This week considers the interwar arrangements put in place with the formation of newly independent states in the Middle East and the conflicts that ensued, particularly in Palestine.

[LECTURE SLIDES]

Seminar Questions:

How were the borders of the new states of the Middle East drawn in the interwar period? What interests were at stake?

Do interwar arrangements constitute self-determination?

During the interwar period, what were the major political divisions within the Palestinian Arab and Zionist communities? How significant were the divisions to each community's attainment of its goals?

In Egypt's Liberation, what kind of historical narrative does Gamal Abdel Nasser rely on to justify the 1952 revolution?

Readings:

William Cleveland, A History of the Modern Middle East, (Westview Press: 2017), pp. 170-225. [ebook]

Charles Smith, Palestine and the Arab Israeli Conflict, (St. Martin's Press: 2016), pp.102-161 (includes primary source docs).

Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's Liberation: The Philosophy of the Revolution, (Public Affairs Press: 1955), pp. 25-78. [call no. DT 107.83.N2]

Recommended Reading:

James Gelvin, Divided Loyalties: Nationalism and mass politics in Syria at the close of Empire (University of California Press, 1999).

Sherene Seikaly, Men of Capital: Scarcity and Economy in Mandate Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2015).

Bishara Doumani, Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus 1700-1900 (University of California Press, 1995).