasserchampioned Arab nationalism, and political parties like theBa'ath Partyand theArab Nationalist Movementdemonstrated remarkable capabilities for mobilization, organization, and clandestine activities. This ideology seemed to be on the rise across the independent Arab states.

Its influence began to wane in the following decades, with the rise ofnation-statenationalism mostly promoted by each Arab state and the emergence of Islamic radicalism filling the perceived void.However, the ideology as a whole began to decline across the Arab world following the decisive Israeli victory in theSix-Day War.Although pan-Arab nationalism lost appeal by the 1990s, it continued to exercise an intellectual hegemony throughout the Arab world.

Notable personalities and groups that are associated with Arab nationalism includeFaisal I of Iraq,Gamal Abdel Nasser,theArab Nationalist Movement,Michel Aflaq,Muammar Gaddafi,Saddam Hussein,thePalestine Liberation Organization,and theArab Socialist Ba'ath Party.

Ideology

Arab nationalists believe that the Arab nation existed as a historical entity prior to the rise of nationalism in the 19th–20th century. The Arab nation was formed through the gradual establishment of Arabic as the language of communication and with the advent of Islam as a religion and culture in the region. Both Arabic and Islam served as the pillars of the nation. According to writer Youssef M. Choueiri, Arab nationalism represents the "Arabs' consciousness of their specific characteristics as well as their endeavor to build a modern state capable of representing the common will of the nation and all its constituent parts."

Within the Arab nationalist movement are three main ideas: that of the Arab nation; Arab nationalism; andpan-Arab unity.The1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestineled to the foundation of the Arab nationalistBa'ath Party,which asserts that the Arab nation is the group of people who speak Arabic, inhabit theArab world,and who feel they belong to the same nation, ideologies which originated fromSati' al-Hursi'sworks.Arab nationalism is the "sum total" of the characteristics and qualities exclusive to the Arab nation, whereas pan-Arab unity is the modern idea that stipulates that the separate Arab countries must unify to form a single state under one political system.

Local patriotism centered on individual Arab countries was incorporated into the framework of Arab nationalism starting in the 1920s. This was done by positioning theArabian Peninsulaas the homeland of theSemitic peoples(theCanaanitesandArameansof theLevantand theAssyriansandBabyloniansofMesopotamia) who migrated throughout theNear Eastin ancient timesor by associating the other pre-Islamic cultures, such as those ofEgyptand North Africa andHorn of Africa,into an evolvingArab identity.

The modern Arabic language actually has two distinct words which can be translated into English as "nationalism":qawmiyyaقومية, derived from the wordqawm(meaning "tribe, ethnic nationality" ), andwataniyyaوطنية, derived from the wordwatan(meaning "homeland, native country" ). The termqawmiyyameans attachment to the Arab nation, whilewataniyyameans loyalty to a single Arab state.Wataniyyais sometimes disparaged as "regionalism" by those who consider pan-Arabism the only legitimate variant of Arab nationalism.

In the post-World War years, the concept ofqawmiyya"gradually assumed aleftistconnotation, calling for... the creation of revolutionary Arab unity. "Groups who subscribed to this point of view advocated opposition, violent and non-violent, against Israel and against Arabs who did not subscribe to this point of view. The person most identified withqawmiyyawasGamal Abdel Nasserof Egypt, who used both military and political power to spreadhis version of pan-Arab ideologythroughout the Arab world. Whileqawmiyyastill remains a potent political force today, the death of Nasser and the Arab defeat in theSix-Day Warhas weakened faith in this ideal. The current dominant ideology among Arab policy makers has shifted towataniyya.

History

Origins

Throughout the late 19th century, beginning in the 1860s, a sense of loyalty to the "Fatherland" developed in intellectual circles based in the Levant and Egypt, but not necessarily an "Arab Fatherland". It developed from observance of the technological successes of Western Europe which they attributed to the prevailing of patriotism in those countries.During this period, a heavy influx of Christian missionaries and educators fromWestern countriesprovided what was termed the "Arab political revival", resulting in the establishment of secret societies within the empire.

The former was also possible with the influence of the intellectual movement produced by the expansion of journalism using a unifying language, with the creation of newspapers in Arabic, as well as the publication of an Arabic dictionary and an encyclopedia during the late 1860s and the early 1870s. This allowed the questioning (albeit limited), of Ottoman power.Accordingly, in the 1860s, literature produced in theMashriq(the Levant andMesopotamia) which was under Ottoman control at the time, contained emotional intensity and strongly condemned theOttoman Turksfor "betraying Islam" and the Fatherland to the Christian West. In the view of Arab patriots, Islam had not always been in a "sorry state" and attributed the military triumphs and cultural glories of the Arabs to the advent of the religion, insisting that European modernism itself was of Islamic origin. The Ottomans, on the other hand, had deviated from true Islam and thus suffered decline. The reforming Ottoman and Egyptian governments were blamed for the situation because they attempted to borrow Western practices from the Europeans that were seen as unnatural and corrupt. The Arab patriots' view was that the Islamic governments should revive true Islam that would in turn, pave way for the establishment of constitutional representative government and freedom which, though Islamic in origin, was manifested in the West at the time.

Ibrahim al-Yaziji(1847–1906)

Arabism and regional patriotism (such as in Egypt or in the Levant) mixed and gained predominance overOttomanismamong some Arabs inSyriaandLebanon.Ibrahim al-Yaziji,a Lebanese Christian philosopher, called for the Arabs to "recover their lost ancient vitality and throw off the yoke of the Turks" in 1868. A secret society promoting this goal was formed in the late 1870s, with al-Yazigi as a member. The group placed placards inBeirutcalling for a rebellion against the Ottomans. Meanwhile, other Lebanese andDamascus-based notables, mostly Muslims, formed similar secret movements, although they differed as Christian groups who disfavoured Arabism called for a completely independent Lebanon while the Muslim Arab societies generally promoted an autonomousGreater Syriastill under Ottoman rule.

As early as 1870, Syrian Christian writerFrancis Marrashdistinguished the notion of fatherland from that of nation; when applying the latter toGreater Syria,he pointed to the role played by language, besides customs and belief in common interests, in defining national identity.This distinction between fatherland and nation was also made by Hasan al-Marsafi in 1881. By the beginning of the 20th century, groups of Muslim Arabs embraced an Arab nationalist "self-view" that would provide the basis of the Arab nationalist ideology of the 20th century.

This new version of Arab patriotism was directly influenced by the Islamic modernism and revivalism ofMuhammad Abduh,theEgyptianMuslim scholar, andJamal al-Din al-Afghani,Iranian political activist. They both shared their thoughts on reform for Islamic societies by publishing in the journalal-'Urwa al-Wuthqa.Abduh believed the Arabs' Muslim ancestors bestowed "rationality on mankind and created the essentials of modernity," borrowed by the West. Thus, while Europe advanced from adopting the modernist ideals of true Islam, the Muslims failed, corrupting and abandoning true Islam.Al-Afghani blamed a division between Muslims on European influence. He thus advocated for pan-Muslim unity as a project to revitalize Islam as a cohesive force against the Western Colonialism,and argued that new interpretations of Islam were needed to confront questions posed by modernity. Their followers would create their own magazines and political parties to develop these ideas.Abduh influenced modern Arab nationalism in particular, because the revival of true Islam's ancestors (who were Arabs) would also become the revival of Arab culture and the restoration of the Arab position as the leaders of the Islamic world. One of Abduh's followers,Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi,openly declared that the Ottoman Empire should be both Turkish and Arab, with the latter exercising religious and cultural leadership.due to their historical role in theearly Muslimcommunity.

Rise of modern Arab nationalism

In 1911, Arab intellectuals and politicians from throughout the Levant formedal-Fatat( "the Young Arab Society" ), an Arab nationalist secret society and club, in Paris. Its stated aim was "raising the level of the Arab nation to the level of modern nations."In the first few years of its existence, al-Fatat called for greater autonomy within a unified Ottoman state rather than Arab independence from the empire. Al-Fatat hosted theArab Congress of 1913in Paris, the purpose of which was to discuss desired reforms with other dissenting individuals from the Arab world. They also requested that Arab conscripts to the Ottoman army not be required to serve in non-Arab regions except in time of war. However, as the Ottoman authorities cracked down on the organization's activities and members, al-Fatat went underground and demanded the complete independence and unity of the Arab provinces.

Nationalist individuals became more prominent during the waning years of Ottoman authority, but the idea of Arab nationalism had virtually no impact on the majority of Arabs as they considered themselves loyal subjects of the Ottoman Empire.The British, for their part, incited theSharif of Meccato launch theArab Revoltduring the First World War.The Ottomans were defeated and the rebel forces, loyal to the Sharif's sonFaysal ibn al-Husaynentered Damascus in 1918. By now, Faysal along with many Iraqi intellectuals and military officers had joined al-Fatat which would form the backbone of the newly created Arab state that consisted of much of the Levant and theHejaz.

Damascus became the coordinating center of the Arab nationalist movement as it was seen as the birthplace of the ideology, the seat of Faysal—the first Arab "sovereign" after nearly 400 years of Turkish suzerainty—and because the nationalists of the entire Mashreq region were familiar with it. Nonetheless,Jerusalem,Beirut,andBaghdadremained significant bases of support. Following the creation of Faysal's state, a serious tension within the Arab nationalist movement became visible; the conflict between the ideology's highest ideal of forming a single independent unit comprising all countries that shared the Arabic language and heritage, and the tendency to give precedence to local ambitions.

To further tensions, a rift formed between the older nationalist members of various Syrian urban-class families and the generally younger nationalists who became close to Faysal—his Hejazi troops, Iraqi and Syrian military officers, and Palestinian and Syrian intellectuals. The older guard was mainly represented byRida Pasha al-Rikabi,who served as Faysal's prime minister, while the younger guard did not have one particular leader.However, the youth within al-Fatat founded theArab Independence Party( "al-Istiqlal" ) in February 1919. Its goal was to achieve unity and complete Arab independence. Prominent members includedIzzat DarwazaandShukri al-Quwatli.Centered in Damascus with branches in various cities throughout the Levant, al-Istiqlal received political and financial support from Faysal, but relied on the inner circle of al-Fatat to survive.

During the war, Britain had been a major sponsor of Arab nationalist thought and ideology, primarily as a weapon to use against the power of the Ottoman Empire. Although the Arab forces were promised a state that included much of the Arabian Peninsula and theFertile Crescent,the secretSykes–Picot Agreementbetween Britain and France provided for the territorial division of much of that region between the two imperial powers. During the interwar years and theBritish Mandateperiod, when Arab lands were under French and British control, Arab nationalism became an important anti-imperial opposition movement against European rule.

Growth of the movement

A number of Arab revolts against the European powers took place following the establishment of the British and French mandates.Resentment of British rule culminated in theIraqi revoltof 1920. The uprising which was carried out by the urban population as well as the rural tribes of Iraq ended in 1921. The British drastically changed their policy in Iraq afterwards. Although the mandate was still in place officially, the British role was virtually reduced to an advisory one.In 1925, theDruzeof southern Syria under the leadership ofSultan al-Atrashrevolted against French rule. The revolt subsequently spread throughout Syria, particularly in Damascus where an uprising by the citizens took place. The French responded by systematically bombarding the city, resulting in thousands of deaths. The revolt was put down by the end of the year, but it is credited with forcing the French to take more steps to ensure Syrian independence.InEgypt,resentment of British hegemony led to wide-scalerevolts across the countryin 1919. As a result of three-year negotiations following the uprising, the British agreed to allow Egypt's official independence in 1922, but their military still held great influence in the country. The political leaders of the Egyptian revolution espousedEgyptian nationalism,rather than an Arab nationalist alternative.

The relative independence of Egypt, Iraq,Saudi ArabiaandNorth Yemenencouraged Arab nationalists to put forward programs of action against colonial powers in the region. According to historian Youssef Choueiri, the "first public glimmerings" of a pan-Arab approach occurred in 1931, during the convention ofWorld Islamic CongressinJerusalemwhich highlighted Muslim fears of the increasing growth ofZionismin Palestine. Arab delegates held a separate conference and for the first time delegates from North Africa, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula and the Fertile Crescent convened together to discuss Arab matters. Apan-Arabistcovenant was proclaimed centering on three main articles:the Arab countries form an integral and indivisible whole. Hence the Arab nation does not accept or recognize the divisions of whatever nature to which it has been subjected, all efforts in every Arab country are to be directed towards the achievement of total independence within one single unity. Every endeavor which confines political activities to local or regional issues is to be fought against, and since colonialism is, in all its forms and manifestations, incompatible with the dignity and paramount aims of the Arab nation, the Arab nation rejects it and will resist it with all the means at its disposal.

TheAssociation of Algerian Muslim Ulamafounded in 1931 was a major Islamist and Arab nationalist movement inFrench Algeria.Its motto was "Islam is our religion, Algeria is our homeland, Arabic is our language",and it emphasized on the Arab-Islamic national identity of Algeria, becoming the strongest defender of Arab and Muslim culture and a major provider of education in Arabic.Its founderAbdelhamid ibn Badisidentified Islam, Arabism, and nationalism as the three main components of the Algerian national character distinct from France,while his fellow 'alim Ahmad Tawfiq al-Madani (1889–1983) wrote extensive historical writings in Arabic celebrating the Muslim and Arab ancestors of Algeria.The association also attracted Algerian public attention to what was happening inMandatory Palestine,describing the events in Palestine in 1936 as an "insult to all Muslim countries and a degradation of Arabism" and events in 1947 as "test set up by God in order to examine the Muslims and the Arabs' faith". It also stressed the view that Palestine belongs to all Arabs and not only toPalestinians.In 1955, it joined the Arab nationalistNational Liberation Front's insurgency against France in theAlgerian War.

Plans for a near-future conference were made, but never came into play due to Faysal's death in 1933 (delegates chose Faysal of Iraq to be their patron and he agreed to provide moral and material support for the movement) and fierce British opposition. However, theArab Independence Partywas formed by Palestinian and Iraqi activists from al-Fatat as a direct result of the Jerusalem conference on 13 August 1932. Most of the AIP's activities were centered in the Palestinian political field, but the party also worked towards achieving Arab unity and solidarity as a means to strengthen Arab resistance against the British Mandate in Palestine and increased Jewish settlement occurring there. In August 1933, theLeague of Nationalist Action(LNA) was founded inLebanonby Western-educated professional civil service groups with the aims of creating a common Arab market and industrial base as well as the abolishment of customs barriers between the Arab countries.By proposing agrarian reforms to limit the power of landowners, abolishing what they considered "feudalism"and promoting the growth of an industry, the LNA sought to undermine theabsentee landlordsin the Levant who tended to encourage local nationalism and were open to working with European authorities or Jewish land purchasers. The LNA enjoyed a level of popularity throughout the 1930s, but did not survive into the 1940s.

Following the killing of the Syrian Arab guerrilla leaderIzz ad-Din al-Qassamby British forces inYa'bad,Arab-Jewish tensions in Palestine reached a climax.Anti-Zionistsentiments reached a boiling point on 15 April 1936, when an armed group of Arabs killed a Jewish civilian after intercepting his car near the village ofBal'a.After Jews retaliated by killing two Arab farmers nearJaffa,this sparked anArab revoltin Palestine. The AIP along with Palestinian notables selected popular leader andGrand Mufti of Jerusalem,Amin al-Husseinito lead the uprising.TheArab Higher Committee(AHC), a national committee bringing together Arab factions in Palestine, was established to coordinate the uprising. To protest increasedJewish immigration,ageneral strikewas declared and a political, economic, and social boycott of Jews soon ensued.

Members of theArab Higher Committee,1936; clockwise,Jamal al-Husayni,Hussein Khalidi,Yaqub al-Ghusayn,Fuad Saba,Alfred Roke, Abdul Latif Es-Salah,Ahmed Hilmi,Amin al-Husayni,andRaghib al-Nashashibi.

The events in Palestine followed similar anti-colonial activities in Egypt, Syria and Algeria which helped inspire the uprising. In Egypt, week-long anti-British demonstrations had eventually resulted in the restoration of the Egyptian constitution while in Syria, a general strike held in January–February 1936 led to major negotiations for an independence deal with the French government.The British took a firm stance against the nationalist revolt in Palestine, dissolving the AHC forcing al-Husayni into exile in Lebanon in 1937.In Algeria, hostility towards the Jewish community saw an attack inConstantinein the summer of 1934 in which a number of Jews were killed, in response to the events in Palestine.Al-Husayni, who leaned more towardsPalestinian nationalism,was instrumental in organizing the pan-ArabBloudan Conferenceon 9 September 1937 in Syria which gathered 524 delegates from across the Arab world, although al-Husayni himself was not in attendance.According to author Adeeb Dawisha, although the uprising had been quelled by 1939, it greatly "contributed to the growth of Arab nationalist sentiment" and began the development of "solidarity" between Arab governments.

Meanwhile, a clandestine Arab nationalist society was formed in Iraq in 1938 which came to be known as Arab Nationalist Party (ANP). The ANP typically confined itself to influencing events and leaders in Iraq rather than taking the lead of a mass nationalist movement. KingGhazi of Iraqwas one such leader. Ghazi intended to build a strong Iraqi army and actively sought to annexKuwait.Many Arab nationalist politicians from Kuwait, who favored independence particularly after the discovery of oil there in 1938, were provided safe haven in Iraq after being repressed by the quasi-rulers of thesheikhdom,theAl Sabahfamily (Kuwait was still a British territory at the time). Ghazi died in a car accident in 1939, prompting a number of his army officers to allege the king was assassinated by British forces.That same year, al-Husayni arrived in Baghdad after escaping from Lebanon, giving a morale boost to the pan-Arab dimension in Iraqi politics. The prime minister at the time,Nuri al-Saidand the regent king'Abd al-Ilah,did not harbor the pan-Arabist sympathies Ghazi espoused.

Rashid Ali al-Gaylanisucceeded al-Said as Prime Minister in March 1940 and took a neutral position regardingWorld War II,opening dialogue with the German government which was at war with Britain. Under great pressure from the latter, al-Gaylani resigned on 31 January 1941 and al-Said took his place. The perceived British interjection in Iraq's internal affairs angered Arab nationalist officers in the army, leading a group of them to overthrow the government in April and install al-Gaylani as Prime Minister.To counter a British military response to the coup, al-Gaylani enlisted the support of Germany, but the German military did not arrive to aid the Arab nationalist government. With pro-GermanVichy Francehaving taken control of neighboring Syria, Britain reoccupied Iraq in May to prevent it from joining theAxis powers.By 1 June, al-Gaylani and al-Husayni fled to the country for Germany, while the army officers who carried out the coup were captured and executed.

Al-Husayni becameincreasingly acquaintedwithAdolf Hitler,theNazileader of Germany, and other Nazi officials and attempted to coordinate Nazi and Arab policies to solve what he believed was the "Jewish problem"in Palestine.In one of the mufti's speeches he asked Arabs to unite and "kill the Jews wherever you find them."Throughout World War II, the Nazi government, seeking to take advantage of widespread anti-imperialist feelings in the Middle East, had broadcastantisemiticmessages tailored to Arabic-speaking Muslims in the Middle East via radio.

The conflict in Iraq provoked anger and frustration throughout the Arab world and the British acknowledged the rapid growth of Arab nationalist feeling among the Arab population,large segments of which saw the events in Iraq as a valiant struggle against imperialism.British Foreign Secretary,Anthony Eden,officially stated Britain's support of strong pan-Arab ties in a bid to ease anti-British sentiments in the region.The events of the region influenced the creation of the Arab Union Club in Egypt in 1942 which called for developing stronger ties between Egypt and the Arab world. Branches were subsequently opened in Baghdad, Beirut, Jaffa and Damascus, and Egyptian Prime MinisterMostafa El-Nahasadopted its platform, pledging to help protect "the interests and rights" of the "sister Arab nations" and explore the "question of Arab unity."

Establishment of the Arab League

Rivalry for the leadership of the Arab world developed mostly between the political establishments of Iraq and Egypt in the period following the failure of Rashid Ali coup. Eden's stated support for increased Arab ties encouraged Nuri al-Said of Iraq to propose his own plan for Arab unity in January 1943, dubbed the "Fertile Crescent Union."The plan recognized the linguistic, cultural and economic ties between the states of theFertile Crescentregion as well as the differences between their inhabitants. It sought to unify those states in a stage-based process whereby the initial stage would see Syria, Transjordan, Palestine and Lebanon unite with limited autonomy given to the Jews in Palestine and special rights for the Christians in Lebanon.Afterward theLevantinestate and Iraq would form an "Arab League," to which other Arab states could join, that would oversee matters of defense, foreign policy, customs, currency and the safeguarding of minorities. The proposal reflected a combination of factors, namely the expansionist ambitions of the Hashemites, the attempt by Iraq's political establishment to secure the mantle of Arab leadership in their rivalry with Egypt and a genuine embrace of Arab identity by Iraq's leaders.

The Egyptian government ofNahas Pashalaunched a rival initiative for establishing closer inter-Arab relations, and sent delegations to several Arab states. Influential Arab nationalist figures in the country sought to emphasize Egypt's Arab character, the most prominent of them,Abdul Rahman al-Azzam,even writing "Egypt was an Arab country before Christ." The apparent Egyptian embrace of Arabism was met with general Arab excitement at the popular level and Pasha's efforts gained more traction among the various Arab governments than al-Said's Fertile Crescent proposal.Reasons for this ranged from the antipathy of theSaudi royal familyand the Damascus political establishment to the leadership ambitions of the rival Hashemite family to the belief by Lebanon's Maronite Christian community that Egypt's plan would not require conceding future independence. Between 25 September-8 October 1944, the leaders of Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Transjordan, Yemen and the Palestinian Arab community convened inAlexandria,Egypt in a meeting hosted by the Egyptian government which ended with an agreement known as the "Alexandria Protocol."

Peak under Egyptian leadership

Egyptian presidentGamal Abdel Nasserreturns to cheering crowds inCairoafter announcing the nationalization of theSuez CanalCompany, August 1956.

After the Second World War,Gamal Abdel Nasser,the leader of Egypt, was a significant player in the rise of Arab nationalism.Opposed to the British control of the Suez Canal Zone and concerned at Egypt becoming a Cold War battleground Nasser pushed for a collective Arab security pact within the framework of theArab League.A key aspect of this was the need for economic aid that was not dependent on peace with Israel and the establishment of U.S. or British military bases within Arab countries. Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and directly challenged the dominance of the Western powers in the region. At the same time he opened Egypt up as a Cold War zone by receiving aid and arms shipments from the Soviet bloc countries that were not dependent on treaties, bases and peace accords. However, because of the connotations for Cold War dominance of the region, Egypt also received aid from the US, who sought to promote the emerging Arab nationalism as a barrier tocommunism.

Gamal Abdel Nasser was a major supporter of the Algerian independence movement, whose mixture of Arab nationalism and revolution appealed to the Arabs in North Africa.He provided financial, diplomatic and military support to theNational Liberation Front,and based theAlgerian provisional governmentin Cairo.This played a major role in France's decision to wage war against him during the 1956Suez Crisis.Albert Camus argued thatAlgerian nationalismwas closely tied toNasserismand Pan-Arabism in an essay titled 'Algeria 1958'.Algerian presidentHouari Boumédiène,who pursuedArab socialistand Pan-Arabist policies, drafted a new Algerian constitution in 1976 which declared "the unity of the Arab people is written in the community of the destinies of these people. When there will be the conditions for a unity based on the liberation of the popular masses, Algeria will engage itself in the promotion of the formulas of union, integration or fusion that may fully respond to the legitimate and deep aspirations of the Arab people".Like his predecessorAhmed Ben Bella,he imposedArab socialismas the state ideology and declared Islam the state religion,however he was more assertive than Ben Bella in carrying outArabizationto reverse French colonization, especially between 1970 and 1977.

The question of Palestineand opposition toZionismbecame a rallying point for Arab nationalism from both a religious perspective and a military perspective. The fact that the Zionists were Jewish promoted a religious flavor to the xenophobic rhetoric and strengthened Islam as a defining feature of Arab nationalism. The humiliating defeat in the1948 Arab–Israeli Warstrengthened the Arabs' resolve to unite in favor of apan-Arabnationalist ideal.With the revival of thePalestinian nationalist movement,a debate circled between those who believed that pan-Arab unity would bring about destruction of Israel (the view advocated by theArab Nationalist Movement) or whether the destruction of Israel would bring about pan-Arab unity (the view advocated byFatah).

Pan-Arabism was initially asecularmovement.Arab nationalists generally rejected religion as a main element in political identity, and promoted the unity of Arabs regardless of sectarian identity. However, the fact that most Arabs were Muslims was used by some as an important building block in creating a new Arab national identity. An example of this wasMichel Aflaq,founder along withSalah al-Din al-BitarandZaki al-Arsuziof the Ba'ath Party in Syria in the 1940s.Aflaq, thought himself a Christian, viewed Islam as a testament to the "Arab genius", and once said "Muhammed was the epitome of all the Arabs. So let all the Arabs today be Muhammed." Since the Arabs had reached their greatest glories through the expansion of Islam, Islam was seen as a universal message as well as an expression of secular genius on the part of the Arab peoples. Islam had given the Arabs a "glorious past", which was very different from the "shameful present". In effect, the troubles of the Arab presence were because the Arabs had diverged from their "eternal and perfect symbol", Islam. The Arabs needed to have a "resurrection" (ba'athin Arabic). After the Ba'athist military coups in Iraq and Syria in the 1960s, the Ba'athists "contributed very little to the development of all-Arab nationalism, which was its originalraison d'etre."

Another example of the occasional mingled of Arab nationalism andIslamic revivalistsentiment was fromHasan al-Banna,the founder of the earliest and largest revivalist organization, theMuslim Brotherhood.While in theory Islamic revivalists (for exampleSayyid Qutb)were implacably opposed to nationalism as a European pollution intended to weaken Islamic unity, al-Banna "had regarded the transfer of power to non-Arabs after the first four 'Rightfully Guided' caliphs as the true reason for the decline of Islam. "

Meanwhile, KingFaisal of Saudi Arabiasought to counter the influences of Arab nationalism and communism in the region by promotingpan-Islamismas an alternative. He called for the establishment of the Muslim World League, visiting several Muslim countries to advocate the idea. He also engaged in a propaganda and media war with Nasser.

Women and nationalism

Women were active participants in the nationalist mobilizations. Arab nationalism became an opportunity for women to appear in public spaces –which were traditionally reserved for men, not only as protesters but also as founders of their own unions and organizations. One example isHoda Sha'rawi,who marched with other women during the 1919 revolution against the British and would then create theEgyptian Feminist Union.(Male) Islamic modernists Muhammad Abduh and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, along with Egyptian judge and intellectualQasim Amine,are considered precursors of women's ideological discussion due to their reflections on the role of women in Islamic reforms.However, women themselves also contributed to the intellectual foundations of the ideology by publishing articles where they made demands, such as the expansion of education, in journals dedicated to Arab history and culture.Hind Nawfalestablished the first Arab women's magazine,Al-Fatat,in Egypt. This title became the foremother of a subsequent group of publications that came to be known as women's journals.

In this context, it has been argued that women's participation was used as an ideological instrument by Arab nationalism. They were considered "bearers of the nation", because they not only had the biological capability to give birth to future generations, but their own preparation signified a better education for their children.The former was a consequence of the creation of a "maternalist frame" for national and historical symbols, which women themselves adopted to construct their activism.Nermin Allam proposes the term "domestication of female public bravery" to refer to how women's participation has been reduced in the imaginary of the struggle to constrain their questioning of hierarchies.

Women were important to the movement in relation to the family unit. But women's presence in the nationalist pursuit was crucial considering that "building a nation-state required the mobilization of the entire population, both male and female".The former can also be seen in Palestine, where women partaken in a demonstration in opposition to the heavy flow of Zionist immigrants in 1921, or with their gradual participation in Algeria's War of Independence as nurses, cooks, and even carrying bombs.In July 1957,Djamila Bouhiredwas tried for allegedly bombing a cafe, which killed 11 civilians inside. Moreover, female political involvement has been considered by several authors as a necessary dimension of Arab nationalism, because it is, in essence, a "gendered discourse". The community that was imagined by nationalist groups was largely dependent on the status they assigned to women: modernist nationalists considered their inclusion in the public space as a necessary measure to achieve modernity, while conservative nationalists would vindicate their traditional roles as symbols of Islamic culture.

To modernists between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, the status of women in Arab society was seen as a symptom of backwardness. Consequently, the reinterpretation of Islamic texts proposed with the revival of Arab culture also included the question of women. This was possible before nationalism became directly opposed to the European model.In this sense, the connection of the "ideal Arab woman" to the conceptions of modernity made women "markers of cultural borders".Consistent with this logic would be the discussion on the unveiling of women, which came to be used as a symbol of progress in the early twentieth century by Egypt. Additionally, Tunisian women protested its usage for the first time during the 1920s and the 1930s. However, this image "...was not much different from that of a tractor, an industrial complex, or a new railroad in symbolizing the modern, the development, the progress";its value was not related to any notion of emancipation.

The question of women became more complex to deal with once the requirement of women's political involvement needed to coexist with the continuity of tradition. When Arab nationalism directly challenged Western cultural influence, women's compliance with Arab values was key to distinguish themselves from Europe, or not to become Western-like.The former can be exemplified by how the use of the veil was reintroduced as a nationalist symbol during theAlgerian War of Independence,in response to the strong French campaign against its use during the 1930s.Some authors argue there is a link between opposition to Westernization and the strengthening of domestic roles to protect Arab identity. Nadje Al-Ali and Beth Baron call this a process ofgendering of nationalism,where the Arab nationalist discourse replicated the most conservative conceptions of womanhood.Following this logic, the laws that regulated the private sphere became stricter, or tightened.Conversely, this assertion has been nuanced by Deniz Kandiyoti, under the argument that the relationship between Islam and women's rights is "politically convergent" and should not be generalized nor simplified without a proper study of each case.

Because of this, the expansion of women's political and economic rights was achieved under nationalist regimes, but it was deficient when it came to questioning their domestic limitations, such as polygamy, divorce, and the minimum age for marriage.In Egypt, the 1956 Constitution granted women the right to vote for the first time in history, as well as their right to education and employment. Nasser also guaranteed economic rights to the working class and the peasantry regardless of gender. The Algerian constitution also acknowledged equal rights to all citizens, but until 1984 no changes were made in personal status codes, and social attitudes toward women receiving education beyond the primary level or going to work were restrictive. Associated is the phenomenon ofstate-feminism,which refers to the state's co-option of women's agenda to gain political legitimacy and constrict female mobilization. This was a strategy used by Nasser, who banned the creation of autonomous organizations and formulated women's demands as social welfare issues, leading to a recession of Egyptian feminist activism.

Decline

After the defeat of the Arab coalition by Israel during the 1967Six-Day War—which the reigning Arab nationalist leader Nasser had dubbedal-Ma‘raka al-Masiriya(the battle of destiny)—the Arab nationalist movement is said to have suffered an "irreversible" slide towards "political marginality".

From the mid-1960s onward, the movement was further weakened by factional splits and ideological infighting. The formerly pro-NasserArab Nationalist Movement,publicly abandonedNasserismin favor ofMarxism–Leninismand fell apart soon after. In 1966, theArab Socialist Ba'ath Partysplitinto rival factions based inBaghdadandDamascus,respectively.

The historian Adeed Dawisha observes the decline in popularity was, in part, due to the elimination of many of the political factors that stoked nationalist passion in the Arab world during the 1950s and early 1960s,whileFred Hallidaycites the “failure of the secular state, in its economic, social, and state-building roles, as well as in foreign policies, that led to the rejection of nationalism, and associated ideas of socialism and revolution, in much of the Arab world”.

Other factors given for the decline include:regional attachments such as Iraqi presidentAbd al-Karim Qasim's "Iraq first" policy, suspicion of Arab unity by minority groups such asKurdsin Iraq who were non-Arab, orShiaArabs in Iraq who feared Arab nationalism was actually "aSunniproject "to establish" Sunni hegemony ", theIslamic revival,which grew as Arab nationalism declined, and whose Islamist adherents were very hostile towards nationalism in general, believing it had no place in Islam, and lack of interest by the movement inpluralism,separation of powers,freedom of political expressionand otherdemocraticconcepts which might have "resuscitated" the ideology in its moment of weakness.

However, Halliday notes how many ideas and goals of the emerging Islamist movements resembled, and even derived from, the programmes of the earlier, secular nationalists. He says, “the Islamist movements were beneficiaries and inheritors of the secular nationalist agenda”.

In the 21st century, following theArab Spring,support for Arab and even most local nationalist movements declined further.Dawisha states the "irrelevance of secular nationalism to the concerns of the twenty-first century paved the way for increasingly violent competition between the state and political Islam for the loyalty, as well as for the hearts and minds of the Arab citizen",observing Arab nationalism has no role in this struggle.

Attempts at unity

President Gamal Abdel Nasser signing unity pact with PresidentShukri al-Quwatli,forming theUnited Arab Republic,February 1958

In the 1940s, rulers such asAbdullah I of JordanandNuri al-Saidof Iraq sought to create an expanded Arab empire constructed out of the smaller nation-states that had been created in the mandate period. Abdullah's dream was to be king of aGreater Syriawhile as-Said's dream was for aFertile Crescent Federation.These aspirations, however, were unpopular and met with suspicion in the countries they sought to conquer. The creation of the Arab League and its insistence on the territorial integrity and respect for sovereignty of each member state, theassassination of Abdullah,and the14 July Revolutionweakened the political feasibility of these ideas.

During much of the 20th century, the rivalry between Syria and Nasser in Egypt for who would lead the union undermined the effort of forming a united Arab state.In 1958,EgyptandSyriatemporarily joined to create theUnited Arab Republic.It was accompanied by attempts to includeIraqandNorth Yemen in the union.This very exercise, while fostering Egypt's position at the centre of Arab politics, led to the weakening of Syria.

With the14 July Revolutiontaking place in Iraq the same year, Western powers feared the fallouts of a powerful Arab nationalism in the region. Foreign powers were not only concerned about the possible spread of such revolutionary movements in other Arab states, but also worried about losing the control and monopoly over the region's natural oil resources. However, due to discontent over the hegemony of Egypt and after a coup in Syria that introduced a more radical government to power, the United Arab Republic collapsed in 1961. The termUnited Arab Republiccontinued to be used in Egypt until 1971, after the death of Nasser.

Another unsuccessful attempt at union occurred in 1963. That year the Arab nationalist Ba'ath Party came to power in Syria and Iraq and talks were held on uniting the two countries with Egypt. On 17 April an agreement to unite the countries was signed, but Ba'ath leaders complained of what they considered Egyptian president Nasser's "patronizing, bullying tone" and his insistence on a single centralized party structure under his leadership.In Syria, pro-Nasserists were purged from the Syrian military and cabinet. In response, large pro-Nasser riots erupted inDamascusandAleppobut were crushed with 50 rioters killed. A pro-Nasser coup attempt on 18 July 1963 in Syria also ended unsuccessfully. Hundreds of people were killed or wounded in an attempt to take over the Damascus radio station and army headquarters, and 27 rebel officers were summarily executed. Nasser then formally withdrew from the union agreement, denouncing the Syrian Ba'athists as "fascists and murderers".

In 1964, Egypt, Iraq and North Yemen formed aUnified Political Commandin order to prepare the gradual merger in a newUnited Arab Republic,however, both projects failed in 1966 and 1967. In 1971 and 1972Muammar Gaddafiattempted to unite Libya, Egypt, Sudan and Syria to form theFederation of Arab Republics.This loose union lasted until 1977 when it split due to political and territorial disputes between the republics' leadership. In 1974, Muammar Gaddafi andHabib Bourguibaattempted their two nations of Libya and Tunisia to form theArab Islamic Republic.The plan was rejected by Bourgiba due to his realization of the unity of theMaghrebstates. This would later become theArab Maghreb Union.

In October 1978,Iraqi PresidentAhmed Hassan al-Bakrbegan working closely withSyrian PresidentHafez al-Assadto foil theCamp David Accords.They signed a charter in Baghdad for Joint National Action which provided for the "closest form of unity ties" including "complete military unity" as well as "economic, political and cultural unification".An agreement to unify the two states was to come into effect in July 1979. However,Iraqi Vice PresidentSaddam Husseinwas fearful of losing his power to Assad (who was supposed to become the deputy leader in the new union) and forced al-Bakr into retirement under threat of violence.Although unity talks did continue between Assad and Saddam after July 1979, but Assad rejected Iraqi demands for a full merger between the two states and for the immediate deployment of Iraqi troops into Syria. Instead Assad, perhaps fearful of Iraqi domination and a new war with Israel, advocated a step-by-step approach. The unity talks were eventually suspended indefinitely after an alleged discovery of a Syrian plot to overthrow Saddam Hussein in November 1979.

Notable Arab nationalists

Gamal Abdel Nasser

• Michel Aflaq
• Hussein bin Ali, King of Hejaz
• George Antonius
• Abdul Rahman Arif
• Abdul Salam Arif
• Zaki al-Arsuzi
• Hafez al-Assad
• Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
• Allal al-Fassi
• Ahmed Ben Bella
• Salah al-Din al-Bitar
• Izzat Darwaza
• Faisal I of Iraq
• Muammar Gaddafi
• Rashid Ali al-Gaylani
• Ghazi of Iraq
• George Habash
• Sati' al-Husri
• Saddam Hussein
• Amin al-Husseini
• Salah Jadid
• Kamal Jumblatt
• Abd al-Rahman al-Kawakibi
• Gamal Abdel Nasser
• Jaafar Nimeiry
• Adnan Pachachi
• Samih al-Qasim
• Shukri al-Quwatli
• Ameen Rihani
• Hamdeen Sabahi
• Jurji Zaydan
• Constantin Zureiq

See also

• Pan-Arabism
• Arab socialism
• Ba'athism
• Iraqi nationalism
• Jordanian nationalism
• Lebanese nationalism
• Libyan nationalism
• Nasserism
• Palestinian nationalism
• Syrian nationalism
• Tunisian nationalism

References

Bibliography

• Abu-'Uksa, Wael (2016).Freedom in the Arab World: Concepts and Ideologies in Arabic Thought in the Nineteenth Century.Cambridge University Press.
• Choueiri, Youssef (2000).Arab Nationalism – A History: Nation and State in the Arab World.Wiley-Blackwell.ISBN978-0-631-21729-9.
• Dawisha, Adeed (2009).Iraq: A Political History from Independence to Occupation.Princeton University Press. p.214.ISBN978-0-691-13957-9.
• Dawisha, Adeed (2016).Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century: From Triumph to Despair.Princeton University Press.ISBN978-0-691-16915-6.
• Hinnebusch, Raymond (2003).The International Politics of the Middle East.Manchester University Press.ISBN978-0-7190-5346-7.
• Khalidi, Rashid(1993).The Origins of Arab Nationalism.Columbia University Press.ISBN978-0-231-07435-3.
• Hiro, Dilip."Arab nationalism."Dictionary of the Middle East.New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996. pp. 24–25.
• Humphreys, R. Stephen (2005).Between Memory and Desire: The Middle East in a Troubled Age.University of California Press.ISBN978-0-520-93258-6.
• Karsh, Efraim.Arafat's War: The Man and His Battle for Israeli Conquest.New York: Grove Press, 2003.
• Karsh, Efraim.Islamic Imperialism: A History.New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
• Sela, Avraham."Arab Nationalism."The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East.Ed. Sela. New York: Continuum, 2002. pp. 151–155
• Ma'oz, Moshe (1995).Syria and Israel: From War to Peacemaking.Oxford University Press. p. 153.ISBN978-0-19-159086-3.
• McDonald, Michelle (2009).The Kiss of Saddam.University of Queensland Press. p. 128.ISBN978-0-7022-4359-2.

External links

• "Islamic critique of Arab Nationalism"by Muhammad Yahya,Al-Tawhid,Vol III, No. 2, 1986.
• "Arab Nationalism: Mistaken Identity"byMartin Kramer,Daedalus,Summer 1993, pp. 171–206.
• "Requiem for Arab Nationalism"by Adeed Dawisha,Middle East Quarterly,Winter 2003, pp. 25–41.
• "The Rise of Arab Nationalism in the Sudan"by Mohamed Hassan Fadlalla, Codex Online S.A.