The Non-United States: The Arab Nationalism Movement

While the aftermath of World War II is often referred to as one of the primary creators of deep rooted turmoil in the Middle East region, the effects of the Cold War and the United States often over-zealous battle against communism is just as much a contributor if not more. The Arab world and the Middle East region were clearly going through quite an extraordinary period throughout World War II and its conclusion, primarily with the creation of most of the states we recognize today and struggling with the continuation of colonialism. These factors set the stage for the emergence of strong nationalist sentiments and Pan-Arab movements across the Middle East. Unfortunately, and much to the detriment of the region, the leaders of these young

Nationalism played a huge role in this event due to the Middle Eastern countries longing for independence for their own nation.

The geostrategic importance of Middle East is also derived from its psychological and political significance, Pollack (2011). It is a symbolic area serving as the center of the shrines of the three world’s greatest religions, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The influence of Islam extends from this region to Morocco and profound inside Africa. Therefore, Middle East has changed foreign policies of many world states.

No one should fall under the illusion that declaring Jerusalem Israel’s capital will harm America’s alliances with most, or even many, Arab nations, argues Brookings Senior Fellow Shadi Hamid, Jordan being a notable exception. If Saudi officials, including Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, were concerned with Jerusalem’s status, Hamid says they would presumably have used their privileged status as a top Trump ally and lobbied the administration to hold off on such a needlessly toxic move. Along those same lines, Ali Fathollah-Nejad explains that Trump’s announcement heightens the sense of alienation that many in the Middle East feel regarding Riyadh’s anti-Iran front forged with the Trump administration and the Netanyahu government.

During the years 1900-2001 a number of significant interventions occurred which affected the growth and nature of Arab nationalism. Several key pressures considerably influenced a change in the nature of nationalism; including, economic levers, agreements and military presenses in the Middle East. Arab nationalism arose out of the fear of the possibility and later the certainty of European or American dominance. The emerging ideology believed all Arabs to be united by both a shared language and history. Foreign intervention in the Middle East long predated the First World War, dating back to during the

On the eve of the Cold War, a majority of Arab nations were struggling to rid themselves of the presence of western powers within their nations. As a result they found themselves trying to redefine themselves outside of the context of colonization and trying to become modern on their own terms, and not on the terms of their colonizers. However in order to do so, the Arab bourgeoisie, did not look within their own nations for solutions to rebuild and improve their nations, but instead borrowed and modified ideas that came from the west. These new emerging ideas were met with opposition because they stemmed from western ideas, those followed them were criticized for following and emulating a western trend. Although Arab existentialism did

As such many groups have attached themselves to one side or another claiming to fight for or represent them. The United States in particular has been a target of many groups in the Middle east. The United States involvement in the Middle east to many seems like a continuation of the western involvement into the area after WWI. This involvement as created a resistance to American occupation with the term “Islam is under attack”, becoming a religious call to arms. As such groups like Al Qaeda have attacked Americans and have ultimately changed the world after September 11, 2001. This attack undoubtedly highlights the global and international concern directed towards the area, as this attack initiated America’s global war on terror. This war led to heavy U.S. involvement in the Middle East with the toppling of government in Iraq, which arguably lead to the creating of the Islamic State or I.S.I.S. Consequently, the issues, conflicts, and violence of the, Middle East has always been an international concern and will remain until, the social, cultural and territorial boundaries of the area are

In the Middle East, European colonialism obliterated Arab sovereignty through its political and economic takeover. After gaining independence, the epicenter of perceived encroachment of Arab autonomy by the West was found in the Jewish state of Israel. Furthermore, the United States’ military support of Israel was also seen as an extension of colonialism. The colonial legacy of the British and the French occupations in the Middle East led to the belief that Israel was another imperial force that would infringe upon the rights of the Arab world. To fuel its strong hatred of colonialism and Israel, the Arab states had the ability to harness their resources to pressure the international community to be less pro-Israel. The Middle East contains some of the world’s largest oil reserves, and this oil gives them a lot of economic clout because the use of oil for energy purposes is essential for nearly every nation’s survival. Most of the world has some degree of dependence on Arab oil, and the Arab states can use this power as political leverage. In an effort to utilize this oil power against Israel and its supporters, the Arab nations enacted oil production cutbacks and an oil embargo in 1973. To have an effective embargo, the participation of all Arab nations was necessary. Yet, the divisions and conflict within the Arab world prevented meaningful Arab unity, so they did not meet the political objectives of destroying Israel and its “imperialism”. The 1973 Oil Embargo was

The Middle East has always been an extremely restless region. Throughout its whole history, this region was shaken by various wars and conflicts. The beginning of the 20th century can be considered one of the most significant points in the history of this area. After the discovery of some resources, it became interesting for some greater powers of the world in economic terms. As a result, economic reasons for discord of the Arab states of this region was added to the already existing social, religious and political. The history of the influence of the economic factors of the discord and collaboration in the Middle East can be divided into two periods: pre-WW1 and post-WW1.

Three lines of poetry plot the trajectory of Arab national consciousness. “Awake, O Arabs, and arise!” begins the famous ode of Ibrahim al-Yaziji, penned in 1868 in Lebanon. Around that time, but even today, we saw people who insisted on sovereign 'Arab states "in the Middle East. They thus seem to assume that there is one universal Arab identity, but what does this entail, and can we even speak of an Arab identity, looking at the historical perspective of the region that we call the Middle East? These are questions I will try to address in this paper although this is extra difficult since there is no universal definition of which countries are in the Middle East and which are not (some even include Cyprus). Here, I will only focus on the

Pan-Arabism Nationalism, closely connected to Arab nationalism, ascertains the idea that all Arabs should come together and unite under one state. Many Arabs at this time began to migrate to Palestine, they felt dominated by both the Empire and by the British however, “intellectually, they inspired resistance against both forms of domination,” and hoped to gain independence. This idea of a Pan-Arab state seemed incredibly appealing to some Arabs with Palestine as a home. However, Some of the Zionist also found Palestine appealing. The Zionist felt Pan-Nationalism toward Israel which corresponds a connection of a particular area of land to a group of people. This idea of Pan-Nationalism was important to many Jews as “the centrality of the

Arab nationalism was a movement striving for Arab political unity in the Middle East. There was undoubtedly a huge increase in an Arab sense of nationalism between the years 1948 and 1973. One major reason for this was the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, which gave the Arab powers something to unite against, because not a single Arab nation recognised Israel as a legitimate state. There were other reasons, however, most notably the continuing struggle of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Nasser and Arab frustrations with the actions of the west.

of either the capitalist block, led by USA or the Socialist block led by the former USSR. In that global division of Africa and Arab Countries, both Ethiopia and the Gulf Arab Countries was strong adherent with the capitalist block. Both enjoyed American and West European political patronage and protection. Thus imperial Ethiopia and the Gulf Arab Countries were partners against the spread of socialist and radical political ideas in this part of the world (Hoynes 1993).

The gaze of the western other, is a condescending gaze that reaffirms the inferiority of Muslim societies, “preventing everything even escape” and inability to overcome “insurmountable condition,” (Kassir). Further, Arab Malaise is worsened by the fact that Arab societies used to be comparable to East Asian, Latin American and Sub-Saharan African states. However, to Arabs, that is no longer the case with all states except for the Arab societies moving toward democratic and technologically advanced societies. The third cause of Arab Malaise is the sense of powerless to act and affirm existence in face of other’s domination that Arabs feel. This sense of powerlessness was reinforced by Iraq-US intervention where Arab community was unable to fight against American intervention. Also, when Israel was established in Palestinian territory, the Palestinians could not fight back because of the strong American unfailing support of Israel, making Israel capable of “literally do anything it wants,” (Kassir, 8). Geography was also an important factor in creating malaise. The Arab world is situated between two continents and has its own sense of tradition, and identity, however, Arabs are constantly reminded of colonial powers and presence on their territory today through the presence of Israel. The defeat against Israel in 1948 (Nakba) was a great humiliation and blow to the Arabs because it signified that colonial rule was to be perpetually present in the Arab World for centuries to come. Finally, the existence of oil in the region is a source of instability and malaise. The oil attracts western powers and increasing West involvements leading the “new hegemony of the United States in the Middle East” (Kassir, 76).

The Arab nations in the middle east have for the most part of Israel’s existence been hostile. Arab nations share a tie with the Palestinians who believe they belong to the land on which Israel sits and the Arab nations have supported them in most cases. The Arab nation’s hostile position towards Israel continued through the War of Independence, the Sinai-Suez War, the Six Day War, the War of Attrition, and the Yom Kippur War. After the Arab nation’s long stint of hostility, the tides started to change and some arab nations, especially Egypt, started to consider making amends with Israel.