Arabism, Islamism and the Palestine Question 1908-1941: A Political History

465 Pages·1998·8.4 MB·English

by  Basheer M. Nafi

A ra b ism ,
Islamism
and the
Palestine
Question
1908 -1941
A Political History
Basheer M. Nafi
ITH A CA
Arabism, Islamism and the Palestine
Question, 1908-1941
A Political History
Ithaca Press is an imprint of Garnet Publishing Limited
Published by
Garnet Publishing Limited
8 Southern Court
South Street
Reading
RGl 4QS
UK
Copyright © Basheer M. Nafi, 1998
All rights reserved.
No pan of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any electronic or mechanical means, including information
storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing
from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
brief passages in a review.
First Edition
ISBN 0 86372 235 0
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Jacket design by Michael Hinks
Typeset by Samantha Abley
Printed in Lebanon
Contents
Note on Transliteration vi
Prefece 1
1. Introduction 5
2. Arabism, Zionism and Palestinian nationalism 15
3. In pursuit of a lost ideal: rise and decline
of pan-Islamism 89
4. Arabism reawakening 139
5. The 1936—9 revolt and the Arabization of
the Palestinian question: phase 1 191
6. The 1936-9 revolt and the Arabization of
the Palestinian question: phase 2 249
7. A defeat in Iraq: the decline of Arab-Islamists 329
8. Conclusion 395
Bibliography 401
Index 445
[v]
Note on Transliteration
Familiar Arabic names and terms, which are widely used in literature,
have been spelt in the commonly adopted form (e.g. Nasser rather than
Nasir). Texts of sources consulted have been preserved in their original
forms. No diacritical marks are used. The ‘ayn is indicated by an opening
quotation mark and the hamza by a closing quotation mark.
“O you free Arabs, yours is
A dawn that breaks with a smile all over the universe”
From a poem by Shaykh Fu’ad al-Khatib
saluting Taysal’s Arab army published
in al-Qibla newspaper, Mecca,
15 Shawwal AH 1334 (15 August 1916)
“The British complained that there is general ill feeling against them
in Iraq. This feeling is common to all Arabs owing to their policy
in Palestine and cannot be checked by any Arab statesman.”
Rashid Ali al-Gaylani to Ibn Saud quoted in a dispatch
from Stonehewer-Bird (Jedda) to Foreign Office,
22 January 1941, FO 371/27061/E 84
“Nationalism - to change the figure - is like a cinema film; to manifest
itself it must be projected on to a screen; we, the British, were
the only possible screen; no other nation had sufficient
standing to be worth accusing of trying to deprive
the country of independence.”
Message from C. J. Edmonds, The British Advisor
to the Ministry of Interior, Iraq, to Sir Kinahan
Cornwallis, Ambassador, Baghdad, 29 July 1941;
quoted in a dispatch from Cornwallis
to Foreign Office, FO 624/24/448
[vii]

Preface
A large corpus of research on Palestinian nationalism and the Palestinian
question has been published during the past few decades. In most of
these works, the Palestinian question was studied from the perspective of
its local context, its impact on the evolution of the Palestinian national
entity and on Palestinian society, or of its international context.' Fewer
studies, and of a less comprehensive nature, have been dedicated to the
understanding of the Arab and Islamic framework of the Palestinian
question, especially in its early stage, during the interwar period.^ Such
an approach is warranted for two important reasons: firstly, for the central
role that Palestine assumed and continues to assume in shaping Arab
and Islamic politics and ideologies; and secondly, for the simultaneous
emergence of the Palestinian question, Arab nationalism and modern
political Islam, and the influence that each of these major movements
left on the course of the others.
This study attempts to elucidate the complex set of relations that
connected the Arab-Zionist conflict in Palestine with the broader scene of
Arabism and Islamism on the eve of the Ottoman collapse and during the
colonial era. The emphasis here is principally on the political dimensions
of this interconnectedness. At the core of this work is a political and, to
a lesser extent, social exposition of two generations of the Arab dite,
prior to and after the Ottoman demise. The political behaviour of Arab
notables, intelligentsia and ulema, whose views of the world were largely
shaped by the Arab-Islamic reformist ideas during the first half of the
twentieth century, are presented in relation to the struggle for Palestine
and to the projects of Islamic and Arab unity.
Following the end of the Cold War, and particularly in the aftermath
of the Gulf War, the failure of Arab nationalism and the demise of poUtical
Islam became prominent themes in scholarship focusing on Islam and
the Arab world.^ Coupled with the political and ideological shifts in
Palestinian nationalism and the Arab-Israeli Conflict in the early 1990s,
[1]
Arabism, Islamism and the Palestine Question
these themes are bound to influence our view of the historical develop­
ment of Arabism, Islamism and the Palestine question. Underpinning
the susceptibility of our understanding of history to the influences of
our present realities, John Luckas has in 1990 written of “the mental
intrusion into the structure of events” By this, Luckas meant the
inseparability of what happens from “the way people think what
happens”. Although the Arab world has a habit of defying confident
scholarship and “expert” predictions, this study consciously attempts to
formulate its main assumptions in terms of the historical period under
investigation, rather than the present debate on Arabism and Islamism.
This work evolved from an earlier version prepared during a five-year
study for a Ph.D. at the University of Reading, United Kingdom, for
which I am deeply indebted to Peter Woodward for his friendship, low-key
and invaluable guidance, profound insights and, above all, for making the
process of learning highly enjoyable. Eugene L. Rogan, with characteristic
kindness, made some attentive comments and critical remarks on the
original draft, and encouraged me to rewrite the introductory chapter.
To Ibrahim Abu Rabi‘, Hibba Abugideiri, Ralph Coury and Yusuf
T. Delorenzo, my thanks and gratitude for reading and commenting
on one chapter or more. I am grateful to Shihab al-Din al-Sarraf for the
hours and days of ongoing lively and invigorating debates. I am also
indebted to Samih Hamouda, for his faithful help in obtaining many
important documents from the archive of the Arab Studies Society in
Jerusalem and for providing me with a copy of the original diaries of
Khalil al-Sakakini; to Steven Kennedy, for generously allowing me to
share the wealth of documents he obtained from the Central Zionist
Archive, and to Adnan Aydan and Lutfi Zaytouni for their invaluable
technical support during the last stages of preparation and the struggle
with the not always amiable software.
My thanks also go to the staff and librarians of al-Azhar University
(Cairo), the Centre for National Documents (Damascus), the Institute for
Palestine Studies (Beirut), the University of Durham Library (Durham),
the Middle East Centre, St Antony’s College (University of Oxford),
the University of Exeter Library (Exeter), the Public Record Office and
the India Office (London), for-their magnificent professionalism and
support. Thanks are also due to Dr Aziz al-Azma at the University
of Exeter for permitting me to examine the papers of Aziz and Adil
al-Azma.
[2]
Preface
When I first began working on this project, I was a father of two.
Two more children have since arrived. To Tariq, Iman, Ahmad and Safa,
and to my wife, Imelda J. Ryan, I will always be indebted for making life
continuously novel and a pleasant experience.
Notes
Poraths two-volume study (1974 and 1977) is now considered to be a classical
work on Palestinian nationalism in the interwar period. Similar influential studies
of the same period include Kayyali (1978), Lesch (1979) and al-Hout (1986).
Muslih (1988) dealt with the origins of Palestinian nationalism from the late
nineteenth century to 1920, while Wasserstein (1991; first published in 1978)
focused on the British policy in Palestine from 1917 to 1929, prior and after the
beginning of the mandate. Khalaf (1991) combined political and sociological
approaches to the study of Palestinian history from the beginning of World War
II to 1948. Smith (1984) and Smith (1992) are more like textbooks that cover
a long period of Palestinian history; the first deals with the period from 1876
to 1983, and the second with the period from 1800 to the early 1980s. The
diplomatic history of the Arab-Zionist conflict is the subject of Caplans two
volumes (1983), whereas origins of the conflict during the late Ottoman period
were discussed by Mandel (1976). A sociological perspective of the Palestinian
national movement and of the people is provided by the two collections edited
by Migdal (1980) and Nakhleh and Zuriek (1980). Recently, Kimmerling and
Migdal (1993) published an extensive socio-political study of the Palestinians
covering the period from the 1830s to the 1980s.
Best available sources are Jankowiskis two articles (1980:1-38; 1981:427-53)
that were dedicated to the study of Egyptian oflScial and popular responses to the
Palestinian question during the 1930s and early 1940s. Mayer (1983) published
another study on the Egyptian attitudes to Palestine in the period from 1936 to
1945, in which he largely followed Kedouries dismissive approach to Arabism.
An extensive study of the political course of Arab nationalism between 1930
and 1945 was published by Porath (1986). Poraths work, however, while highly
influenced by the British official view of the events, sheds little light on the
careers, background and outlook of the key personalities of the Arab interwar
drama.
On the decline of Arab nationalism, see Lewis (1992:92-119), and on political
Islam, see Roy (1994).
Luckas (1990:52).
[3]