Zach Bornheimer's History Portfolio

• Who: Negib Azoury
• Where: Paris
• When: 1905
• What: An opinion about the Program of the League of the Arab Fatherland
• Purpose: A document in which Negib Azoury articulates his opinion about the league and attempts to refute the league’s plan and dismantle its platform (e.g. by stating that Egypt cannot be united with the Arab Empire).
• Value: Can give us an inside look at an Arab’s point of view of the league and the a primordial form of Arab Nationalism (Azoury wants a central empire controlled by a devoted sherif rather than more countries that could not be controlled well and would be introducing “the germs of discord and destruction”).
• Limitations: The actual platform of the league is not present, so Azoury might be leaving key facts out of his statement and this limits the ability to analyze this document completely.  This statement was translated from its original language to English making its original diction unrecoverable, so we cannot view what Azoury wrote, but rather what the translator translated with an accuracy of which we do not know.

Nationalism played a major role in 19th century Palestine.  An Arab nationalist program developed in response to persecution by the Ottomans and the influx of Zionists.  Zionists came into the area known as Palestine for land, but they decided a place was needed for Jews due to rampant anti-semitism and by the encouragement of Europeans.

Sources: Our Class Discussion, A History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Imperial powers have a responsibility to minority groups under suzerainty that is no different when compared to majorities.  Imperial powers have no responsibilities to the people under suzerainty.  The imperial powers can allow the people to have liberties from freedom from interference in their countries affairs, to allowing them to vote in elections.  They could also take away freedoms spanning from taking away their freedom, to forcing them to vacate, to killing them.  Imperial powers have no responsibilities to autonomous territories and therefore have no responsibilities to minority groups under suzerainty.

The major part of the Arab-Israeli conflict stems from the Israelis wanting to live in the area known as Palestine/Israel and the Arabs not wanting them to live in that area.  To define the Arab-Israeli conflict, a clear definition of Arabs and Israelis needs to be defined.  I am marking the Arabs as anyone in the Middle-Eastern area who follow the Islamic religion and/or people who are of Arabic decent.  Jews will be marked as people who are from Israel and/or are Jewish.  The dynamics of the conflict stem from the belief, according to the Jews, articulating “a land without people for a people without land” and, according to the Arabs, an invading people.  A main dynamic of the conflict revolves around the religious significance of the area and the resources in the area.  By the end of October, I will know more about the dynamics of the Arab-Israeli conflict.