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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Huge protests fan Egypt unrest But Indian DIPLOMACY Stranded in wildness!India to take up dubious university issue with US!


Huge protests fan Egypt unrest But Indian DIPLOMACY Stranded in wildness!India to take up dubious university issue with US!

Armed forces chief seen as Mubarak successor!





"We will be taking it up with the educational authorities in the US as how it allowed the university to function, how it was allowed to dupe gullible Indian students," said External Affairs Minister SM Krishna while terming the Tri-Valley university as "dubious."
more by SM Krishna - 12 minutes ago - Hindustan Times (14 occurrences)


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A senior Congress leader from Telangana, G Venkataswamy, today lashed out at the style of functioning of party President Sonia Gandhi and demanded that she step down from her post and make way for an Indian.

Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time -FIVE HUNDRED  SEVENTY NINE

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A senior Congress leader from Telangana, G Venkataswamy, today lashed out at the style of functioning of party President Sonia Gandhi and demanded that she step down from her post and make way for an Indian.

India to take up dubious university issue with US!

Armed forces chief seen as Mubarak successor!

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Huge protests fan Egypt unrest But Indian DIPLOMACY Stranded in wildness!Since Nehru Era Non aligned age, India and Egypt are very GOOD Friends! Apart from Friendship and bialiteral relations, EGYPT is the Epicentre of Developing World Geopolitics, specilly West Asia, Middle East and Arab World.Citing internal Matter, India may not be detached with events of Global Revolution as it is projected involving Muslim Sentiments worldwide!


Hundreds of thousands of people have flooded into central Cairo, where protesters have called for a "million-strong" march to press their demand that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak cede power.

THE turmoil in Egypt spread to Jordan last night as King Abdullah sacked his government and appointed a new prime minister, Maruf Bakhit, with orders to carry out "true political reforms".     Jordan's King Abdullah Tuesday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Samir Rifai's government and asked ex-premier Marouf Bakhit to form a new government, according to a royal court statement.

India ONGC to give up Egypt exploration assets-source

   

       

   

   

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NEW DELHI | Tue Feb 1, 2011 8:10am EST

NEW DELHI Feb 1 (Reuters) - India's state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.BO) will give up its exploration assets in Egypt, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Tuesday, as the discoveries are not commercially viable.

"ONGC has informed Egypt authorities that it wants to relinquish North Ramadan concession, while it would shortly do so for NEMED block," the source, who did not wish to be identified, told Reuters.

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment arm of ONGC, has a 70-percent stake in Egypt's North Ramadan Concession while U.S.-owned IPR Energy Red Sea Inc. holds the remainder.

ONGC Videsh also owns a 33 percent stake in the North East Mediterranean Deepwater Concession (NEMED), in the Mediterranean sea offshore Egypt.

The other partners in that block are Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) with 51 percent as operator and Malaysia's Petronas [PETR.UL] with a 16 percent stake.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; editing by Jo Winterbottom)

Fuel prices in India to rise as Brent tops $100
NDTV Correspondent & Agencies, February 01, 2011

    India seems insulated from the crisis in Middle East where a popular uprising for democracy in Egypt continues unabated. However, Indian consumers are likely to bear the brunt of the unrest as international crude prices start inching upwards to break previous records.

   

    On Monday, Brent crude oil price crossed $100 per barrel for the first time since 2008. Brent crude is the accepted world benchmark crude oil which is used to price two-third of the world's internationally traded crude oil supplies including that in Asia and Europe.

   

    The sharp rise in Brent crude will affect India because Brent has 32 per cent weightage in the Indian crude basket. The Indian crude basket is hovering at a much lower $94 per barrel currently. But that is 5 per cent more than the price in December when the average price of the Indian basket was $89.78 per barrel.

   

    The situation would get even worse if the Egyptian unrest spills over to more important oil producing regions like Saudi Arabia. India's largest crude imports come from Saudi Arabia.

   

    While Egypt is not a major oil-producing country, each day about two million barrels of oil pass through the Suez Canal and an adjacent pipeline, both of which are controlled by Egypt. The Suez remains open and shipping has not been interrupted.

   

    On Monday, PSU oil firms hiked jet fuel prices by a massive 4.5 per cent, the biggest hike in almost a year, on the back of spiraling international oil prices. This is the eighth straight increase in jet fuel prices since October 2010, when international crude oil prices started soaring.

   

    Petrol prices, that have been deregulated, are also likely to rise soon . The last revision in petrol prices came on December 14 when oil major Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) hiked prices by Rs. 2.95 per litre. This was the fourth hike after government's decision to deregulate petrol prices.

   

    Oil marketing companies (OMCs) in India are already facing huge under-recoveries as they give a subsidy of Rs. 8 per litre on diesel, Rs. 19 per litre subsidy on Kerosene and a massive Rs. 360 per cylinder subsidy on LPG. The cumulative losses to OMCs are pegged at about Rs. 300 crore per day.

   

    On Monday, the government approved Rs. 8,000 crore in cash subsidy to state-owned fuel retailers to make up for half of the revenues they lost on selling diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below cost in the October-December quarter.

     

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Read more at: http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/fuel-prices-in-india-to-rise-as-brent-tops-100-138836?trendingnow&cp


                                     Trade with Egypt hit; Dabur, Marico suspend operations

Daily News & Analysis - ‎11 minutes ago‎

Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI India's trade with Egypt stands disrupted and companies such as Dabur and Marico have suspended their operations in the ...

Egypt crisis: How will it impact FMCG cos?

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Several Indian FMCG companies have operations in Egypt. With the turmoil continuing in the Arab republic, CNBC-TV18's Tanvi Shukla analyses what impact this ...

Dabur shuts Egypt plant, Emami cagey over unrest

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NEW DELHI: Leading Indian FMCG firms, including Dabur and Emami, today said their businesses in Egypt might get an impact due to the ongoing political ...

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By Shailaja Sharma & Suparna Goswami | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA A restive Egypt has emerged as a cause for concern for Indian companies which have ...

Dabur net rises 11%

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India's fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) major Dabur reported a 10.9 per cent increase in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 31 to Rs ...

See 10-12% volume growth ahead: Dabur India

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India's fourth largest FMCG company Dabur India has reported consolidated net profit of Rs 154 crore in quarter ended December 2010 as against Rs 139 crore ...

Indian firms in Egypt down shutters, watch and wait

domain-B - ‎1 hour ago‎

While putting up a brave front, Indian firms with branches in Egypt are certainly jittery over the political turmoil there. These include fast-moving ...

It's not business as usual for Indian cos in Egypt

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Indian companies operating in Egypt are jittery over the mounting political protests and tensions across the region as they fear it could have an adverse ...

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         02/02/2011

Mass protests reflect aspirations of Egyptian people: India

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) Marking a shift in its stand on the popular uprising in Egypt, India Tuesday described mass protests in the north African country as 'an articulation of aspirations of Egyptian people' for reform and hoped that the current situation will be resolved in a peaceful manner.

'India continues to closely follow the mass protests in Egypt which are an articulation of the aspirations of the Egyptian people for reform,' India's external affairs ministry said in a statement.

'It is hoped that the current situation will be resolved in a peaceful manner, in the best interests of the people of Egypt,' said the ministry.

'India wishes that Egypt, a fellow developing country with which she enjoys close and traditional ties, will continue to be a strong and stable nation, contributing to peace and prosperity in the region,' it added.

India's stand on Tuesday marks an important shift from its circumspect stance of the current agitation being an internal affair of Egypt.

On Monday, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna described the unrest in Egypt as 'an internal affair of that country' and hoped for a peaceful resolution of the standoff.

New Delhi's reaction came as tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square Tuesday and many more were streaming in to participate in the march of a million as the movement to end President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule gained momentum across Egypt.

Some 100,000 protesters thronged Cairo's downtown Tahrir Square for a march to the Presidential Palace, a day after the army said that it won't be using force.

With the upheaval showing no sign of abating, around 600 Indians returned to India in special flights arranged by Air India over the last two days.

©Indo-Asian News Service

            
The king's edict followed days of escalating protests on the streets as Jordanians echoed protests in Egypt for change.
"Bakhit's mission is to take practical, quick and tangible steps to launch true political reforms, enhance Jordan's democratic drive and ensure safe and decent living for all Jordanians," a palace statement said last night.
Jordan's powerful Islamist opposition said it had started a dialogue with the state, saying that unlike the situation in Egypt, it did not seek regime change.
Despite recent government measures to pump about $US500 million into the economy in a bid to help improve living conditions, protests have been held in Amman and other cities over the past three weeks to demand political and economic reform.


Egypt's armed forces chief of staff Sami Enan could be an acceptable successor to Hosni Mubarak because he is perceived as incorruptible, a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood said on Tuesday.
Kamel Al Helbawi, a prominent overseas cleric from Egypt's main opposition movement, told Reuters that Enan, who has good ties with Washington, was a liberal who could be seen as suitable by an opposition coalition taking shape on the streets of Egypt.
"He can be the future man of Egypt," Helbawi said in a telephone interview.
"I think he will be acceptable ... because he has enjoyed some good reputation. He is not involved in corruption. The people do not know him (as corrupt)."
Helbawi said Enan was not an Islamist but "a good, liberal man".
Little is known internationally about Enan, believed to be in his early 60s, other than he appears to have spent much of his career in air defence.
A profile on Silobreaker, the news and information monitoring service, gives his date and place of birth as 1948, in Cairo, and says he was trained in both Russia and France as well at a military academy in Egypt.
He held senior roles in air defence before being appointed to his current job in 2005, the website indicates.
US orders non-essential personnel to leave Egypt
The State Department on Tuesday ordered non-essential US government personnel and their families to leave Egypt amid growing anti-government protests and uncertainty over the security situation.
It said it had taken the step "in light of recent events."
The move is an indication of Washington's deepening concern about developments in Egypt and replaces the department's initial decision last week to allow non-essential workers who wanted to leave the country to do so at government expense. In a statement, the department said it would continue to evacuate private US citizens from the country aboard government-chartered planes.
On Monday, the US evacuated more than 1,200 Americans from Cairo on such flights and said it expected to fly out roughly 1,400 more in the coming days. Monday's flights ferried Americans from Cairo to Larnaca, Cyprus" Athens, Greece" and Istanbul, Turkey. On Tuesday, the department expects to add Frankfurt, Germany as a destination.
It also hopes to arrange evacuation flights from the Egyptian cities of Aswan and Luxor.
The Cairo airport is open and operating but the department warned that flights may be disrupted due to protests against the Egyptian government.

More than a million gather in and around Cairo's Tahrir square, as Muslim Brotherhood said they would not negotiate with President Hosni Mubarak's government.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa said he is willing to assume any role of leadership if asked by fellow Egyptians.


Protesters in Egypt show no signs of abating their call for President Hosni Mubarak to step down after 30 years in power. Late on Monday, Egypt's Vice President Omar Suleiman said he is authorized to open a dialogue with the opposition.
The U.S. has shared strong ties with Egypt since the end of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, and, many analysts say, Egypt under Mr. Mubarak has promoted US interests in the Middle East, especially by maintaining the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.  

So far the U.S. has proceeded with caution in commenting on whether President Mubarak should step aside. But Egyptian voices inside the country and out say a revolution is under way, and the United States, no matter what position it takes, can do little to direct it.

Tunisia's popular revolt, which ousted veteran strongman Zine El Abedine Ben Ali, has inspired dissidents across the Arab world, with the eyes of the world on the extraordinary demonstrations in Egypt, where a "day of anger" was called last night.
The thunderous roar of hundreds of thousands of Egyptians calling for democracy filled central Cairo early today as protesters set off on a "million-strong march" to bring down President Hosni Mubarak. As the UN High Commissioner for Refugees announced that at least 300 people had died in the eight days of protests, the Australian government said it would send as many aircraft as it took to pull Australians out of strife-torn Egypt.
A Qantas jumbo jet chartered by the government and capable of carrying 400 passengers was due in Cairo today and another was urgently put on last night for tomorrow . The government vowed to provide a "jumbo a day" until demand was met.
The hundreds of thousands who began massing after dawn yesterday in Cairo's Tahrir Square did so with the assurance that the military would not fire on them.
The army's declaration yesterday that the protesters' claims were "legitimate" came after days of speculation about whether the army was prepared to put down the protests.
"To the great people of Egypt, your armed forces, acknowledging the legitimate rights of the people," stress that they "will not use force against the Egyptian people," the military said in a statement.
It appeared to be a major break with Mr Mubarak, who is commander-in-chief and has branded the protests illegal. A bloody confrontation could, however, occur if the protesters march on the presidential palace and attempt to take it over.
Fifty Egyptian human rights groups called on Mr Mubarak to step down to "avoid bloodshed" yesterday, while pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei gave the President a deadline of Friday to stand down and asked for a "safe exit" for him.
While army helicopters circled overhead in Cairo early today, the roar from the protesters could be heard several kilometres away.
As the push to oust Mr Mubarak reached a crescendo, Australians seeking to flee Egypt were yesterday advised to reach assembly points in the city from where they could be taken by bus to a point near the airport to be flown to Germany.
More DFAT staff would be waiting in Frankfurt to help the evacuees.
As concerns grew that today's Qantas jumbo would not be able to take all the Australians seeking to flee Egypt out of the country, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade head Dennis Richardson said the government would organise as many flights as necessary. "If there are too many for this flight we will have one the next day," said Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade head Dennis Richardson. "We will put on a jumbo a day for as long as it's needed."
Yesterday, 31 Australians left Egypt on flights organised by Canadian authorities. While the Canadians had to pay for the flights, the Australian government will pay for the Australians on those aircraft.
By last night well over 400 Australians had indicated that they wanted to fly out on the government charter, more than enough to fill the first Qantas jumbo.
DFAT officials were working their way through a list of those who "expressed interest" in getting on the government charter flight to avoid duplications and to delete those who'd got out already on commercial flights.
Families and work colleagues trying to find out who was booked on the Qantas jumbo said it had been hard to get information from government officials.
Andrea Connell, headmistress of Sydney Girls High School, said she could not get any information from DFAT about maths teacher Nader Maker who was visiting family in Cairo.
In Cairo, Mr Maker said he had initially not been able to get help from DFAT.
"I contacted the embassy (in Cairo) and they transferred me to Canberra and said we can't do anything," he said. "Canberra said get in contact with the airline, but I can't get in contact with the airline. What can I do?"
After trying the embassy in Cairo again, Mr Maker was able to register for the evacuation flight today. He has been staying in an area that has been heavily attacked by gangs who burnt down a police station. "I saw hell," he said.
He was afraid to even carry his suitcase into the street. "If they see my bag they will take it -- gangs control the area," he said.
Many Australian travellers in Egypt are caught up in a nightmare situation, with no way to get cash at Cairo airport while they are being charged as much as $30 for a bottle of water. Most credit cards do not work.
Mr Richardson said he could understand the frustrations people were feeling.


Egypt crisis: Will Barack Obama trust 80 million Egyptians?
‎Jan 30, 2011‎ - Telegraph.co.uk

Be careful what you wish for in Egypt
‎Jan 30, 2011‎ - ABC Online

US, Israel and Turkey evacuate citizens from Egypt
‎Jan 30, 2011‎ - The Guardian

Dubai Index Falls Most Since May, Leads Mideast Drop
‎Jan 30, 2011‎ - BusinessWeek

In the streets of Cairo, proof Bush was right
‎Jan 29, 2011‎ - Washington Post

With Egypt, Diplomatic Words Often Fail
‎Jan 29, 2011‎ - New York Times

Israelis fear unwinding of political stability
‎Jan 28, 2011‎ - Financial Times

. ...

Why fear the Arab revolutionary spirit?

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What cannot but strike the eye in the revolts in Tunisia and Egypt is the conspicuous absence of Muslim fundamentalism. In the best secular democratic tradition, people simply revolted against an oppressive regime, its corruption and poverty, ...

With Egypt, Diplomatic Words Often Fail

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In June 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stood before an audience of 600 at the American University in Cairo, assailed the Egyptian government for intimidating and locking up protesters and called for President Hosni Mubarak ...

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With the radio tagging of Indian students duped by a fake university in San Francisco triggering outrage in India, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Tuesday said New Delhi will ask Washington how such a 'dubious' institute was allowed to function.'

Tri-Valley fiasco: AP parties want Minister to go to US

Economic Times - ‎12 minutes ago‎

HYDERABAD: An all-party meeting in Andhra Pradesh today demanded that the State Government bring pressure on the Centre to address issues related to ...

Fake varsity issue to figure prominently during talks

Hindustan Times - ‎12 minutes ago‎

With the radio tagging of Indian students duped by a fake university in US triggering outrage in India, India on Tuesday said it will ask Washington how ...

Tri Valley: Parents look for support

Business Standard - Krishna Mohan - ‎41 minutes ago‎

We don't want to speak anything. It will only make matters worse for the children,'' says a parent. Watching her words carefully, she consciously avoids ...



"We will be taking it up with the educational authorities in the US as how it allowed the university to function, how it was allowed to dupe gullible Indian students," said External Affairs Minister SM Krishna while terming the Tri-Valley university as "dubious."

more by SM Krishna - 12 minutes ago - Hindustan Times (14 occurrences)





'Govt probe if students were duped'

Indian Express - ‎3 hours ago‎

Overseas Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi on Sunday criticized the US authorities for their inhuman treatment of radio tagging of duped Indian students ...

Tri Valley University blames Indian-origin staffer for immigration fraud

Economic Times - ‎4 hours ago‎

WASHINGTON: As radio-tagging of scores of Indian students duped by a "sham" US university continues to cause anger back home, the controversial institute ...

India will ask how dubious university was allowed to function

Economic Times - ‎4 hours ago‎

NEW DELHI: Apparently seeking to cool tempers here over Indians being tagged in the US, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna today said the issue should be ...

Duped Indian students in US face uncertain future

Economic Times - ‎7 hours ago‎

HYDERABAD: The Indian students duped by a fake university in the US face an uncertain future as their appeal is not likely to be heard in a court there ...

US to investigate Tri-Valley Varsity scam

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The United States is taking very seriously a civilian case filed against Tri-Valley University of Pleasanton, California. In a court filing, the university, ...

India raises concern over radio tagged students

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New Delhi: The parents of students who have been radio-tagged by US authorities have expressed anger against the management of the Tri-Valley University. ...

Look for bad apples, not just the Big Apple

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The craze to go abroad makes students choose any university regardless of its accreditations. ...

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Tri-Valley fiasco: AP parties want Minister to go to US
‎12 minutes ago‎ - Economic Times

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‎9 hours ago‎ - IBNLive.com

Duped Indian students ignored red flags
‎Jan 30, 2011‎ - Times of India

Hard times ahead for 'sham' US varsity students
‎Jan 30, 2011‎ - Hindustan Times

India lodges strong protest against radio tagging of students
‎Jan 29, 2011‎ - Hindustan Times

India protests radio-tagging of duped Indian students in US
‎Jan 29, 2011‎ - Economic Times

'Students facing deportation have options'
‎Jan 27, 2011‎ - The Hindu


'We will be taking it up with the educational authorities in the US as how it allowed the university to function, how it was allowed to dupe gullible Indian students,' Krishna said, terming the Tri-Valley University as 'dubious'.

Krishna, however, sought to cool the tempers in India, saying the matter related to only '12 to 18 students' out of 108,000 Indian students studying in the US.
'Well, let us understand one thing. There are about 1.8 lakh Indian students in the United States of America. And we are now talking about these 12 or 18 students who have been subjected to this treatment,' Krishna said when asked about the tagging of Indian students.

'I would appeal to the people of the country, and to the media in particular, that we should look at it in the larger perspective of these one lakh and odd Indian students who are pursuing their studies in various universities,' he said.

Some 1,555 students of Tri-Valley University, 90 percent of them from India and mostly from Andhra Pradesh, face the prospect of deportation following the closure of the Pleasanton-based university on charges of selling student visas.'

Earlier, Krishna strongly condemned the radio tagging of Indian students. The practice was 'inhuman', he said and demanded that the US government 'initiate severe action against those officials responsible for this inhuman act'.

'Indian students are not criminals. The radio collars should immediately be removed,' Krishna said in Bangalore Sunday.

The US has, however, vigorously defended the radio tagging of Indian students, saying the practice was a 'standard procedure' for a variety of investigations.
'Use of ankle monitors is widespread across the United States and standard procedure for a variety of investigations, and does not necessarily imply guilt or suspicion of criminal activity,' the US embassy here said in a statement Monday.


Peaceful protesters carried signs saying "Bye, bye Mubarak" and chanted "Take him with you" as helicopters flew overhead.  Effigies of Mr. Mubarak hung from traffic lights.

Military forces are stationed throughout the capital, but were not interfering with the rally crowds.  The army announced earlier it recognizes the "legitimate demands" of the Egyptian people, and pledged not to fire on protesters.

Opposition activist Mohamed ElBaradei told Al Arabiya television that Mr. Mubarak should leave in order for Egyptians to start a "new phase."

Egypt's powerful Muslim Brotherhood and the secular opposition have chosen ElBaradei to represent their side in possible negotiations with the army over Mr. Mubarak's departure.

Thousands gathered for other massive protests in Suez and the northern port city of Alexandria.

National train services were cancelled for a second day and streets leading into Cairo were blocked, continuing what some consider an attempt by authorities to prevent rural residents from joining the urban protests.

An unprecedented Internet cutoff remains in place in Egypt Tuesday.  But Google announced it has created a way for Twitter users to post to the micro-blogging site by dialing a phone number and leaving a voicemail.

Egypt's newly appointed vice president said Mr. Mubarak has asked him to begin immediate discussions with all "political forces" on constitutional and legislative reforms. Omar Suleiman, a longtime intelligence chief and confidant of Mr. Mubarak, did not say what the changes will entail or which groups the government will contact.

The Muslim Brotherhood says it will not negotiate as long as Mr. Mubarak remains in office.

A crisis committee from Egypt's newly formed opposition coalition met Monday to discuss strategy in anticipation of Mr. Mubarak's ouster.  The gathering issued a call for Tuesday's escalated protests but did not reach a final agreement on a list of demands.

At least 140 people died during protest violence in the past week. Mr. Mubarak on Monday replaced the widely reviled interior minister Habib Adly, who was in charge of the police and plainclothes domestic security forces.

The military's central command has been meeting frequently during the past week to review intelligence on the political situation as well as what many see as a growing economic crisis from the continued unrest. Banks and the stock market remained closed for a second day Tuesday.

Are We Witnessing the Start of a Global Revolution?
North Africa and the Global Political Awakening, Part 1


Global Research, January 27, 2011
- 2011-01-26

For the first time in human history almost all of humanity is politically activated, politically conscious and politically interactive... The resulting global political activism is generating a surge in the quest for personal dignity, cultural respect and economic opportunity in a world painfully scarred by memories of centuries-long alien colonial or imperial domination... The worldwide yearning for human dignity is the central challenge inherent in the phenomenon of global political awakening... That awakening is socially massive and politically radicalizing... The nearly universal access to radio, television and increasingly the Internet is creating a community of shared perceptions and envy that can be galvanized and channeled by demagogic political or religious passions. These energies transcend sovereign borders and pose a challenge both to existing states as well as to the existing global hierarchy, on top of which America still perches...

 

The youth of the Third World are particularly restless and resentful. The demographic revolution they embody is thus a political time-bomb, as well... Their potential revolutionary spearhead is likely to emerge from among the scores of millions of students concentrated in the often intellectually dubious "tertiary level" educational institutions of developing countries. Depending on the definition of the tertiary educational level, there are currently worldwide between 80 and 130 million "college" students. Typically originating from the socially insecure lower middle class and inflamed by a sense of social outrage, these millions of students are revolutionaries-in-waiting, already semi-mobilized in large congregations, connected by the Internet and pre-positioned for a replay on a larger scale of what transpired years earlier in Mexico City or in Tiananmen Square. Their physical energy and emotional frustration is just waiting to be triggered by a cause, or a faith, or a hatred...

 

[The] major world powers, new and old, also face a novel reality: while the lethality of their military might is greater than ever, their capacity to impose control over the politically awakened masses of the world is at a historic low. To put it bluntly: in earlier times, it was easier to control one million people than to physically kill one million people; today, it is infinitely easier to kill one million people than to control one million people.[1]

 

- Zbigniew Brzezinski

Former U.S. National Security Advisor

Co-Founder of the Trilateral Commission

Member, Board of Trustees, Center for Strategic and International Studies

 

 

An uprising in Tunisia led to the overthrow of the country's 23-year long dictatorship of President Ben Ali. A new 'transitional' government was formed, but the protests continued demanding a totally new government without the relics of the previous tyranny. Protests in Algeria have continued for weeks, as rage mounts against rising food prices, corruption and state oppression. Protests in Jordan forced the King to call on the military to surround cities with tanks and set up checkpoints. Tens of thousands of protesters marched on Cairo demanding an end to the 30-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. Thousands of activists, opposition leaders and students rallied in the capitol of Yemen against the corrupt dictatorship of President Saleh, in power since 1978. Saleh has been, with U.S. military assistance, attempting to crush a rebel movement in the north and a massive secessionist movement growing in the south, called the "Southern Movement." Protests in Bolivia against rising food prices forced the populist government of Evo Morales to backtrack on plans to cut subsidies. Chile erupted in protests as demonstrators railed against rising fuel prices. Anti-government demonstrations broke out in Albania, resulting in the deaths of several protesters.

 

It seems as if the world is entering the beginnings of a new revolutionary era: the era of the 'Global Political Awakening.' While this 'awakening' is materializing in different regions, different nations and under different circumstances, it is being largely influenced by global conditions. The global domination by the major Western powers, principally the United States, over the past 65 years, and more broadly, centuries, is reaching a turning point. The people of the world are restless, resentful, and enraged. Change, it seems, is in the air. As the above quotes from Brzezinski indicate, this development on the world scene is the most radical and potentially dangerous threat to global power structures and empire. It is not a threat simply to the nations in which the protests arise or seek change, but perhaps to a greater degree, it is a threat to the imperial Western powers, international institutions, multinational corporations and banks that prop up, arm, support and profit from these oppressive regimes around the world. Thus, America and the West are faced with a monumental strategic challenge: what can be done to stem the Global Political Awakening? Zbigniew Brzezinski is one of the chief architects of American foreign policy, and arguably one of the intellectual pioneers of the system of globalization. Thus, his warnings about the 'Global Political Awakening' are directly in reference to its nature as a threat to the prevailing global hierarchy. As such, we must view the 'Awakening' as the greatest hope for humanity. Certainly, there will be mainy failures, problems, and regressions; but the 'Awakening' has begun, it is underway, and it cannot be so easily co-opted or controlled as many might assume.

The reflex action of the imperial powers is to further arm and support the oppressive regimes, as well as the potential to organize a destabilization through covert operations or open warfare (as is being done in Yemen). The alterantive is to undertake a strategy of "democratization" in which Western NGOs, aid agencies and civil society organizations establish strong contacts and relationships with the domestic civil society in these regions and nations. The objective of this strategy is to organize, fund and help direct the domestic civil society to produce a democratic system made in the image of the West, and thus maintain continuity in the international hierarchy. Essentially, the project of "democratization" implies creating the outward visible constructs of a democratic state (multi-party elections, active civil society, "independent" media, etc) and yet maintain continuity in subservience to the World Bank, IMF, multinational corporations and Western powers.


It appears that both of these strategies are being simultaneously imposed in the Arab world: enforcing and supporting state oppression and building ties with civil society organizations. The problem for the West, however, is that they have not had the ability to yet establish strong and dependent ties with civil society groups in much of the region, as ironically, the oppressive regimes they propped up were and are unsurprisingly resistant to such measures. In this sense, we must not cast aside these protests and uprisings as being instigated by the West, but rather that they emerged organically, and the West is subsequently attempting to co-opt and control the emerging movements. 

Part 1 of this essay focuses on the emergence of these protest movements and uprisings, placing it in the context of the Global Political Awakening. Part 2 will examine the West's strategy of "democratic imperialism" as a method of co-opting the 'Awakening' and installing "friendly" governments.
 

The Tunisian Spark

 

A July 2009 diplomatic cable from America's Embassy in Tunisia reported that, "many Tunisians are frustrated by the lack of political freedom and angered by First Family corruption, high unemployment and regional inequities. Extremism poses a continuing threat," and that, "the risks to the regime's long-term stability are increasing."[2]

 

On Friday, 14 January 2011, the U.S.-supported 23-year long dictatorship of Tunisian president Ben Ali ended. For several weeks prior to this, the Tunisian people had risen in protest against rising food prices, stoked on by an immense and growing dissatisfaction with the political repression, and prodded by the WikiLeaks cables confirming the popular Tunisian perception of gross corruption on the part of the ruling family. The spark, it seems, was when a 26-year old unemployed youth set himself on fire in protest on December 17.

 

With the wave of protests sparked by the death of the 26-year old who set himself on fire on December 17, the government of Tunisia responded by cracking down on the protesters. Estimates vary, but roughly 100 people were killed in the clashes. Half of Tunisia's 10 million people are under the age of 25, meaning that they have never known a life in Tunisia outside of living under this one dictator. Since Independence from the French empire in 1956, Tunisia has had only two leaders: Habib Bourguiba and Ben Ali.[3] The Tunisian people were rising up against a great many things: an oppressive dictatorship which has employed extensive information and internet censorship, rising food prices and inflation, a corrupt ruling family, lack of jobs for the educated youth, and a general sense and experience of exploitation, subjugation and disrespect for human dignity.

 

Following the ouster of Ben Ali, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi assumed presidential power and declared a "transitional government." Yet, this just spurred more protests demanding his resignation and the resignation of the entire government. Significantly, the trade union movement had a large mobilizing role in the protests, with a lawyers union being particularly active during the initial protests.[4]



Protests in Tunisia
 

Social media and the Internet did play a large part in mobilizing people within Tunisia for the uprising, but it was ultimately the result of direct protests and action which led to the resignation of Ben Ali. Thus, referring to Tunisia as a "Twitter Revolution" is disingenuous.

Twitter, WikiLeaks, Facebook, Youtube, forums and blogs did have a part to play. They reflect the ability "to collectively transform the Arab information environment and shatter the ability of authoritarian regimes to control the flow of information, images, ideas and opinions."[5] [Editors Note: The US based foundation Freedom House was involved in promoting and training some Middle East North Africa Facebook and Twitter bloggers  (See also Freedom House), M. C.].

We must also keep in mind that social media has not only become an important source of mobilization of activism and information at the grassroots level, but it has also become an effective means for governments and various power structures to seek to manipulate the flow of information. This was evident in the 2009 protests in Iran, where social media became an important avenue through which the Western nations were able to advance their strategy of supporting the so-called 'Green Revolution' in destabilizing the Iranian government. Thus, social media has presented a new form of power, neither black nor white, in which it can be used to either advance the process of the 'Awakening' or control its direction.
 
Whereas America was publicly denouncing Iran for blocking (or attempting to block) social media in the summer of 2009, during the first several weeks of Tunisian protests (which were largely being ignored by Western media), America and the West were silent about censorship.[6] Steven Cook, writing for the elite U.S. think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations, commented on the lack of attention being paid to the Tunisian protests in the early weeks of resistance prior to the resignation of Ben Ali. He explained that while many assume that the Arab "strongmen" regimes will simply maintain power as they always have, this could be mistaken. He stated that, "it may not be the last days of Ben Ali or Mubarak or any other Middle Eastern strongman, but there is clearly something going on in the region." However, it was the end of Ben Ali, and indeed, "there is clearly something going on in the region."[7]

 

France's President Sarkozy has even had to admit that, "he had underestimated the anger of the Tunisian people and the protest movement that ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali." During the first few weeks of protests in Tunisia, several French government officials were publicly supporting the dictatorship, with the French Foreign Minister saying that France would lend its police "knowhow" to help Ben Ali in maintaining order.[8]

 

Days before the ouster of Ben Ali, Hillary Clinton gave an interview in which she explained how America was worried "about the unrest and the instability," and that, "we are not taking sides, but we are saying we hope that there can be a peaceful resolution. And I hope that the Tunisian Government can bring that about." Clinton further lamented, "One of my biggest concerns in this entire region are the many young people without economic opportunities in their home countries."[9] Her concern, of course, does not spur from any humanitarian considerations, but rather from inherent imperial considerations: it is simply harder to control a region of the world erupting in activism, uprisings and revolution.

 

The Spark Lights a Flame

 

Tunisia has raised the bar for the people across the Arab world to demand justice, democracy, accountability, economic stability, and freedom. Just as Tunisia's protests were in full-swing, Algeria was experiencing mass protests, rising up largely as a result of the increasing international food prices, but also in reaction to many of the concerns of the Tunisian protesters, such as democratic accountability, corruption and freedom. A former Algerian diplomat told Al-Jazeera in early January that, "It is a revolt, and probably a revolution, of an oppressed people who have, for 50 years, been waiting for housing, employment, and a proper and decent life in a very rich country."[10]

 

In mid-January, similar protests erupted in Jordan, as thousands took to the streets to protest against rising food prices and unemployment, chanting anti-government slogans. Jordan's King Abdullah II had "set up a special task force in his palace that included military and intelligence officials to try to prevent the unrest from escalating further," which had tanks surrounding major cities, with barriers and checkpoints established.[11]

 

In Yemen, the poorest nation in the Arab world, engulfed in a U.S. sponsored war against its own people, ruled by a dictator who has been in power since 1978, thousands of people protested against the government, demanding the dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. In the capitol city of Sanaa, thousands of students, activists and opposition groups chanted slogans such as, "Get out get out, Ali. Join your friend Ben Ali."[12] Yemen has been experiencing much turmoil in recent years, with a rebel movement in the North fighting against the government, formed in 2004; as well as a massive secessionist movement in the south, called the "Southern Movement," fighting for liberation since 2007. As the Financial Times explained:

 

Many Yemen observers consider the anger and secessionist sentiment now erupting in the south to be a greater threat to the country's stability than its better publicised struggle with al-Qaeda, and the deteriorating economy is making the tension worse.

 

Unemployment, particularly among the young, is soaring. Even the government statistics office in Aden puts it at nearly 40 per cent among men aged 20 to 24.[13]

 


Protest of the Southern Movement in Yemen

On January 21, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Albania, mobilized by the socialist opposition, ending with violent clashes between the police and protesters, leading to the deaths of three demonstrators. The protests have been sporadic in Albania since the widely contested 2009 elections, but took on new levels inspired by Tunisia.[14]

 

Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom stressed concern over the revolutionary sentiments within the Arab world, saying that, "I fear that we now stand before a new and very critical phase in the Arab world." He fears Tunisia would "set a precedent that could be repeated in other countries, possibly affecting directly the stability of our system."[15] Israel's leadership fears democracy in the Arab world, as they have a security alliance with the major Arab nations, who, along with Israel itself, are American proxy states in the region. Israel maintains civil – if not quiet – relationships with the Arab monarchs and dictators. While the Arab states publicly criticize Israel, behind closed doors they are forced to quietly accept Israel's militarism and war-mongering, lest they stand up against the superpower, America. Yet, public opinion in the Arab world is extremely anti-Israel, anti-American and pro-Iran.

 

In July of 2010, the results of a major international poll were released regarding public opinion in the Arab world, polling from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. Among some of the notable findings: while Obama was well received upon entering the Presidency, with 51% expressing optimism about U.S. policy in the region in the Spring of 2009, by Summer 2010, 16% were expressing optimism. In 2009, 29% of those polled said a nuclear-armed Iran would be positive for the region; in 2010, that spiked to 57%, reflecting a very different stance from that of their governments.[16]

 

While America, Israel and the leaders of the Arab nations claim that Iran is the greatest threat to peace and stability in the Middle East, the Arab people do not agree. In an open question asking which two countries pose the greatest threat to the region, 88% responded with Israel, 77% with America, and 10% with Iran.[17]

 

At the Arab economic summit shortly following the ousting of Ben Ali in Tunisia, who was for the first time absent from the meetings, the Tunisian uprising hung heavy in the air. Arab League leader Amr Moussa said in his opening remarks at the summit, "The Tunisian revolution is not far from us," and that, "the Arab citizen entered an unprecedented state of anger and frustration," noting that "the Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and general recession." The significance of this 'threat' to the Arab leaders cannot be understated. Out of roughly 352 million Arabs, 190 million are under the age of 24, with nearly three-quarters of them unemployed. Often, "the education these young people receive doesn't do them any good because there are no jobs in the fields they trained for."[18]

 

There was even an article in the Israeli intellectual newspaper, Ha'aretz, which posited that, "Israel may be on the eve of revolution." Explaining, the author wrote that:

 

Israeli civil society organizations have amassed considerable power over the years; not only the so-called leftist organizations, but ones dealing with issues like poverty, workers' rights and violence against women and children. All of them were created in order to fill the gaps left by the state, which for its part was all too happy to continue walking away from problems that someone else was there to take on. The neglect is so great that Israel's third sector - NGOs, charities and volunteer organizations - is among the biggest in the world. As such, it has quite a bit of power.[19]

 

Now the Israeli Knesset and cabinet want that power back; yet, posits the author, they "have chosen to ignore the reasons these groups became powerful," namely:

 

The source of their power is the vacuum, the criminal policies of Israel's governments over the last 40 years. The source of their power is a government that is evading its duties to care for all of its citizens and to end the occupation, and a Knesset that supports the government instead of putting it in its place.[20]

 

The Israeli Knesset opened investigations into the funding of Israeli human rights organizations in a political maneuver against them. However, as one article in Ha'aretz by an Israeli professor explained, these groups actually – inadvertently – play a role in "entrenching the occupation." As the author explained:

 

Even if the leftist groups' intention is to ensure upholding Palestinian rights, though, the unintentional result of their activity is preserving the occupation. Moderating and restraining the army's activity gives it a more human and legal facade. Reducing the pressure of international organizations, alongside moderating the Palestinian population's resistance potential, enable the army to continue to maintain this control model over a prolonged period of time.[21]

 

Thus, if the Israeli Knesset succeeds in getting rid of these powerful NGOs, they sow the seeds for the pressure valve in the occupied territories to be removed. The potential for massive internal protests within Israel from the left, as well as the possibility of another Intifada – uprising – in the occupied territories themselves would seem dramatically increased. Israel and the West have expressed how much distaste they hold for democracy in the region. When Gaza held a democratic election in 2006 and elected Hamas, which was viewed as the 'wrong' choice by Israel and America, Israel imposed a ruthless blockade of Gaza. Richard Falk, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Inquiry Commission for the Palestinian territories, wrote an article for Al Jazeera in which he explained that the blockade:

 

unlawfully restricted to subsistence levels, or below, the flow of food, medicine, and fuel. This blockade continues to this day, leaving the entire Gazan population locked within the world's largest open-air prison, and victimized by one of the cruelest forms of belligerent occupation in the history of warfare.[22]

 

The situation in the occupied territories is made increasingly tense with the recent leaking of the "Palestinian Papers," which consist of two decades of secret Israeli-Palestinian accords, revealing the weak negotiating position of the Palestinian Authority. The documents consist largely of major concessions the Palestinian Authority was willing to make "on the issues of the right of return of Palestinian refugees, territorial concessions, and the recognition of Israel." Among the leaks, Palestinian negotiators secretly agreed to concede nearly all of East Jerusalem to Israel. Further, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (favoured by Israel and America over Hamas), was personally informed by a senior Israeli official the night before Operation Cast Lead, the December 2008 and January 2009 Israeli assault on Gaza, resulting in the deaths of over 1,000 Palestinians: "Israeli and Palestinian officials reportedly discussed targeted assassinations of Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists in Gaza."[23]

 

Hamas has subsequently called on Palestinian refugees to protest over the concessions regarding the 'right of return' for refugees, of which the negotiators conceded to allowing only 100,000 of 5 million to return to Israel.[24] A former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Egypt lamented that, "The concern will be that this might cause further problems in moving forward."[25] However, while being blamed for possibly preventing the "peace process" from moving forward, what the papers reveal is that the "peace process" itself is a joke. The Palestinian Authority's power is derivative of the power Israel allows it to have, and was propped up as a method of dealing with an internal Palestinian elite, thus doing what all colonial powers have done. The papers, then, reveal how the so-called Palestinian 'Authority' does not truly speak or work for the interests of the Palestinian people. And while this certainly will divide the PA from Hamas, they were already deeply divided as it was. Certainly, this will pose problems for the "peace process," but that's assuming it is a 'peaceful' process in the first part.

 

Is Egypt on the Edge of Revolution?

 

Unrest is even spreading to Egypt, personal playground of U.S.-supported and armed dictator, Hosni Mubarak, in power since 1981. Egypt is the main U.S. ally in North Africa, and has for centuries been one of the most important imperial jewels first for the Ottomans, then the British, and later for the Americans. With a population of 80 million, 60% of which are under the age of 30, who make up 90% of Egypt's unemployed, the conditions are ripe for a repeat in Egypt of what happened in Tunisia.[26]

 

On January 25, 2011, Egypt experienced its "day of wrath," in which tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets to protest against rising food prices, corruption, and the oppression of living under a 30-year dictatorship. The demonstrations were organized through the use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook. When the protests emerged, the government closed access to these social media sites, just as the Tunisian government did in the early days of the protests that led to the collapse of the dictatorship. As one commentator wrote in the Guardian:

 

Egypt is not Tunisia. It's much bigger. Eighty million people, compared with 10 million. Geographically, politically, strategically, it's in a different league – the Arab world's natural leader and its most populous nation. But many of the grievances on the street are the same. Tunis and Cairo differ only in size. If Egypt explodes, the explosion will be much bigger, too.[27]

 

In Egypt, "an ad hoc coalition of students, unemployed youths, industrial workers, intellectuals, football fans and women, connected by social media such as Twitter and Facebook, instigated a series of fast-moving, rapidly shifting demos across half a dozen or more Egyptian cities." The police responded with violence, and three protesters were killed. With tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets, Egypt saw the largest protests in decades, if not under the entire 30-year reign of President Mubarak. Is Egypt on the verge of revolution? It seems too soon to tell. Egypt, it must be remembered, is the second major recipient of U.S. military assistance in the world (following Israel), and thus, its police state and military apparatus are far more advanced and secure than Tunisia's. Clearly, however, something is stirring. As Hilary Clinton said on the night of the protests, "Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people."[28] In other words: "We continue to support tyranny and dictatorship over democracy and liberation." So what else is new?


 

Egyptian Protest, 25 January 2011

According to some estimates, as many as 50,000 protesters turned out in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and other Egyptian cities.[29] The protests were met with the usual brutality: beating protesters, firing tear gas and using water cannons to attempt to disperse the protesters. As images and videos started emerging out of Egypt, "television footage showed demonstrators chasing police down side streets. One protester climbed into a fire engine and drove it away."[30] Late on the night of the protests, rumours and unconfirmed reports were spreading that the first lady of Egypt, Suzanne Mubarak, may have fled Egypt to London, following on the heels of rumours that Mubarak's son, and presumed successor, had also fled to London.[31]

 

Are We Headed for a Global Revolution?

 

During the first phase of the global economic crisis in December of 2008, the IMF warned governments of the prospect of "violent unrest on the streets." The head of the IMF warned that, "violent protests could break out in countries worldwide if the financial system was not restructured to benefit everyone rather than a small elite."[32]

 

In January of 2009, Obama's then-Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the greatest threat to the National Security of the U.S. was not terrorism, but the global economic crisis:

 

I'd like to begin with the global economic crisis, because it already looms as the most serious one in decades, if not in centuries ... Economic crises increase the risk of regime-threatening instability if they are prolonged for a one- or two-year period... And instability can loosen the fragile hold that many developing countries have on law and order, which can spill out in dangerous ways into the international community.[33]

 

In 2007, a British Defence Ministry report was released assessing global trends in the world over the next 30 years. In assessing "Global Inequality", the report stated that over the next 30 years:

 

[T]he gap between rich and poor will probably increase and absolute poverty will remain a global challenge... Disparities in wealth and advantage will therefore become more obvious, with their associated grievances and resentments, even among the growing numbers of people who are likely to be materially more prosperous than their parents and grandparents.  Absolute poverty and comparative disadvantage will fuel perceptions of injustice among those whose expectations are not met, increasing tension and instability, both within and between societies and resulting in expressions of violence such as disorder, criminality, terrorism and insurgency. They may also lead to the resurgence of not only anti-capitalist ideologies, possibly linked to religious, anarchist or nihilist movements, but also to populism and the revival of Marxism.[34]

 

Further, the report warned of the dangers to the established powers of a revolution emerging from the disgruntled middle classes:

 

The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx.  The globalization of labour markets and reducing levels of national welfare provision and employment could reduce peoples' attachment to particular states.  The growing gap between themselves and a small number of highly visible super-rich individuals might fuel disillusion with meritocracy, while the growing urban under-classes are likely to pose an increasing threat to social order and stability, as the burden of acquired debt and the failure of pension provision begins to bite.  Faced by these twin challenges, the world's middle-classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest.[35]

 

We have now reached the point where the global economic crisis has continued beyond the two-year mark. The social repercussions are starting to be felt – globally – as a result of the crisis and the coordinated responses to it. Since the global economic crisis hit the 'Third World' the hardest, the social and political ramifications will be felt there first. In the context of the current record-breaking hikes in the cost of food, food riots will spread around the world as they did in 2007 and 2008, just prior to the outbreak of the economic crisis. This time, however, things are much worse economically, much more desperate socially, and much more oppressive politically.

 

This rising discontent will spread from the developing world to the comfort of our own homes in the West. Once the harsh realization sets in that the economy is not in 'recovery,' but rather in a Depression, and once our governments in the West continue on their path of closing down the democratic façade and continue dismantling rights and freedoms, increasing surveillance and 'control,' while pushing increasingly militaristic and war-mongering foreign policies around the world (mostly in an effort to quell or crush the global awakening being experienced around the world), we in the West will come to realize that 'We are all Tunisians.'

 

In 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr., said in his famous speech "Beyond Vietnam":

 

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.[36]

 

This was Part 1 of "North Africa and the Global Political Awakening," focusing on the emergence of the protest movements primarily in North Africa and the Arab world, but placing it in the context of a wider 'Global Awakening.'
Part 2 will focus on the West's reaction to the 'Awakening' in this region; namely, the two-pronged strategy of supporting oppressive regimes while promoting "democratization" in a grand new project of "democratic imperialism."


Andrew Gavin Marshall is a Research Associate with the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).  He is co-editor, with Michel Chossudovsky, of the recent book, "The Global Economic Crisis: The Great Depression of the XXI Century," available to order at Globalresearch.ca. He is currently working on a forthcoming book on 'Global Government'.


Notes

 

[1]        Zbigniew Brzezinski, The Global Political Awakening. The New York Times: December 16, 2008: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/opinion/16iht-YEbrzezinski.1.18730411.html; "Major Foreign Policy Challenges for the Next US President," International Affairs, 85: 1, (2009); The Dilemma of the Last Sovereign. The American Interest Magazine, Autumn 2005: http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=56; The Choice: Global Domination or Global Leadership. Speech at the Carnegie Council: March 25, 2004: http://www.cceia.org/resources/transcripts/4424.html; America's Geopolitical Dilemmas. Speech at the Canadian International Council and Montreal Council on Foreign Relations: April 23, 2010: http://www.onlinecic.org/resourcece/multimedia/americasgeopoliticaldilemmas

[2]        Embassy Tunis, TROUBLED TUNISIA:  WHAT SHOULD WE DO?, WikiLeaks Cables, 17 July 2009: http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2009/07/09TUNIS492.html

[3]        Mona Eltahawy, Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution, The Washington Post, 15 January 2011: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/AR2011011405084.html

[4]        Eileen Byrne, Protesters make the case for peaceful change, The Financial Times, 15 January 2011: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/82293e38-20ae-11e0-a877-00144feab49a.html#axzz1C08RDtxu

[5]        Marc Lynch, Tunisia and the New Arab Media Space, Foreign Policy, 15 January 2011: http://lynch.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/01/15/tunisia_and_the_new_arab_media_space

[6]        Jillian York, Activist crackdown: Tunisia vs Iran, Al-Jazeera, 9 January 2011: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/01/20111981222719974.html

[7]        Steven Cook, The Last Days of Ben Ali? The Council on Foreign Relations, 6 January 2011: http://blogs.cfr.org/cook/2011/01/06/the-last-days-of-ben-ali/

[8]        Angelique Chrisafis, Sarkozy admits France made mistakes over Tunisia, The Guardian, 24 January 2011: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/24/nicolas-sarkozy-tunisia-protests

[9]        Hillary Rodham Clinton, Interview With Taher Barake of Al Arabiya, U.S. Department of State, 11 January 2011: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/01/154295.htm

[10]      Algeria set for crisis talks, Al-Jazeera, 8 January 2011: http://aljazeera.co.uk/news/africa/2011/01/2011187476735721.html

[11]      Alexandra Sandels, JORDAN: Thousands of demonstrators protest food prices, denounce government, Los Angeles Times Blog, 15 January 2011: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/01/jordan-protests-food-prices-muslim-brotherhood-tunisia-strike-thousands-government.html

[12]      AP, Thousands demand ouster of Yemen's president, Associated Press, 22 January 2011: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g3b2emEy39Bn52Z_haypKxNPGMSw?docId=d324160638a74e84b874baeada16bb4c

[13]      Abigail Fielding-Smith, North-south divide strains Yemen union, The Financial Times, 12 January 2011: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c7c59322-1e80-11e0-87d2-00144feab49a.html#axzz1C08RDtxu

[14]      EurActiv, 'Jasmine' revolt wave reaches Albania, 24 January 2011: http://www.euractiv.com/en/enlargement/jasmine-revolt-wave-reaches-albania-news-501529

[15]      Clemens Höges, Bernhard Zand and Helene Zuber, Arab Rulers Fear Spread of Democracy Fever, Der Spiegel, 25 January 2011: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,741545,00.html

[16]      Shibley Telhami, Results of Arab Opinion Survey Conducted June 29-July 20, 2010, 5 August 2010: http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2010/0805_arab_opinion_poll_telhami.aspx

[17]      Shibley Telhami, A shift in Arab views of Iran, Los Angeles Times, 14 August 2010: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/14/opinion/la-oe-telhami-arab-opinions-20100814

[18]      Clemens Höges, Bernhard Zand and Helene Zuber, Arab Rulers Fear Spread of Democracy Fever, Der Spiegel, 25 January 2011: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,741545,00.html

[19]      Merav Michaeli, Israel may be on the eve of revolution, Ha'aretz, 17 January 2011: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-may-be-on-the-eve-of-revolution-1.337445

[20]      Ibid.

[21]      Yagil Levy, Israeli NGOs are entrenching the occupation, Ha'aretz, 11 January 2011: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israeli-ngos-are-entrenching-the-occupation-1.336331?localLinksEnabled=false

[22]      Richard Falk, Ben Ali Tunisia was model US client, Al-Jazeera, 25 January 2011: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/01/201112314530411972.html

[23]      Jack Khoury and Haaretz Service, Two decades of secret Israeli-Palestinian accords leaked to media worldwide, Ha'arets, 23 January 2011: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/two-decades-of-secret-israeli-palestinian-accords-leaked-to-media-worldwide-1.338768

[24]      Haaretz Service and The Associated Press, Hamas urges Palestinian refugees to protest over concessions on right of return, Ha'aretz, 25 January 2011: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-urges-palestinian-refugees-to-protest-over-concessions-on-right-of-return-1.339120

[25]      Alan Greenblatt, Palestinian Papers May Be Blow To Peace Process, NPR, 24 January 2011: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/24/133181412/palestinian-papers-may-cause-blow-to-peace-process?ps=cprs

[26]      Johannes Stern, Egyptian regime fears mass protests, World Socialist Web Site, 15 January 2011: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jan2011/egyp-j15.shtml

[27]      Simon Tisdall, Egypt protests are breaking new ground, The Guardian, 25 January 2011: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/25/egypt-protests

[28]      Ibid.

[29]      MATT BRADLEY, Rioters Jolt Egyptian Regime, The Wall Street Journal, 26 January 2011: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704698004576104112320465414.html

[30]      Catrina Stewart, Violence on the streets of Cairo as unrest grows, The Independent, 26 January 2011: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/violence-on-the-streets-of-cairo-as-unrest-grows-2194484.html

[31]      IBT, Suzanne Mubarak of Egypt has fled to Heathrow airport in London: unconfirmed reports, International Business Times, 25 January 2011: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/104960/20110125/suzanne-mubarak-of-egypt-has-fled-to-heathrow-airport-in-london-unconfirmed-reports.htm

[32]      Angela Balakrishnan, IMF chief issues stark warning on economic crisis. The Guardian: December 18, 2008: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/16/imf-financial-crisis

[33]      Stephen C. Webster, US intel chief: Economic crisis a greater threat than terrorism. Raw Story: February 13, 2009: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/US_intel_chief_Economic_crisis_greater_0213.html

[34]      DCDC, The DCDC Global Strategic Trends Programme, 2007-2036, 3rd ed. The Ministry of Defence, January 2007: page 3

[35]      Ibid, page 81.

[36]      Rev. Martin Luther King, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City: http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html

 

 


Andrew Gavin Marshall is a frequent contributor to Global Research.  Global Research Articles by Andrew Gavin Marshall
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?aid=22963&context=va
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Egypt revolt is 'step towards Islamic Middle East'
(AFP) – 9 hours ago
TEHRAN — Iran said on Tuesday the uprising in Egypt will help create an Islamic Middle East but accused US officials of interfering in the "freedom seeking" movement which has rocked the Arab nation.
"With the knowledge that I have of the great revolutionary and history making people of Egypt, I am sure they will play their role in creating an Islamic Middle East for all freedom, justice and independence seekers," Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying on state television's website.
Salehi, who was officially endorsed by the Iranian parliament on Sunday as foreign minister, said the uprising in Egypt "showed the need for a change in the region and the end of unpopular regimes."
"The people of Tunisia and Egypt prove that the time of controlling regimes by world arrogance (the West) has ended and people are trying to have their own self-determination," said Salehi, who also currently oversees Iran's controversial nuclear programme.
"Unfortunately we are witnessing the direct interference .... of some American officials in the developments in Egypt," he said, and added the Egyptians were showing "they are no longer ready to stand idle in face of crimes by the Zionist regime."
In the initial days of the Tunisian uprising, Iran had said it was "worried" about the events in that country.
"We are worried about the situation in Tunisia...We hope the Muslim Tunisian nation's demands are fulfilled through peaceful and non-violent means," the foreign ministry had said on January 16.
On Tuesday, Salehi said Iran will offer its support to the protesters in Egypt.
"On our part we are going along with the freedom seekers of the world and support the uprising of the great nation of Egypt. We sympathise with those injured and killed" in the protests, he said.
Egypt has been rocked by deadly protests for more than a week and on Tuesday Egyptians planned more mass marches in their campaign to oust the embattled President Hosni Mubarak.
The USA, a key ally of Cairo, has urged Mubarak to do more to defuse the crisis, with President Barack Obama calling for "an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people."
Iran itself was rocked by similar protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after he was re-elected in June 2009.
Dozens of Iranian protesters who took to Tehran streets were killed in clashes with security forces and militiamen who cracked down on them in a bid to quell what was one of the worst crises in the Islamic republic since the 1979 revolution which toppled the US-backed shah.
Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Related articles

A significant milestone in the development of the Non-Aligned Movement was the 1955 Bandung Conference, a conference of Asian and African states hosted by Indonesian president Sukarno, who gave a significant contribution to promote this movement. The attending nations declared their desire not to become involved in the Cold War and adopted a "declaration on promotion of world peace and cooperation", which included Nehru's five principles. Six years after Bandung, an initiative of Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito led to the first official Non-Aligned Movement Summit, which was held in September 1961 in Belgrade.

At the Lusaka Conference in September 1970, the member nations added as aims of the movement the peaceful resolution of disputes and the abstention from the big power military alliances and pacts. Another added aim was opposition to stationing of military bases in foreign countries.[4]

The founding fathers of the Non-aligned movement were: Sukarno of Indonesia, Jawaharlal Nehru of India, and Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. Their actions were known as 'The Initiative of Five'.

[edit] Organizational structure and membership

The organizational structure and membership are complementary aspects of the group.[8]

Requirements of the Non-Aligned Movement with the key beliefs of the United Nations. The latest requirements are now that the candidate country has displayed practices in accordance with:

  • Respect for fundamental human rights and for the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
  • Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.
  • Recognition of the movements for national independence.
  • Recognition of the equality of all races and of the equality of all nations, large and small.
  • Abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country.
  • Respect for the right of each nation to defend itself singly or collectively, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.
  • Refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country.
  • Settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.
  • Promotion of mutual interests and co-operation.
  • Respect for justice and international obligations.

[edit] Policies and ideology

The South Africa Conference NAM Logo

Secretaries General of the NAM had included such diverse figures as Suharto, an authoritarian anti-communist, and Nelson Mandela, a democratic socialist and famous anti-apartheid activist. Consisting of many governments with vastly different ideologies, the Non-Aligned Movement is unified by its commitment in world peace and security. At the seventh summit held in New Delhi in March 1983, the movement described itself as "history's biggest peace movement".[9] The movement places equal emphasis on disarmament. NAM's commitment to peace pre-dates its formal institutionalisation in 1961. The Brioni meeting between heads of governments of India, Egypt and Yugoslavia in 1956 recognized that there exists a vital link between struggle for peace and endeavours for disarmament.[9]

The Non-Aligned Movement espouses policies and practices of cooperation, especially those that are multilateral and provide mutual benefit to all those involved. Many of the members of the Non-Aligned Movement are also members of the United Nations and both organisations have a stated policy of peaceful cooperation, yet successes that the NAM has had in multilateral agreements tends to be ignored by the larger, western and developed nation dominated UN.[10] African concerns about apartheid were linked with Arab-Asian concerns about Palestine[10] and success of multilateral cooperation in these areas has been a stamp of moderate success. The Non-Aligned Movement has played a major role in various ideological conflicts throughout its existence, including extreme opposition to apartheid regimes and support of liberation movements in various locations including Zimbabwe and South Africa. The support of these sorts of movements stems from a belief that every state has the right to base policies and practices with national interests in mind and not as a result of relations to a particular power bloc.[3] The Non-Aligned Movement has become a voice of support for issues facing developing nations and is still contains ideals that are legitimate within this context.

[edit] Contemporary relevance

Since the end of the Cold War and the formal end of colonialism, the Non-Aligned Movement has been forced to redefine itself and reinvent its purpose in the current world system. A major question has been whether many of its foundational ideologies, principally national independence, territorial integrity, and the struggle against colonialism and imperialism, can be applied to contemporary issues. The movement has emphasised its principles of multilateralism, equality, and mutual non-aggression in attempting to become a stronger voice for the global South, and an instrument that can be utilised to promote the needs of member nations at the international level and strengthen their political leverage when negotiating with developed nations. In its efforts to advance Southern interests, the movement has stressed the importance of cooperation and unity amongst member states,[11] but as in the past, cohesion remains a problem since the size of the organisation and the divergence of agendas and allegiances present the ongoing potential for fragmentation. While agreement on basic principles has been smooth, taking definitive action vis-à-vis particular international issues has been rare, with the movement preferring to assert its criticism or support rather than pass hard-line resolutions.[12] The movement continues to see a role for itself, as in its view, the world's poorest nations remain exploited and marginalised, no longer by opposing superpowers, but rather in a uni-polar world,[13] and it is Western hegemony and neo-colonialism that the movement has really re-aligned itself against. It opposes foreign occupation, interference in internal affairs, and aggressive unilateral measures, but it has also shifted to focus on the socio-economic challenges facing member states, especially the inequalities manifested by globalisation and the implications of neo-liberal policies. The Non-Aligned Movement has identified economic underdevelopment, poverty, and social injustices as growing threats to peace and security.[14]

[edit] Current activities and positions

Criticism of US policy

In recent years the US has become a target of the organisation. The US invasion of Iraq and the War on Terrorism, its attempts to stifle Iran and North Korea's nuclear plans, and its other actions have been denounced as human rights violations and attempts to run roughshod over the sovereignty of smaller nations.[15] The movement's leaders have also criticised the American control over the United Nations and other international structures.

Self-determination of Puerto Rico

Since 1961, the group have supported the discussion of the case of Puerto Rico's self-determination before the United Nations. A resolution on the matter will be proposed on the XV Summit by the Hostosian National Independence Movement.[16]

Self-determination of Western Sahara

Since 1973, the group have supported the discussion of the case of Western Sahara's self-determination before the United Nations.[17] The Non-Aligned Movement reaffirmed in its last meeting (Sharm El Sheikh 2009) the support to the Self-determination of the Sahrawi people by choosing between any valid option, welcomed the direct conversations between the parts, and remembered the responsibility of the United Nations on the Sahrawi issue.[18]

Sustainable development

The movement is publicly committed to the tenets of sustainable development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals, but it believes that the international community has not created conditions conducive to development and has infringed upon the right to sovereign development by each member state. Issues such as globalisation, the debt burden, unfair trade practices, the decline in foreign aid, donor conditionalities, and the lack of democracy in international financial decision-making are cited as factors inhibiting development.[19]

Reforms of the UN

The Non-Aligned Movement has been quite outspoken in its criticism of current UN structures and power dynamics, mostly in how the organisation has been utilised by powerful states in ways that violate the movement's principles. It has made a number of recommendations that would strengthen the representation and power of 'non-aligned' states. The proposed reforms are also aimed at improving the transparency and democracy of UN decision-making. The UN Security Council is the element considered the most distorted, undemocratic, and in need of reshaping.[20]

South-south cooperation

Lately the Non-Aligned Movement has collaborated with other organisations of the developing world, primarily the Group of 77, forming a number of joint committees and releasing statements and document representing the shared interests of both groups. This dialogue and cooperation can be taken as an effort to increase the global awareness about the organisation and bolster its political clout.

Cultural diversity and human rights

The movement accepts the universality of human rights and social justice, but fiercely resists cultural homogenisation. In line with its views on sovereignty, the organisation appeals for the protection of cultural diversity, and the tolerance of the religious, socio-cultural, and historical particularities that define human rights in a specific region.[21]

Working groups, task forces, committees[22]
  • High-Level Working Group for the Restructuring of the United Nations
  • Working Group on Human Rights
  • Working Group on Peace-Keeping Operations
  • Working Group on Disarmament
  • Committee on Palestine
  • Task Force on Somalia
  • Non-Aligned Security Caucus
  • Standing Ministerial Committee for Economic Cooperation
  • Joint Coordinating Committee (chaired by Chairman of G-77 and Chairman of NAM)

[edit] Summits

  1. Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Belgrade, September 1–6, 1961
  2. United Arab Republic Cairo, October 5–10, 1964
  3. Zambia Lusaka, September 8–10, 1970
  4. Algeria Algiers, September 5–9, 1973
  5. Sri Lanka Colombo, August 16–19, 1976
  6. Cuba Havana, September 3–9, 1979
  7. India New Delhi (originally planned for Baghdad), March 7–12, 1983
  8. Zimbabwe Harare, September 1–6, 1986
  9. Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Belgrade, September 4–7, 1989
  10. Indonesia Jakarta, September 1–6, 1992
  11. Colombia Cartagena de Indias, October 18–20, 1995
  12. South Africa Durban, September 2–3, 1998
  13. Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, February 20–25, 2003
  14. Cuba Havana, September 15–16, 2006
  15. Egypt Sharm El Sheikh, July 11–16, 2009
  16. Serbia Belgrade, first week in September 2011
  17. Indonesia Jakarta, second meeting in 2011
  18. Iran Kish Island, 2012

[edit] Secretaries-General

Between summits, the Non-Aligned Movement is run by the secretary-general elected at last summit meeting. As a considerable part of the movement's work is undertaken at the United Nations in New York, the chair country's ambassador to the UN is expected to devote time and effort to matters concerning the Non-Aligned Movement. The Co-ordinating Bureau, also based at the UN, is the main instrument for directing the work of the movement's task forces, committees and working groups.

Secretaries-General of the Non-Aligned Movement
Name Country Party From To
Josip Broz Tito  Yugoslavia League of Communists of Yugoslavia 1961 1964
Gamal Abdel Nasser  United Arab Republic Arab Socialist Union 1964 1970
Kenneth Kaunda  Zambia United National Independence Party 1970 1973
Houari Boumédienne  Algeria Revolutionary Council 1973 1976
William Gopallawa  Sri Lanka Independent 1976 1978
Junius Richard Jayawardene United National Party 1978 1979
Fidel Castro  Cuba Communist Party of Cuba 1979 1983
N. Sanjiva Reddy  India Janata Party 1983
Zail Singh Congress Party 1983 1986
Robert Mugabe  Zimbabwe ZANU-PF 1986 1989
Janez Drnovšek  Yugoslavia Independent 1989 1990
Borisav Jović Socialist Party of Serbia 1990 1991
Stjepan (Stipe) Mesić Croatian Democratic Union 1991
Branko Kostić Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro 1991 1992
Dobrica Ćosić[citation needed] Socialist Party of Serbia 1992
Suharto  Indonesia Partai Golongan Karya 1992 1995
Ernesto Samper Pizano  Colombia Colombian Liberal Party 1995 1998
Andrés Pastrana Arango Colombian Conservative Party 1998
Nelson Mandela  South Africa African National Congress 1998 1999
Thabo Mbeki African National Congress 1999 2003
Mahathir bin Mohammad  Malaysia United Malays National Organisation 2003
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi United Malays National Organisation 2003 2006
Fidel Castro[23]  Cuba Communist Party of Cuba 2006 2008
Raúl Castro Communist Party of Cuba 2008 2009
Hosni Mubarak  Egypt National Democratic Party 14 July 2009 present

[edit] Members

Member states of the Non-Aligned Movement (2009). Light blue states have observer status.
  1.  Afghanistan
  2.  Algeria
  3.  Angola
  4.  Antigua and Barbuda
  5.  Bahamas
  6.  Bahrain
  7.  Bangladesh
  8.  Barbados
  9.  Belarus
  10.  Belize
  11.  Benin
  12.  Bhutan
  13.  Bolivia
  14.  Botswana
  15.  Burma (Myanmar)
  16.  Brunei
  17.  Burkina Faso
  18.  Burundi
  19.  Cambodia
  20.  Cameroon
  21.  Cape Verde
  22.  Central African Republic
  23.  Chad
  24.  Chile
  25.  Colombia
  26.  Comoros
  27.  Congo
  28.  Côte d'Ivoire
  29.  Cuba
  30.  Democratic Republic of the Congo
  31.  Djibouti
  32.  Dominica
  33.  Dominican Republic
  34.  Ecuador
  35.  Egypt
  36.  Equatorial Guinea
  37.  Eritrea
  38.  Ethiopia
  39.  Gabon
  40.  Gambia
  41.  Ghana
  42.  Grenada
  43.  Guatemala
  44.  Guinea
  45.  Guinea-Bissau
  46.  Guyana
  47.  Haiti
  48.  Honduras
  49.  India
  50.  Indonesia
  51.  Iran
  52.  Iraq
  53.  Jamaica
  54.  Jordan
  55.  Kenya
  56.  Kuwait
  57.  Laos
  58.  Lebanon
  59.  Lesotho
  60.  Liberia
  61.  Libya
  62.  Madagascar
  63.  Malawi
  64.  Malaysia
  65.  Maldives
  66.  Mali
  67.  Mauritania
  68.  Mauritius
  69.  Mongolia
  70.  Morocco
  71.  Mozambique
  72.  Namibia
  73.  Nepal
  74.  Nicaragua
  75.  Niger
  76.  Nigeria
  77.  North Korea
  78.  Oman
  79.  Pakistan
  80.  Palestine
  81.  Panama
  82.  Papua New Guinea
  83.  Peru
  84.  Philippines
  85.  Qatar
  86.  Rwanda
  87.  Saint Lucia
  88.  Saint Kitts and Nevis
  89.  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  90.  São Tomé and Príncipe
  91.  Saudi Arabia
  92.  Senegal
  93.  Seychelles
  94.  Sierra Leone
  95.  Singapore
  96.  Somalia
  97.  South Africa
  98.  Sri Lanka
  99.  Sudan
  100.  Suriname
  101.  Swaziland
  102.  Syria
  103.  Tanzania
  104.  Thailand
  105.  Timor-Leste
  106.  Togo
  107.  Trinidad and Tobago
  108.  Tunisia
  109.  Turkmenistan
  110.  Uganda
  111.  United Arab Emirates
  112.  Uzbekistan
  113.  Vanuatu
  114.  Venezuela
  115.  Vietnam
  116.  Yemen
  117.  Zambia
  118.  Zimbabwe

[edit] Former members

  1.  Argentina[citation needed]
  2.  North Yemen[citation needed]
  3.  South Yemen[citation needed]
  4.  Cyprus[citation needed]
  5.  Malta[citation needed]
  6.  Yugoslavia[citation needed]

[edit] Observers

The following countries and organizations have observer status:[24]

[edit] Countries

[edit] Organisations

[edit] Guests

There is no permanent guest status,[25] but often several non-member countries are represented as guests at conferences. In addition, a large number of organisations, both from within the UN system and from outside, are always invited as guests.

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.namegypt.org/en/AboutName/MembersObserversAndGuests/Pages/default.aspx
  2. ^ Fidel Castro speech to the UN in his position as chairman of the non-aligned countries movement 12 October 1979; Pakistan & Non-Aligned Movement, Board of Investment - Government of Pakistan, 2003
  3. ^ a b Grant, Cedric. "Equity in Third World Relations: a third world perspective." International Affairs 71, 3 (1995), 567-587.
  4. ^ a b Suvedi, Suryaprasada (1996). Land and Maritime Zones of Peace in International Law. Oxford University Press. pp. 169–170. ISBN 0198260962. 
  5. ^ http://www.nam.gov.za/background/members.htm
  6. ^ Lai Kwon Kin (September 2, 1992). "Yugoslavia casts shadow over non-aligned summit". The Independent @ Independent.co.uk. Independent News and Media Limited. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/yugoslavia-casts-shadow-over-nonaligned-summit-1548802.html. Retrieved 2009-09-26. "Iran and several other Muslim nations want the rump state of Yugoslavia kicked out, saying it no longer represents the country which helped to found the movement." 
  7. ^ Najam, Adil (2003). "Chapter 9: The Collective South in Multinational Environmental Politics". In Nagel, Stuard. Policymaking and prosperity: a multinational anthology. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books. p. 233. ISBN 0-7391-0460-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=eCVZ5Vir2e0C&pg=PA233&f=false#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 2009-11-10. "Turkmenistan, Belarus and Dominican Republic are the most recent entrants. The application of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Costa Rica were rejected in 1995 and 1998. Yugoslavia has been suspended since 1992." 
  8. ^ NAM Background Information
  9. ^ a b Ohlson, Thomas; Stockholm (1988). Arms Transfer Limitations and Third World Security. Oxford University Press. pp. 198. ISBN 0198291248. 
  10. ^ a b Morphet, Sally. "Multilateralism and the Non-Aligned Movement: What Is the Global South Doing and Where Is It Going?" Global Governance 10 (2004), 517–537
  11. ^ http://www.ipsterraviva.net/TV/Noal/en/default.asp. See "Putting Differences Aside," Daria Acosta, September 18, 2006.
  12. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2798187.stm#facts. BBC Profile, BBC News, January 30, 2008.
  13. ^ http://www.nam.gov.za/xiisummit/chap1.htm. See no. 10-11 in Durban Summit 'Final Document.'
  14. ^ http://www.nam.gov.za/xiisummit/chap1.htm. See no.16-22 in Durban Summit 'Final Document.'
  15. ^ http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/09/16/nonalign.html. "Non-aligned nations slam U.S.," CBC News, September 16, 2006.
  16. ^ [1]
  17. ^ 3162 (XXVIII) Question of Spanish Sahara. U.N. General assembly 28th session, 1973.
  18. ^ XV Summit of heads of state and government of the Non Aligned Movement - Final Document. Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.16-04-2009. See points 237, 238 & 239.
  19. ^ http://espana.cubanoal.cu/ingles/index.html. See "Statement on the implementation of the Right to Development," January 7, 2008.
  20. ^ http://www.nam.gov.za/xiisummit/chap1.htm. See no.55 in Durban Summit 'Final Document.'
  21. ^ http://espana.cubanoal.cu/ingles/index.html. See "Declaration on the occasion of celebrating Human Rights Day."
  22. ^ http://www.nam.gov.za/background/background.htm#2.4. NAM background information.
  23. ^ Fidel Castro, having recently undergone gastric surgery, was unable to attend the conference and was represented by his younger brother, Cuba's acting president Raúl Castro. See "Castro elected President of Non-Aligned Movement Nations", People's Daily, 16-09-2006.
  24. ^ Member and Observer Countries, Non-Aligned Movement
  25. ^ NAM Background Information

[edit] External links

  • Oil prices steady as investors eye Egypt protest

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    Egypt angst pushes oil price to $100 a barrel

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    <div class="video-thumb thumbnail"><a class="js-link thumbnail-toggle" href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="return false;"><img src="//i.ytimg.com/vi/0v0HqdvtTOw/default.jpg" alt="" class="thumbnail" width="120" height="90"> <div class="icon play-icon"></div></a></div> <div class="video-details"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v0HqdvtTOw">Egypt angst pushes oil price to $100 a barrel</a> <span class="source">euronews</span> &nbsp;-&nbsp; 6 hours ago <div class="icon video-icon"></div> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v0HqdvtTOw">Watch video</a></div>






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    Egypt Turmoil Threatens U.S. Economy

                        

    By Chris Stirewalt

       

    Published February 01, 2011

    | FoxNews.com

           


    The Middle East in Revolt

    After decades of living under oppressive dictatorships, the people of the Arab world are rising up to stake their claim to democracy. Inside the historic popular upheaval that began in Tunisia and is spreading to Egypt and across the vital region

       
       
            

                                                

    As Egypt's Crisis Grows, So Do the Anxieties in Israel

                                       

                    Karl Vick / Jerusalem

           

                 


       

                                 

    A boy holds a defaced poster of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, Jan. 30, 2011

    Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

                

       

       

                 

                                                                    

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu firmly ordered his government not to comment on events in Egypt, but the headlines in the Sunday morning papers got the main point across well enough: "A 30-Year Step Backward," "What Frightens Us," "All Alone."

    The banners matched the stakes. Egypt under President Hosni Mubarak observed the 1979 peace treaty with the Jewish state, helped put pressure on Hamas from Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, nursed peace talks with the Palestinians, worked to thwart Iran and along the way provided Israel with 40% of its natural gas. (See TIME's photos of the turmoil in Egypt.)

    Most important to a tiny, heavily militarized country preoccupied with risk reduction, analysts say, Mubarak's posture toward Israel served to restrain other Arab states — not to mention the 80 million Egyptians whose attitudes about Israel are among the most negative in the world, according to polls.

    Whatever new government might emerge from the historic demonstrations across Egypt — populist, Islamist or national unity — "there can be no doubt that the new regime will seek to deal the peace with Israel a very public blow," Eli Shaked, a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt, writes in the daily Yedioth Ahronoth. "The only people in Egypt who are committed to peace are the people in Mubarak's inner circle."

    So that was why Israelis welcomed Mubarak's appointment of intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as his first-ever Vice President. The mustachioed spymaster and former general was a regular visitor to Israel, where he consulted with Israeli defense and intelligence officials on the many issues the two countries held in common in what may have been a "cold peace," but one that has lasted three decades. (See how Hillary Clinton is dialing up the pressure on Mubarak.)

    "Egypt and Israel had common strategic interests. To say they were allies is too much: they were not at war," says Shlomo Avineri, a political scientist at Hebrew University. "It is the premier Arab country, and no other country would go to war without Egypt. So there was a substructure of common strategic interest."

    Avineri, who held a senior position in the Foreign Ministry of Yitzhak Rabin, describes two possibilities: military rule, with or without Mubarak as figurehead, or "chaos and disintegration" that ends with rule by Islamists and nationalists descended from Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egypt's second President. Israelis most dread the ascent of the Muslim Brotherhood, the most organized political opposition in Egypt, which like other Arab societies has grown more religious and conservative in recent decades.

    "What will not come to pass is that Israel will have a democratic neighbor, because democracies don't appear overnight," Avineri tells TIME. "Look at Russia. You need a civil society. You need political tradition, pluralism, tolerance, existence of effective parties."

    Israeli press reports described a weekend of frantic meetings in the upper echelons of government. The Israeli Defense Forces, which have concentrated most of their attention on the borders with Lebanon and Gaza, were described as preparing new deployments to the south, where Israel fought wars with Egypt four times. U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks last year included diplomats' complaints that the Egyptian military continued to regard Israel as its principal enemy and prepared for war in the Sinai Desert, which lies between them. (See how Israel is backing Mubarak.)

    "I have no doubt that the whole defense establishment will now ask for bigger budgets and say, 'Well, we have to adjust ourselves to a situation where Egypt is not the cooperative partner we had until a week ago,'" says Oded Eran, director of the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank brimming with retired generals. "Egypt is sort of the beacon or marker for security tension, for dangers with the Arab world."

    No one pretends to know the implications. After Egypt signed a peace treaty, Jordan followed, then the Palestine Liberation Organization. In time, the Arab League went from calling for war with Israel to formulating a 2002 plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with two states. (Comment on this story.)

    But from the Israeli perspective, some of the dangers are immediate. Al-Jazeera aired an interview with an Islamic militant who in the chaos of the past few days had escaped a Cairo jail and made his way back to Gaza, where he pledged to resume attacks on Israel. He said thousands escaped with him.

    "Yes, we are very, very worried about the situation," says an Israeli general. The officer spoke privately in observance of the government's order of radio silence, a harm-reduction measure Netanyahu reaffirmed in brief remarks to reporters before Sunday's regular Cabinet meeting. He had spoken with both President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton overnight. "At this time, we must show responsibility and restraint and maximum consideration," the Prime Minister said. "The peace between Israel and Egypt has lasted for more than three decades and our objective is to ensure that these relations will continue to exist."

    — With reporting by Aaron J. Klein / Jerusalem

    See President Obama's response to the turmoil in Egypt.

    See TIME's most unforgettable images of 2010.

                                     View the full list for "The Middle East in Revolt"

            

                


    Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2045328_2045333_2045166,00.html #ixzz1Cj18EUnm

           

    Middle East Turmoil Threatens U.S. Recovery

    "270,000"

    -- The forecast for U.S. job losses in the next year from IHS Global Insight if oil prices increase by only $11 a barrel as a result of the Mideast crisis

    Rising prices for food and fuel helped drive the uprisings racking the Middle East, now those uprisings are pushing prices higher still and threatening America's economic recovery.

    Prices had been on the rise for months around the world as increased demand following a long recession – especially driven by economic booms in China and India – squeezed available resources.

               

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    Massive increases in the cost of staples like flour and cooking fuel helped stoke popular anger in the poor countries in the Middle East and could do the same elsewhere. Note well that the ChiComs are heavily censoring the news on the Arab uprising lest their inflation-strained subjects get any funny ideas.

    In the U.S., increased competition and rising domestic demand augmented by a regulatory crackdown on the energy sector – particularly oil and coal -- has driven a still relatively modest increase in food and fuel prices. Enough to be a small drag on recovery, but not stifle it.

    In Europe, though, inflation is already sinking in its fangs.

    Central bankers and heads of state are preparing to jack up interest rates and tighten monetary supplies in an effort to prevent runaway inflation. When President Obama asked his fellow leaders to keep pushing stimulus, as he is here, they refused, largely on the grounds they feared inflation.

    Here, the Federal Reserve has been gushing cheap dollars into the economy for three years and the Obama Democrats have ramped up spending and borrowing to historic highs all in effort to stave off what they said would have been another Great Depression.

    But now, economists fear that there will be too many dollars chasing too few goods and that a serious inflationary cycle could begin. As those who endured the 1970s will attest, once begun, an inflationary cycle is hard to shake. Every bit of growth is gobbled up by inflation, and people lose ground in their personal finances.

    Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Obama have promised that they can switch from stimulus to inflation control at precisely the right moment. But turmoil in the Middle East could trump their abilities to make the transition.

    If oil prices shoot up because of concerns over access to the Suez Canal or instability inside significant petroleum producers in the region, it could kick start inflation here. High gas prices push other prices up and with bushels of cheap dollars available, there is little check on costs rising faster than stagnant wages can match.

    Inflation stalls recoveries, but so do the steps necessary to prevent inflation – like tightening monetary policy and raising interest rates.

    Our stimulus bubble is pretty big, and while Obama and Bernanke promise to let the air out in an orderly fashion, problems abroad could pop it instead.


    Mubarak Out of Options

    "There are more pro-Islamic, anti-Israel -- I would say maybe even maybe anti-U.S. – forces than pure democrats, as the way we understand it."

    -- Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" discussing the leaders of the Egyptian uprising

    Today may see the end of the 30-year reign of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the picture of a troublesome U.S. ally. He has been a stalwart friend in an unstable region, helped protect Israel, all while operating a police state that violates basic American principles of freedom.

    Just as the Egyptian military in 1981 installed Mubarak, the former commander of the nation's air force, now the military will uninstall him. But to be replaced with whom?

    The military has given license to a one million-person protest march in Cairo today, praising the "great people of Egypt" and promising to leave them unharmed. By encouraging and protecting this massive demonstration, the message from the military to Mubarak: time to go.

    Mubarak has responded by offering to open up talks with opposition leaders, offering up his new vice president, formerly the head of his much-hated intelligence service, for parley.

    This is a tacit admission by Mubarak that he will not endure the current crisis and is looking to negotiate the terms of his departure.

    The military has picked the leaders of Egypt since the 1952 revolution that toppled the Ali Pasha dynasty that had ruled for 150 years. Of course Ali Pasha was himself a general who took power and during the preceding 1,800 years that Egypt was a province of a larger empire, the local military commander usually led the nation. So you can say that Egypt has been under military rule since Julius Caesar.

    But in the modern era, Egypt has had three presidents, Gamal Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Mubarak, who all rose from the military ranks. Mubarak is by far the longest serving. Nasser died of a heart attack in 1970, Sadat was killed by Islamists in 1981 and Mubarak has reigned ever since.

    What's challenging here is that Mubarak has lived so long.

    The military did not much like Mubarak's elevation of his police and intelligence services in recent years and will likely be unimpressed by the offering of the state spymaster as successor.

    The general corps no doubt has some options in mind for the successor -- perhaps just-ousted field marshal of the nation's million-man army, 74-year-old Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.

    After Sadat's assassination, power was temporarily shifted to the head of the Egyptian parliament while Mubarak's installation could be arranged. If the sight of a million marchers flanked by tanks and columns of troops is enough to get Mubarak to bow out and retire to Europe to count his purloined millions, a similar transitional arrangement might be made.

    Mubarak's police may be cruel, but they are vastly outnumbered. And there is now a special U.S. envoy on the ground, former Ambassador Frank Wisner, with a message for Mubarak. An old friend to Mubarak, Wisner will likely be there to help him think through his exit strategy.

    If the elections, currently slated for September, can be moved up to a date soon enough to satisfy protestors but far enough away to let passions subside and let the military consolidate power – say, May – power could temporarily shift to some functionary with the blessing of the generals. Then, a suitable replacement can be offered up by the country's ruling party and confirmed by a vote.

    This is likely the best case scenario for the U.S. as it promises the greatest degree of stability and least chance for plunging the cornerstone of the Arab world into chaos which might wreck the global economy and produce a new Islamist state bent on renewing war with Israel.


    Obama Vision for Egypt Includes Muslim Brotherhood

    "…the Muslim Brotherhood is part of the fabric of Egyptian society."

    -- A U.S. official talking to the Wall Street Journal about Obama administration efforts to encourage the formation of a new ruling coalition in Egypt

    Mohammed ElBaradei, the former U.N. official who thwarted U.S. attempts to end Iran's nuclear program, is trying to form a coalition with the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that wants to turn Egypt into a theocracy.

    ElBaradei is also praising the forbearance of the military for not squashing the protests. But he also envisions civilian control of the military and free elections, something the generals are not likely to find too groovy.

    While the military, the Muslims, the secularist reformers and ElBaradei all agree that it's time for Mubarak to go, they will likely be very much at odds over how to replace him.

    The military is not keen on the idea of losing control to the Islamists, which is what a snap election might bring. If ElBaradei were to take power with the help of the Muslim Brotherhood, one can see that the Islamists would soon take power from ElBaradei. They might appreciate his longtime support for Iran's nuclear program, but that won't protect him once things get going.

    Just as Hezbollah has shown in Lebanon, a coalition government that includes Islamists can quickly become an Islamist government. It is not a movement that leaves much room for compromise. To make an inexact analogy, the Muslim Brotherhood would be like Sinn Fein in Ireland, while Al Qaeda is like the IRA. They pursue the same goals, one politically, the other through terrorism.

    Reports today suggest that the Obama White House is looking for friends in the ElBaradei/Islamist coalition. Strategic leaks from the administration point to ongoing talks and encouragement of ElBaradei. Having taken a deliberately lighter touch on Mubarak's abuses of his people, the Obama administration seems to be looking to make the most of the current crisis to move Egypt into real democracy, rather than military-sanctioned semi-democracy.

    That plan could include the encouragement of a coalition that includes Islamists.

    But while the U.S. can provide intelligence and public encouragement to the ElBaradei/Islamist coalition, the military seems unlikely to step aside to let a coalition of student groups and Muslim hardliners led by a U.N. bureaucrat take control of the country.

    If the army doesn't get to call the shots, there's a chance that real shooting will start. While we may find the idea of more than 300 dead in the protests and clashes so far shocking, by the rougher standards of the region and the size of the uprising, this looks like a Tea Party rally. That relative tranquility will not endure if the army sees a real threat from the imams.


    Senate Ponders Obamacare Changes as Legal Challenges Mount

    "Every person throughout the course of his or her life makes hundreds or even thousands of life decisions that involve the same general sort of thought process that the defendants maintain is 'economic activity.' There will be no stopping point if that should be deemed the equivalent of activity for Commerce Clause purposes."

    -- U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson striking down President Obama's national health care law, which forbids any American from not buying health insurance or being enrolled in a government program

    A judge's ruling Monday was a vindication for those who argued the federal government did not have the right to punish citizens for refusing to engage in commerce.

    The Constitution gives the feds broad power to regulate commerce, but conservatives argue that there is no allowance for the federal government to require people to engage in commerce, as President Obama's national health care law does.

    The Obama law says that as a condition of living in the United States, everyone must either buy private insurance or show that they are enrolled in a qualified government health program.

    U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson took a hammer to that notion in his ruling, and said that the mandatory purchase of insurance was so central to the legislation that the entire law had to be struck down.

    The appeals process will likely include a stay on Vinson's order overturning the law and the case will wend its way to the Supreme Court some time before the middle of next year.

    And while the administration is dismissing Vinson's ruling as judicial activism that will be wiped away on appeal, members of Congress saw Tuesday what a conservative ruling from Chief Justice John Roberts' Supreme Court might look like. It might not be just a partial defeat; it could be a total wipeout for the president's law.

    This realization will increase interest in the proposals knocking around in the Senate to strip the constitutionally controversial elements from the law.

    The irony here for the left is that while the liberal preference for a government-run insurance program to provide universal coverage would be undoubtedly constitutional, Obama's compromise of forcing private companies to cover everyone but then forcing everyone to buy private insurance is in serious doubt. Obama gave up on the so-called "public option" because he said it was politically infeasible, but his solution may be legally infeasible.

    While a government plan might have passed when Democrats held both chambers, it's off the table now.

    Instead, Republicans and moderate Democrats in the Senate are engaged in a clammy courtship over dealing with the president's mandatory insurance provisions. The danger for Obama's law is that experts pro and con agree that without the power to compel people to buy insurance, the plan will collapse.

    Even so, given the prospect of a legal loss and the total destruction of the law, moderate Dems may prefer to salvage something from the law – perhaps more liberal standards for existing government programs or some new regulation of the insurance industry.

    The Senators to watch for signs of the start of a compromise would be Nebraska's Ben Nelson, West Virginia's Joe Manchin, Missouri's Claire McCaskill, Connecticut's Joe Lieberman, Virginia's Jim Webb and Oregon's Ron Wyden.

    All 47 Republicans in the Senate have now signed on as co-sponsors of the House bill repealing the Obama law entirely. That's not happening, but there could be 13 votes on the Democratic side for something that undoes the central provision of the law.

    While President Obama is out talking about the need for government spending on green energy, his domestic agenda may increasingly be given over to defending his signature legislation.


    From the 2012 Quote File

    "He's got all this soaring rhetoric, but the fact of the matter is he's chicken to address the real issues."

    -- Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, R-Minn., on "FOX & Friends" discussing president Obama's scant mentions of spending and entitlement cuts in his State of the Union address


    And Now, A Word From Charles

    "Look, everybody would like to have a democratic outcome, but you have to be a child to think that it is the inevitable outcome of this revolution. You have to be a wild-eyed optimist to say it's even the most likely outcome. People say the revolution is broad-based. Of course it is. So was the French and Russian and Iranian."

    -- Charles Krauthammer on "Special Report with Bret Baier" discussing the Egyptian uprising.

                         


    Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/02/01/egypt-turmoil-threatens-economy/#ixzz1Cj07F6mI


    Feb 01, 2011

    As protests swell in Egypt, U.S. ambassador reportedly speaks to ElBaradei

    05:08 AM


    Share18

    By Douglas Stanglin, USA TODAY

    400 Comments


    1 Recommend

    At bottom, hundreds of Egyptians gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square in the morning. Top: Later in the day, tens of thousands join them.

    CAPTION

    By Khaled Desouki, AFP/Getty Images

    Update at 10:50 a.m. ET: As hundreds of thousands of protesters pack into central Cairo, opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei says President Hosni Mubarak "must leave to avoid bloodshed."

    AFP, quoting U.S. officials, says U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey spoke today with opposition leader ElBaradei.

    AFP quotes unidentified sources in Washington as saying the ambassador told the Nobel laureate that the United States "is interested in a political change in Egypt, but that the U.S. government won't dictate the path which Cairo must follow."

    Update at 9:56 a.m. ET: Meanwhile the U.S. State Department has ordered non-essential U.S. government personnel and their families to leave the country amid the growing anti-government protests and uncertainty over the security situation.

    It said it had taken the step "in light of recent events," the Associated Press reports

    Earlier posting: ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate, tells the broadcaster al-Arabiya,

    A mother carries her daughter on her shoulders with the word

    CAPTION

    By Mohammed Abed, AFP/Getty Images

    "We are already discussing the post-Mubarak era," Reuters reports.

    "There can be dialogue but it has to come after the demands of the people are met and the first of those is that President Mubarak leaves," he says.

    "I hope to see Egypt peaceful and that's going to require as a first step the departure of President Mubarak. If President Mubarak leaves, then everything will progress correctly," he adds.

    Meawhile, Muslim Brotherhoood leader Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotquh says the opposition refuses to negotiate with Mubarak or his government.

    "Our first job is to see Mubarak step down," he tells AlJazeera TV. He says Mubarak is the one responsible for the "catastrophe" in Egypt.

    Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is calling on Egyptian President to meet the "freedom demands" of protesters. Erdon has also postponed his planned trip to Cairo next week util "the situation returns to normal," the AP reports.

    "Listen to people's outcries and extremely humanistic demands," Erdogan says today in a televised address to members of the ruling AK Party, Reuters reports. "Meet the freedom demands of people without a doubt."

    ElBaradei seen as a temporary leader.

    Key Muslim groups support protest.

    Update at 6:52 a.m. ET:Hundreds of thousands of protesters are packing Cairo's Tahrir Square in the largest challenge to the embattled regime of President Hosni Mubarak in a week of demonstrations, USA TODAY's Jim Michaels and Theodore May report.

    AlJazeera TV estimates the crowd in the square at near one million. The network also reports that tens of thousands of protesters are being held on nearby Kasr Al Nile bridge nearby and that roads into the heart of the city have been blocked.

    Soldiers ring the square, but are letting protesters pass after checking them for IDs and weapons.

    The demonstration is under tight army security, but both sides have avoided confrontations. The army has pledged not to use force against demonstrators as long as they are nonviolent.

    There is almost a carnival atmosphere in the square, with some people painting their face in the red, white and black national colors. Many fathers have hoisted their children on their shoulders.

    The protesters are insisting, however, that Mubarak step down and have rejected his efforts to call on his vice president to open talks with other parties.

    "If he doesn't leave, the protest will go on until he does," says Wael Abu Halawa, a 35-year-old imam who joined the protested this morning.

    At the center of the protest are two effigies of Mubarak hanging from a traffic signal. One has the Star of David painted on the chest.

    The crowds remain in a positive mood as the pack into the square under sunny skies.

    Other Egyptians watching from the balconies around the square are tossing dates and bottles of water to the crowds that flow by chanting ""We're not going. He needs to go!"

    Earlier posting: Tens of thousands of protesters have gathered Cairo's Tahrir Square and thousands more are streaming into the area past soldiers who have formed a human chain to check demonstrators for IDs and weapons as they enter, AlJazeera reports.

    The crowds have gathered despite a cutoff of phone lines, internet and train service in an attempt by authorities to thwart the protesters.

    Tanks have been position near the square, AlJazeera reports, but the military so far has maintained its non aggressive posture. The armed forces pledged in a statement on national TV on Monday not to use force against protesters exercising their "legitimate" rights as long as they are nonviolent.

    A military spokesman said the military "has not and will not use force against the public" and underlined that "the freedom of peaceful expression is guaranteed for everyone," the Associated Press reports.

    Mubarak has rejected the protesters' demands and instead as named a vice president, Omar Suleiman, and ordered him to open talks with others parties and factions.

    Protesters are demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. AlJazeera TV says the crowds will go from the square toward the presidential palace later today.

    .

       


       


    http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/02/hundreds-of-thousands-of-protesters-gather-in-cairos-tahrir-square/1


    1 February 2011 Last updated at 15:02 GMT    


    Palestine

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    An 1890 map of Palestine as described by medieval Arab geographers, with Jund Filastin administrative area

    Palestine (Greek: Παλαιστίνη, Palaistinē; Latin: Palaestina; Hebrew: ארץ־ישראל Eretz-Yisra'el, (formerly also פלשׂתינה, Palestina); Arabic: فلسطينFilasṭīn, Falasṭīn, Filisṭīn) is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.[1][not in citation given][2][not in citation given]

    Other terms for the same area include Canaan, Zion, the Land of Israel, and the Holy Land. Southern Levant is another purely geographic term, often implemented for the region, which does not have political or theologic implications.[3]

    Contents

    [hide]

    Origin of name

    The name "Palestine" is the cognate of an ancient word meaning "Philistines" or "Land of the Philistines".[4][5]

    The earliest known mention is thought to be in Ancient Egyptian texts of the temple at Medinet Habu which record a people called the P-r-s-t (conventionally Peleset) among the Sea Peoples who invaded Egypt in Ramesses III's reign.[6] The Hebrew name Peleshet (פלשת Pəléshseth)- usually translated as Philistia in English, is used in the Bible to denote the southern coastal region that was inhabited by the Philistines to the west of the ancient Kingdom of Judah.[7]

    The Assyrian emperor Sargon II called the same region Palashtu or Pilistu in his Annals.[4][5][5][8] In the 5th century BC, Herodotus wrote in Ancient Greek of a 'district of Syria, called Palaistinê".[9][10][11] William Beloe notes that "It should be remembered that Syria is always regarded by Herodotus as synonymous with Assyria. What the Greeks called Palestine the Arabs call Falastin, which is the Philistines of Scripture."[12] This is confirmed by George Rawlinson in the third book (Thalia) of The Histories where Palaestinian Syrians are part of the fifth tax district spanning the territory from Phoenicia to the borders of Egypt, but excludes the kingdom of Arabs who were exempt from tax for providing the Assyrian army with water on its march to Egypt. These people had a large city called Cadytis, identified as Jerusalem,[13] and what Herodotus means is Syria (Assyria) of Palestine.

    According to Moshe Sharon, Palaestina was commonly used to refer to the coastal region and shortly thereafter, the whole of the area inland to the west of the Jordan River.[4] The latter extension occurred when the Roman authorities, following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba Revolt in the 2nd century AD, renamed "Provincia Judea" (Iudaea Province; originally derived from the name "Judah") to "Syria Palaestina" (Syria Palaestina), in order to complete the dissociation with Judaea.[14][15] Robinson, writing in 1865 when travel by Europeans to the Ottoman Empire became common asserts that, "Palestine, or Palestina, now the most common name for the Holy Land, occurs three times in the English version of the Old Testament; and is there put for the Hebrew name פלשת, elsewhere rendered Philistia. As thus used, it refers strictly and only to the country of the Philistines, in the southwest corner of the land. So, too, in the Greek form, Παλαςτίνη), it is used by Josephus. But both Josephus and Philo apply the name to the whole land of the Hebrews ; and Greek and Roman writers employed it in the like extent."[16]

    During the Byzantine period, the entire region (Syria Palestine, Samaria, and the Galilee) was named Palaestina, subdivided into provinces Palaestina I and II.[17] The Byzantines also renamed an area of land including the Negev, Sinai, and the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula as Palaestina Salutaris, sometimes called Palaestina III.[17]

    The Arabic word for Palestine is Philistine (commonly transcribed in English as Filistin, Filastin, or Falastin).[18] Moshe Sharon writes that when the Arabs took over Greater Syria in the 7th century, place names that were in use by the Byzantine administration before them, generally continued to be used. Hence, he traces the emergence of the Arabic form Filastin to this adoption, with Arabic inflection, of Roman and Hebrew (Semitic) names.[4] Jacob Lassner and Selwyn Ilan Troen offer a different view, writing that Jund Filastin, the full name for the administrative province under the rule of the Arab caliphates, was traced by Muslim geographers back to the Philistines of the Bible.[19]

    The use of the name "Palestine" in English became more common after the European renaissance.[20] The name was not used in Ottoman times (1517–1917). Most of Christian Europe referred to the area as the Holy Land. It was officially revived by the British after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and applied to the territory that was placed under The Palestine Mandate.

    Some other terms that have been used to refer to all or part of this land include Canaan, Greater Israel, Greater Syria, the Holy Land, Iudaea Province, Judea,[21] Israel, "Israel HaShlema", Kingdom of Israel, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael or Ha'aretz), Zion, Retenu (Ancient Egyptian), Southern Syria, and Syria Palestina.

    Boundaries

    The boundaries of Palestine have varied throughout history.[22][23] Prior to its being named Palestine, Ancient Egyptian texts (c. 14 century BC) called the entire coastal area along the Mediterranean Sea between modern Egypt and Turkey R-t-n-u (conventionally Retjenu). Retjenu was subdivided into three regions and the southern region, Djahy, shared approximately the same boundaries as Canaan, or modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories, though including also Syria.[24]

    Scholars disagree as to whether the archaeological evidence supports the biblical story of there having been a Kingdom of Israel of the United Monarchy that reigned from Jerusalem, as the archaeological evidence is both rare and disputed.[25][26] For those who do interpret the archaeological evidence positively in this regard, it is thought to have ruled some time during Iron Age I (1200 - 1000 BC) over an area approximating modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories, extending farther westward and northward to cover much (but not all) of the greater Land of Israel.[25][26]

    Philistia, the Philistine confederation, emerged circa 1185 BC and comprised five city states: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod on the coast and Ekron, and Gath inland.[8] Its northern border was the Yarkon River, the southern border extending to Wadi Gaza, its western border the Mediterranean Sea, with no fixed border to the east.[6]

    By 722 BC, Philistia had been subsumed by the Assyrian Empire, with the Philistines becoming 'part and parcel of the local population,' prospering under Assyrian rule during the 7th century despite occasional rebellions against their overlords.[8][27][28] In 604 BC, when Assyrian troops commanded by the Babylonian empire carried off significant numbers of the population into slavery, the distinctly Philistine character of the coastal cities dwindled away, and the history of the Philistines as a distinct people effectively ended.[8][27][29]

    The boundaries of the area and the ethnic nature of the people referred to by Herodotus in the 5th century BC as Palaestina vary according to context. Sometimes, he uses it to refer to the coast north of Mount Carmel. Elsewhere, distinguishing the Syrians in Palestine from the Phoenicians, he refers to their land as extending down all the coast from Phoenicia to Egypt.[30] Josephus used the name Παλαιστινη only for the smaller coastal area, Philistia.[31] Pliny, writing in Latin in the 1st century AD, describes a region of Syria that was "formerly called Palaestina" among the areas of the Eastern Mediterranean.[32]

    Since the Byzantine Period, the Byzantine borders of Palaestina (I and II, also known as Palaestina Prima, "First Palestine", and Palaestina Secunda, "Second Palestine"), have served as a name for the geographic area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Under Arab rule, Filastin (or Jund Filastin) was used administratively to refer to what was under the Byzantines Palaestina Secunda (comprising Judaea and Samaria), while Palaestina Prima (comprising the Galilee region) was renamed Urdunn ("Jordan" or Jund al-Urdunn).[4]

    The Zionist Organization provided their definition concerning the boundaries of Palestine in a statement to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919; it also includes a statement about the importance of water resources that the designated area includes.[33][34] On the basis of a League of Nations mandate, the British administered Palestine after World War I, promising to establish a Jewish homeland therein.[35] The original Mandate Palestine included what is now Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan), and trans-Jordan (the present kingdom of Jordan),although the latter was disattached by an administrative decision of the British in 1922.[36] To the Palestinian people who view Palestine as their homeland, its boundaries are those of Mandate Palestine excluding the Transjordan, as described in the Palestinian National Charter.[37]

    Additional extrabiblical references

    From the Merneptah Stele "Israel is wasted, its seed is no longer"

    An archaeological textual reference concerning the territory of Palestine is thought to have been made in the Merneptah Stele, dated c. 1200 BC, containing a recount of Egyptian king Merneptah's victories in the land of Canaan, mentioning place-names such as Gezer, Ashkelon and Yanoam, along with Israel, which is mentioned using a hieroglyphic determinative that indicates a nomad people, rather than a state.[38]

    Mesha Stele

    Another famous inscription is that of the Mesha Stele, bearing an inscription by the 9th century BC Moabite King Mesha, discovered in 1868 at Dhiban (biblical "Dibon," capital of Moab) now in Jordan. The Stele is notable because it is thought to be the earliest known reference to the sacred Hebrew name of God – YHWH. It also notable as the most extensive inscription ever recovered that refers to ancient Israel.

    Biblical texts

    The Holy Land, or Palestine, showing not only the Ancient Kingdoms of Judah and Israel in which the 12 Tribes have been distinguished, but also their placement in different periods as indicated in the Holy Scriptures. Tobias Conrad Lotter, Geographer. Augsburg, Germany, 1759

    In the Biblical account, the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah ruled from Jerusalem a vast territory extending far west and north of Palestine for some 120 years. Archaeological evidence for this period is very rare, however, and its implications much disputed.[25][26]

    The Hebrew Bible calls the region Canaan (כּנען) (Numbers 34:1–12), while the part of it occupied by Israelites is designated Israel (Yisrael). The name "Land of the Hebrews" (ארץ העברים, Eretz Ha-Ivrim) is also found, as well as several poetical names: "land flowing with milk and honey", "land that [God] swore to your fathers to assign to you", "Land of the Lord", and the "Promised Land".

    The Land of Canaan is given a precise description in (Numbers 34:1) as including all of Lebanon, as well (Joshua 13:5). The wide area appears to have been the home of several small nations such as the Canaanites, Hebrews, Hittites, Amorrhites, Pherezites, Hevites and Jebusites. According to Hebrew tradition, the land of Canaan is part of the land given to the descendants of Abraham, which extends from the "river of Egypt" to the Euphrates River (Genesis 15:18) – some identify the river of Egypt with the Nile, others believe it to be a wadi in northern Sinai, cf. Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:3-4; Joshua 15:47; 1 Kings 8:65; 2 Kings 24:7.

    In Exodus 13:17, "And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt."

    The events of the Four Gospels of the Christian Bible take place almost entirely in this country, which in Christian tradition thereafter became known as The Holy Land.

    In the Qur'an, the term الأرض المقدسة (Al-Ard Al-Muqaddasah, English: "Holy Land") is mentioned at least seven times, once when Moses proclaims to the Children of Israel: "O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin." (Surah 5:21)

    History

    Paleolithic and Neolithic periods (1 mya–5000 BC)

    Double burial of homo sapiens at Qafzeh cave

    The earliest human remains in Palestine were found in Ubeidiya, some 3 km south of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias), in the Jordan Rift Valley. The remains are dated to the Pleistocene, ca. 1.5 million years ago. It is traces of the earliest migration of Homo erectus out of Africa. The site yielded hand axes of the Acheulean type.[39]

    Wadi El Amud between Safed and the Sea of Galilee was the site of the first prehistoric digging in Palestine, in 1925. The discovery of the Palestine Man in the Zuttiyeh Cave in Wadi Al-Amud near Safed in 1925 provided some clues to human development in the area.[40][41]

    Qafzeh is a paleoanthropological site south of Nazareth where eleven significant fossilised Homo sapiens skeletons have been found at the main rock shelter. These anatomically modern humans, both adult and infant, are now dated to about 90–100,000 years old, and many of the bones are stained with red ochre which is conjectured to have been used in the burial process, a significant indicator of ritual behavior and thereby symbolic thought and intelligence. 71 pieces of unused red ochre also littered the site.

    Mount Carmel has yielded several important findings, among them Kebara Cave that was inhabited between 60,000 – 48,000 BP and where the most complete Neanderthal skeleton found to date. The Tabun cave was occupied intermittently during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic ages (500,000 to around 40,000 years ago). Excavation suggests that it features one of the longest sequences of human occupation in the Levant. In the nearby Es Skhul cave excavations revealed the first evidence of the late Epipalaeolithic Natufian culture, characterized by the presence of abundant microliths, human burials and ground stone tools. This also represents one area where Neanderthals – present in the region from 200,000 to 45,000 years ago – lived alongside modern humans dating to 100,000 years ago.[42]

    In the caves of Shuqba in Ramallah and Wadi Khareitun in Bethlehem, stone, wood and animal bone tools were found and attributed to the Natufian culture (c. 12800–10300 BC). Other remains from this era have been found at Tel Abu Hureura, Ein Mallaha, Beidha and Jericho.[43]

    A dwelling unearthed at Tell es-Sultan

    Between 10,000 and 5000 BC, agricultural communities were established. Evidence of such settlements were found at Tel es-Sultan in Jericho and consisted of a number of walls, a religious shrine, and a 23-foot (7.0 m) tower with an internal staircase[44][45] Jericho is believed to be one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world, with evidence of settlement dating back to 9000 BC, providing important information about early human habitation in the Near East.[46]

    Chalcolithic period (4500–3000 BC) and Bronze Age (3000–1200 BC)

    Along the Jericho–Dead SeaBir es-SabaGazaSinai route, a culture originating in Syria, marked by the use of copper and stone tools, brought new migrant groups to the region contributing to an increasingly urban fabric.[47][48][49]

    An 1882 rendering of Canaan, as divided among the Twelve Tribes, by the American Sunday-School Union of Philadelphia.

    By the early Bronze Age (3000–2200 BC) independent Canaanite city-states situated in plains and coastal regions and surrounded by mud-brick defensive walls were established and most of these cities relied on nearby agricultural hamlets for their food needs.[47][50]

    Archaeological finds from the early Canaanite era have been found at Tel Megiddo, Jericho, Tel al-Far'a (Gaza), Bisan, and Ai (Deir Dibwan/Ramallah District), Tel an Nasbe (al-Bireh) and Jib (Jerusalem).

    The Canaanite city-states held trade and diplomatic relations with Egypt and Syria. Parts of the Canaanite urban civilization were destroyed around 2300 BC, though there is no consensus as to why. Incursions by nomads from the east of the Jordan River who settled in the hills followed soon thereafter.[47][51]

    In the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1500 BC), Canaan was influenced by the surrounding civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Minoan Crete, and Syria. Diverse commercial ties and an agriculturally based economy led to the development of new pottery forms, the cultivation of grapes, and the extensive use of bronze.[47][52] Burial customs from this time seemed to be influenced by a belief in the afterlife.[47][53]

    Political, commercial and military events during the Late Bronze Age period (1450–1350 BC) were recorded by ambassadors and Canaanite proxy rulers for Egypt in 379 cuneiform tablets known as the Amarna Letters.[54] The Minoan influence is apparent at Tel Kabri.[55]

    By c. 1190 BC, the Philistines arrived and mingled with the local population, losing their separate identity over several generations.[27][56]

    Iron Age (1200–330 BC)

    Pottery remains found in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath (city), Ekron and Gaza decorated with stylized birds provided the first archaeological evidence for Philistine settlement in the region. The Philistines are credited with introducing iron weapons and chariots to the local population.[57] Excavations have established that the late 13th, the 12th and the early 11th centuries BC witnessed the foundation of perhaps hundreds of insignificant, unprotected village settlements, many in the mountains of Palestine.[58] From around the 11th century BC, there was a reduction in the number of villages, though this was counterbalanced by the rise of certain settlements to the status of fortified townships.[58]

    Developments in Palestine between 1250 and 900 BC have been the focus of debate between those who accept the Old Testament version on the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes, and those who reject it.[59] Niels Peter Lemche, of the Copenhagen School of Biblical Studies, submits that the biblical picture of ancient Israel "is contrary to any image of ancient Palestinian society that can be established on the basis of ancient sources from Palestine or referring to Palestine and that there is no way this image in the Bible can be reconciled with the historical past of the region."[58]

    Sites and artifacts, including the Large Stone Structure, Mount Ebal, the Menertaph, and Mesha stelae, among others, are subject to widely varying historical interpretations: the "conservative camp" reconstructs the history of Israel according to the biblical text and views archaeological evidence in that context, whilst scholars in the minimalist or deconstructionist school hold that there is no archaeological evidence supporting the idea of a United Monarchy (or Israelite nation) and the biblical account is a religious mythology created by Judean scribes in the Persian and Hellenistic periods; a third camp of centrist scholars acknowledges the value of some isolated elements of the Pentateuch and of Deuteronomonistic accounts as potentially valid history of monarchic times that can be in accord with the archaeological evidence, but argue that nevertheless the biblical narrative should be understood as highly ideological and adapted to the needs of the community at the time of its compilation.[60][61][62][63][64][65]

    Hebrew Bible/Old Testament period

    Map of the southern Levant, c.830s BC.
      Kingdom of Judah
      Kingdom of Israel
      Philistine city-states
      Phoenician states
      Kingdom of Ammon
      Kingdom of Edom
      Kingdom of Aram-Damascus
      Aramean tribes
      Arubu tribes
      Nabatu tribes
      Assyrian Empire
      Kingdom of Moab

    According to Biblical tradition, the United Kingdom of Israel was established by the Israelite tribes with Saul as its first king in 1020 BC.[66] In 1000 BC, Jerusalem was made the capital of King David's kingdom and it is believed that the First Temple was constructed in this period by King Solomon.[66] By 930 BC, the united kingdom split to form the northern Kingdom of Israel, and the southern Kingdom of Judah.[66] These kingdoms co-existed with several more kingdoms in the greater Palestine area, including Philistine town states on the Southwestern Mediterranean coast, Edom, to the South of Judah, and Moab and Ammon to the East of the river Jordan.[67] According to Jon Schiller and Hermann Austel, among others, while in the past, the Bible story was seen historical truth, "a growing number of archaeological scholars, particularly those of the minimalist school, are now insisting that Kings David and Solomon are 'no more real than King Arthur,' citing the lack of archaeological evidence attesting to the existence of the United Kingdom of Israel, and the unreliability of biblical texts, due to their being composed in a much later period."[68][69]

    There was an at least partial Egyptian withdrawal from Palestine in this period, though it is likely that Bet Shean was an Egyptian garrison as late as the beginning of the 10th century BC.[58] The socio-political system was characterized by local patrons fighting other local patrons, lasting until around the mid-9th century BC when some local chieftains were able to create large political structures that exceeded the boundaries of those present in the Late Bronze Age Levant.[58]

    Archaeological findings from this era include, among others, the Mesha Stele, from c. 850 BC, which recounts the conquering of Moab, located East of the Dead Sea, by king Omri, and the successful revolt of Moabian king Mesha against Omri's son, presumably King Ahab (and French scholar André Lemaire reported that line 31 of the Stele bears the phrase "the house of David" (in Biblical Archaeology Review [May/June 1994], pp. 30–37).[70]); and the Kurkh Monolith, dated c. 835 BC, describing King Shalmaneser III of Assyria's Battle of Qarqar, where he fought alongside the contingents of several kings, among them King Ahab and King Gindibu.

    Between 722 and 720 BC, the northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire and the Israelite tribes – thereafter known as the Lost Tribes – were exiled.[66] The most important finding from the southern Kingdom of Judah is the Siloam Inscription, dated c. 700 BC, which celebrates the successful encounter of diggers, digging from both sides of the Jerusalem wall to create the Hezekiah water tunnel and water pool, mentioned in the Bible, in 2Kings 20:20.[71][72][73][74] In 586 BC, Judah was conquered by the Babylonians and Jerusalem and the First Temple destroyed.[66] Most of the surviving Jews, and much of the other local population, were deported to Babylonia.[27][75]

    Persian rule (538 BC)

    After the Persian Empire was established, the region became part of the Eber-Nari satrapy or District number V (corresponding the regions of (Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine and Cyprus) according to Herodotus and Arrian, which included three administrative areas: Phoenicia, Judah and Samaria, and the Arabian tribes. The Phoenician cities of Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and Aradus were vassal states ruled by hereditary local kings who struck their own silver coins and whose power was limited by the Persian satrap and local popular assemblies. The economies of these cities were mainly based on maritime trade. During military operations, the Phoenicians were obliged to put their fleet at the disposal of the Persian kings. Judah and Samaria enjoyed considerable internal autonomy. Bullae and seal impressions of the end of the 6th and beginning of the 5th centuries mention the province of Judah. Its governors included Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel under Cyrus and Darius I; Nehemiah ; Bagohi, who succeeded Nehemiah and whose ethnicity is difficult to determine; and "Yehizkiyah the governor" and "Yohanan the priest," known from coins struck in Judah in the 4th century BCE. From the second half of the 5th century the province of Samaria was governed by Sanballat and his descendants.[76][77][78][79]

    According to the bible and implications from the Cyrus Cylinder, Jews were allowed to return to what their holy books had termed the Land of Israel, and having been granted some autonomy by the Persian administration, it was during this period that the Second Temple in Jerusalem was built.[27][80] Sebastia, near Nablus, was the northernmost province of the Persian administration in Palestine, and its southern borders were drawn at Hebron.[27][81] Some of the local population served as soldiers and lay people in the Persian administration, while others continued to agriculture. In 400 BCE, the Nabataeans made inroads into southern Palestine and built a separate civilization in the Negev that lasted until 160 BC.[27][82]

    Classical antiquity

    Hellenistic rule (333 BC)

    The Persian Empire fell to Greek forces of the Macedonian general Alexander the Great.[83][84] After his death, with the absence of heirs, his conquests were divided amongst his generals, while the region of the Jews ("Judah" or Judea as it became known) was first part of the Ptolemaic dynasty and then part of the Seleucid Empire.[85]

    The landscape during this period was markedly changed by extensive growth and development that included urban planning and the establishment of well-built fortified cities.[81][83] Hellenistic pottery was produced that absorbed Philistine traditions. Trade and commerce flourished, particularly in the most Hellenized areas, such as Ashkelon, Jaffa,[86] Jerusalem,[87] Gaza,[88] and ancient Nablus (Tell Balatah).[83][89]

    The Jewish population in Judea was allowed limited autonomy in religion and administration.[90]

    Hasmonean dynasty (140 BC)

    The extent of the Hasmonean kingdom.

    An independent Jewish kingdom under the Hasmonean Dynasty existed from 140–37 BC. In the 2nd century BC fascination in Jerusalem for Greek culture resulted in a movement to break down the separation of Jew and Gentile and some people even tried to disguise the marks of their circumcision.[91] Disputes between the leaders of the reform movement, Jason and Menelaus, eventually led to civil war and the intervention of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.[91] Subsequent persecution of the Jews led to the Maccabean Revolt under the leadership of the Hasmoneans, and the construction of a native Jewish kingship under the Hasmonean Dynasty.[91] After approximately a century of independence disputes between the Hasmonean rivals Aristobulus and Hyrcanus led to control of the kingdom by the Roman army of Pompey. The territory then became first a Roman client kingdom under Hyrcanus and then, in 70 AD, a Roman Province administered by the governor of Syria.[92]

    Roman rule (63 BC)

    Roman Iudaea Province in the 1st century AD as based on Robert W. Funk's The Acts of Jesus, Michael Grant's's Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels and John P. Meier's A Marginal Jew.

    Though General Pompey arrived in 63 BC, Roman rule was solidified when Herod, whose dynasty was of Idumean ancestry, was appointed as king.[83][93] Urban planning under the Romans was characterized by cities designed around the Forum – the central intersection of two main streets – the Cardo, running north-south and the Decumanus running east-west.[94] Cities were connected by an extensive road network developed for economic and military purposes. Among the most notable archaeological remnants from this era are Herodium (Tel al-Fureidis) to the south of Bethlehem,[95] Masada and Caesarea Maritima.[83][96] Herod arranged a renovation of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, with a massive expansion of the Temple Mount platform and major expansion of the Jewish Temple around 19 BC. The Temple Mount's natural plateau was extended by enclosing the area with four massive retaining walls and filling the voids. This artificial expansion resulted in a large flat expanse which today forms the eastern section of the Old City of Jerusalem.

    Around the time associated with the birth of Jesus, Roman Palestine was in a state of disarray and direct Roman rule was re-established.[83][97] The early Christians were oppressed and while most inhabitants became Romanized, others, particularly Jews, found Roman rule to be unbearable.[83][97]

    First Jewish revolt shekel issued in 68. Obverse: "Shekel Israel, year 3". Reverse: "Jerusalem the Holy"

    As a result of the First Jewish-Roman War (66–73), Titus sacked Jerusalem destroying the Second Temple, leaving only supporting walls, including the Western Wall.

    Bar Kochba revolt silver Shekel. Obverse: the Jewish Temple facade with the rising star, surrounded by "Shimon". Reverse: A lulav, the text reads: "To the freedom of Jerusalem"

    In 135, following the fall of a Jewish revolt led by Bar Kokhba in 132–135, the Roman emperor Hadrian attempted the expulsion of Jews from Judea. His attempt was as unsuccessful as were most of Rome's many attempts to alter the demography of the Empire; this is demonstrated by the continued existence of the rabbinical academy of Lydda in Judea, and in any case large Jewish populations remained in Samaria and the Galilee.[14] Tiberias became the headquarters of exiled Jewish patriarchs. The Romans joined the province of Judea (which already included Samaria) together with Galilee to form a new province, called Syria Palaestina, to complete the disassociation with Judaea.[14] Notwithstanding the oppression, some two hundred Jewish communities remained. Gradually, certain religious freedoms were restored to the Jewish population, such as exemption from the imperial cult and internal self-administration. The Romans made no such concession to the Samaritans, to whom religious liberties were denied, while their sanctuary on Mt.Gerizim was defiled by a pagan temple, as part of measures were taken to suppress the resurgence of Samaritan nationalism.[14]

    In 132 AD, the Emperor Hadrian changed the name of the province from Iudaea to Syria Palaestina and renamed Jerusalem "Aelia Capitolina" and built temples there to honor Jupiter. Christianity was practiced in secret and the Hellenization of Palestine continued under Septimius Severus (193–211 AD).[83] New pagan cities were founded in Judea at Eleutheropolis (Bayt Jibrin), Diopolis (Lydd), and Nicopolis (Emmaus).[81][83]

    Byzantine (Eastern Roman) rule (330–640 AD)

    5th century AD: Byzantine provinces of Palaestina I (Philistia, Judea and Samaria) and Palaestina II (Galilee and Perea).

    Emperor Constantine I's conversion to Christianity around 330 AD made Christianity the official religion of Palaestina.[98][99] After his mother Empress Helena identified the spot she believed to be where Christ was crucified, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built in Jerusalem.[98] The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Ascension in Jerusalem were also built during Constantine's reign.[98] This was the period of its greatest prosperity in antiquity. Urbanization increased, large new areas were put under cultivation, monasteries proliferated, synagogues were restored, and the population West of the Jordan may have reached as many as one million.[14]

    Palestine thus became a center for pilgrims and ascetic life for men and women from all over the world.[81][98] Many monasteries were built including the St. George's Monastery in Wadi al-Qelt, the Monastery of the Temptation and Deir Hajla near Jericho, and Deir Mar Saba and Deir Theodosius east of Bethlehem.[98]

    In 351-352, a Jewish revolt against Byzantine rule in Tiberias and other parts of the Galilee was brutally suppressed. Imperial patronage for Christian cults and immigration was strong, and a significant wave of immigration from Rome, especially to the area about Aelia Capitolina and Bethlehem, took place after that city was sacked in 410.[14]

    In approximately 390 AD, Palaestina was further organised into three units: Palaestina Prima, Secunda, and Tertia (First, Second, and Third Palestine), part of the Diocese of the East.[100][98] Palaestina Prima consisted of Judea, Samaria, the coast, and Peraea with the governor residing in Caesarea. Palaestina Secunda consisted of the Galilee, the lower Jezreel Valley, the regions east of Galilee, and the western part of the former Decapolis with the seat of government at Scythopolis. Palaestina Tertia included the Negev, southern Jordan—once part of Arabia—and most of Sinai with Petra as the usual residence of the governor. Palestina Tertia was also known as Palaestina Salutaris.[98][101]

    During the 5th and the 6th centuries a series of nationalistic insurrections erupted across Palaestina province, led by the Samaritans against the Christian East Roman/Byzantine Empire. The revolts, some of which had messianic aspirations by Samaritan leaders like Justa and Julianus ben Sabar, were marked by great violence on both sides, and their brutal suppression at the hands of the Byzantines and their Ghassanid allies severely reduced the Samaritan population.

    Bede in his Historia Ecclesiastica, still draws on Orosius' information gathered from the local Jews to describe Palestine as one of the provinces of "Syria, which is called Aran by the Hebrews. The place is between the River Euphrates and the Great Sea, and extends towards Egypt; its largest provinces are Commagene, Phoenicia, and Palestine, as well as the countries of the Saraceni and the Nabathaei. It has twelve gentes."54[102]

    In 536 AD, Justinian I promoted the governor at Caesarea to proconsul (anthypatos), giving him authority over the two remaining consulars. Justinian believed that the elevation of the governor was appropriate because he was responsible for "the province in which our Lord Jesus Christ... appeared on earth".[103] This was also the principal factor explaining why Palestine prospered under the Christian Empire. The cities of Palestine, such as Caesarea Maritima, Jerusalem, Scythopolis, Neapolis, and Gaza reached their peak population in the late Roman period and produced notable Christian scholars in the disciplines of rhetoric, historiography, Eusebian ecclesiastical history, classicizing history and hagiography.[103]

    Byzantine administration of Palestine was temporarily suspended during the Persian occupation of 614–28, when it became a Jewish authonomy. Byzantium lost control permanently after the Muslims arrived in 634 AD, defeating the empire's forces decisively at the Battle of Yarmouk in 636 AD. Jerusalem capitulated in 638 AD and Caesarea between 640 AD and 642 AD.[103]

    Islamic period (634–1918 AD)

    The Islamic prophet Muhammad established a new unified religious movement in the Arabian peninsula at the beginning of the 7th century. The subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad Caliphates saw a century of rapid expansion of Arab power well beyond the Arabian peninsula in the form of a vast Muslim Arab Empire.

    Arab Caliphate rule (638–1099 AD)

    In 638 AD, following the Siege of Jerusalem, the Caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab and Safforonius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, signed Al-Uhda al-'Omariyya (The Umariyya Covenant), an agreement that stipulated the rights and obligations of all non-Muslims in Palestine.[98] Christians and Jews where considered People of the Book, enjoyed some protection but had to pay a special poll tax called jizyah ("tribute") in return for this protection. During the early years of Muslim control of the city, a small permanent Jewish population returned to Jerusalem after a 500-year absence.[104]

    Omar Ibn al-Khattab was the first conqueror of Jerusalem to enter the city on foot, and when visiting the site that now houses the Haram al-Sharif, he declared it a sacred place of prayer.[105][106] Cities that accepted the new rulers, as recorded in registrars from the time, were: Jerusalem, Nablus, Jenin, Acre, Tiberias, Bisan, Caesarea, Lajjun, Lydd, Jaffa, Imwas, Beit Jibrin, Gaza, Rafah, Hebron, Yubna, Haifa, Safed and Ashkelon.[107]

    Umayyad rule (661–750 AD)

    Under Umayyad rule, the Byzantine province of Palaestina Prima became the administrative and military sub-province (jund) of Filastin – the Arabic name for Palestine from that point forward.[108] It formed one of five subdivisions of the larger province of ash-Sham (Arabic for Greater Syria).[109] Jund Filastin (Arabic جند فلسطين, literally "the army of Palestine") was a region extending from the Sinai to the plain of Acre. Major towns included Rafah, Caesarea, Gaza, Jaffa, Nablus and Jericho.[110] Lod served as the headquarters of the province of Filastin and the capital later moved to Ramla. Jund al-Urdunn (literally "the army of Jordan") was a region to the north and east of Filastin which included the cities of Acre, Bisan and Tiberias.[110]

    In 691, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered that the Dome of the Rock be built on the site where the Islamic prophet Muhammad is believed by Muslims to have begun his nocturnal journey to heaven, on the Temple Mount. About a decade afterward, Caliph Al-Walid I had the Al-Aqsa Mosque built.[111]

    It was under Umayyad rule that Christians and Jews were granted the official title of "Peoples of the Book" to underline the common monotheistic roots they shared with Islam.[107][112]

    Abbasid rule (750–969 AD)

    The Baghdad-based Abbasid Caliphs renovated and visited the holy shrines and sanctuaries in Jerusalem[113] and continued to build up Ramle.[107][114] Coastal areas were fortified and developed and port cities like Acre, Haifa, Caesarea, Arsuf, Jaffa and Ashkelon received monies from the state treasury.[115]

    A trade fair took place in Jerusalem every year on September 15 where merchants from Pisa, Genoa, Venice and Marseilles converged to acquire spices, soaps, silks, olive oil, sugar and glassware in exchange for European products.[115] European Christian pilgrims visited and made generous donations to Christian holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem.[115] During Harun al-Rashid's (786–809) reign the first contacts with the Frankish Kingdom of Charlemagne occurred, though the actual extent of these contacts is not known. As a result, Charlemagne sent money for construction of churches and a Latin Pilgrims' Inn in Jerusalem.[116] The establishment of the Pilgrims' Inn in Jerusalem is seen as a fulfillment of Umar's pledge to Bishop Sophronious to allow freedom of religion and access to Jerusalem for Christian pilgrims.[117]

    The influence of the Arab tribes declined and the only context where they are reported is in uprising against the central authority.[118] I 796, a civil war between the Mudhar and Yamani tribes occurred, resulting in widespread destruction in Palestine.[119] The Abbasids visited the country less frequently than the Ummayads, but ordered some significant constructions in Jerusalem. Thus, Al-Mansur Ordered in 758 the renovation of the Dome of the Rock that had collapsed in an earthquake.[120]

    Fatimid rule (969–1099 AD)

    From their base in Tunisia, the Shi'ite Fatimids, who claimed to be descendants of Muhammad through his daughter Fatimah, conquered Palestine by way of Egypt in 969 AD.[121] Their capital was Cairo. Jerusalem, Nablus, and Askalan were expanded and renovated under their rule.[115]

    After the 10th century, the division into Junds began to break down.[115] In the second half of the 11th century the Fatimids empire suffered setback from fighting with the Seljuk Turks. Warfare between the Fatimids and Seljuks caused great disruption for the local Christians and for western pilgrims. The Fatimids had lost Jerusalem to the Seljuks in 1073,[122] but recaptured it from the Ortoqids, a smaller Turkic tribe associated with the Seljuks, in 1098, just before the arrival of the crusaders.[123]

    See also the Mideastweb map of "Palestine Under the Caliphs", showing Jund boundaries (external link).

    Crusader rule (1099–1187 AD)

    The kingdom of Jerusalem and the other Crusader states in 1135

    The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks.

    At first the kingdom was little more than a loose collection of towns and cities captured during the crusade. At its height, the kingdom roughly encompassed the territory of modern-day Israel and the Palestinian territories. It extended from modern Lebanon in the north to the Sinai Desert in the south, and into modern Jordan and Syria in the east. There were also attempts to expand the kingdom into Fatimid Egypt. Its kings also held a certain amount of authority over the other crusader states, Tripoli, Antioch, and Edessa.

    Many customs and institutions were imported from the territories of Western Europe from which the crusaders came, and there were close familial and political connections with the West throughout the kingdom's existence. It was, however, a relatively minor kingdom in comparison and often lacked financial and military support from Europe. The kingdom had closer ties to the neighbouring Kingdom of Armenia and the Byzantine Empire, from which it inherited "oriental" qualities, and the kingdom was also influenced by pre-existing Muslim institutions. Socially, however, the "Latin" inhabitants from Western Europe had almost no contact with the Muslims and native Christians whom they ruled.

    Under the European rule, fortifications, castles, towers and fortified villages were built, rebuilt and renovated across Palestine largely in rural areas.[115][124] A notable urban remnant of the Crusader architecture of this era is found in Acre's old city.[115][125]

    During the period of Crusader control, it has been estimated that Palestine had only 1,000 poor Jewish families.[126] Jews fought alongside the Muslims in Jerusalem in 1099 and Haifa in 1100 against the Crusaders. They were not allowed to live in Jerusalem and initially most of cities saw the destruction of the Jewish communities, but communities did continue in the rural areas. For instance, it is known about at least 24 villages in the Galilee were Jews lived.[citation needed] Later in the history of the Crusaders state Jews settled in the Coastal cities. Unlike the treatment of Jews by the Crusaders Europe, where many Massacres occurred, in Palestine no distinction was made between Jews and other non Christians and there were no laws specifically against Jews.[clarification needed] Some Jews from Europe visited the country, like Benjamin of Tudela who wrote about it.[127] Maimonides escaped to Palestine from the Almohads in 1165 and visited Acre, Jerusalem and Hebron, finally settling in Fostat in Egypt.[128]

    In July 1187, the Cairo-based Kurdish General Saladin commanded his troops to victory in the Battle of Hattin.[129][130] Saladin went on to take Jerusalem. An agreement granting special status to the Crusaders allowed them to continue to stay in Palestine and In 1229, Frederick II negotiated a 10-year treaty that placed Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem once again under Crusader rule.[129]

    In 1270, Sultan Baibars expelled the Crusaders from most of the country, though they maintained a base at Acre until 1291.[129] Thereafter, any remaining Europeans either went home or merged with the local population.[130]

    Mamluk rule (1270–1516 AD)

    Tower of Ramla, constructed in 1318

    Palestine formed a part of the Damascus Wilayah (district) under the rule of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and was divided into three smaller Sanjaks (subdivisions) with capitals in Jerusalem, Gaza, and Safed.[130] Celebrated by Arab and Muslim writers of the time as the "blessed land of the Prophets and Islam's revered leaders,"[130] Muslim sanctuaries were "rediscovered" and received many pilgrims.[131]

    During the end of the 13th century the Mamluks fought against the Mongols, and a decisive battle took place in Ain Jalut in the Jezreel Valley on 3 September 1260. The Mamluks achieved a decisive victory, and the battle established a highwater mark for the Mongol conquests.

    The Mamluks, continuing the policy of the Ayyubids, made the strategic decision to destroy the coastal area and to bring desolation to many of its cities, from Tyre in the north to Gaza in the south. Ports were destroyed and various materials were dumped to make them inoperable. The goal was to prevent attacks from the sea, given the fear of the return of the crusaders. This had a long term affect on those areas, that remained sparsely populated for centuries. In Jerusalem, the walls, gates and fortifications were destroyed as well, for similar reasons. The activity in that time concentrated more inland.[132] The Mamluks constructed a "postal road" from Cairo to Damascus, that included lodgings for travelers (khans) and bridges, some of which survive to this day (Jisr Jindas, near Lod). The also saw the construction of many schools and the renovation of mosques neglected or destroyed during the Crusader period.[131]

    In 1267 the Catalan Rabbi Nahmanides left Europe following disputation of Barcelona,[133] he made aliyah to Jerusalem. There he established a synagogue in the Old City that exists until present day, known as the Ramban Synagogue and re-established Jewish communal life in Jerusalem.

    In 1486, hostilities broke out between the Mamluks and the Ottoman Turks in a battle for control over western Asia. The Mamluk armies were eventually defeated by the forces of the Ottoman Sultan, Selim I, and lost control of Palestine after the 1516 battle of Marj Dabiq.[130][134]

    Ottoman period

    Ottoman rule (1516–1831 AD)

    Territory of the Ottoman Empire in 1683

    After the Ottoman conquest, the name "Palestine" disappeared as the official name of an administrative unit, as the Turks often called their (sub)provinces after the capital. Following its 1516 incorporation in the Ottoman Empire, it was part of the vilayet (province) of Damascus-Syria until 1660. Nonetheless, the old name remained in popular and semi-official use.[135] Many examples of its usage in the 16th and 17th centuries have survived,[136][137][138] for example, the English reference book Modern history or the present state of all nations written in 1744 states that "Jerusalem is still reckoned the capital city of Palestine"[139]

    It then became part of the vilayet of Saida (Sidon), briefly interrupted by the 7 March 1799 – July 1799 French occupation of Jaffa, Haifa, and Caesarea. During the Siege of Acre in 1799, Napoleon prepared a proclamation declaring an Israelite state in the area of Palestine within Ottoman Syria.[140]

    The remains of Dhaher al-Omar's castle in Deir Hanna (18th entury)

    Egyptian rule (1831–1841)

    On 10 May 1832 the territories of Bilad ash-Sham, which include modern Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine were conquered and annexed by Muhammad Ali's expansionist Egypt (nominally still Ottoman) in the 1831 Egyptian-Ottoman War. Britain sent the navy to shell Beirut and an Anglo-Ottoman expeditionary force landed, causing local uprisings against the Egyptian occupiers. A British naval squadron anchored off Alexandria. The Egyptian army retreated to Egypt. Muhammad Ali signed the Treaty of 1841. Britain returned control of the Levant to the Ottomans.

    Ottoman rule (1841–1917)

    In the reorganisation of 1873, which established the administrative boundaries that remained in place until 1914, Palestine was split between three major administrative units. The northern part, above a line connecting Jaffa to north Jericho and the Jordan, was assigned to the vilayet of Beirut, subdivided into the sanjaks (districts) of Acre, Beirut and Nablus. The southern part, from Jaffa downwards, was part of the special district of Jerusalem. Its southern boundaries were unclear but petered out in the eastern Sinai Peninsula and northern Negev Desert. Most of the central and southern Negev was assigned to the wilayet of Hijaz, which also included the Sinai Peninsula and the western part of Arabia.[141]

    Nonetheless, the old name remained in popular and semi-official use.[135] During the 19th century, the Ottoman Government employed the term Ardh-u Filistin (the 'Land of Palestine') in official correspondence, meaning for all intents and purposes the area to the west of the River Jordan which became 'Palestine' under the British in 1922.[142] However, the Ottomans regarded "Palestine" as an abstract description of a general region but not as a specific administrative unit with clearly defined borders. This meant that they did not consistently apply the name to a clearly defined area.[141] Ottoman court records, for instance, used the term to describe a geographical area that did not include the sanjaks of Jerusalem, Hebron and Nablus, although these had certainly been part of historical Palestine.[143][144] Amongst the educated Arab public, Filastin was a common concept, referring either to the whole of Palestine or to the Jerusalem sanjak alone[145] or just to the area around Ramle.[146]

    The end of the 19th century saw the beginning of Zionist immigration. The "First Aliyah" was the first modern widespread wave of Zionist aliyah. Jews who migrated to Palestine in this wave came mostly from Eastern Europe and from Yemen. This wave of aliyah began in 1881–82 and lasted until 1903.[147] An estimated 25,000[148]–35,000[149] Jews immigrated during the First Aliyah. The First Aliyah laid the cornerstone for Jewish settlement in Israel and created several settlements such as Rishon LeZion, Rosh Pina, Zikhron Ya'aqov and Gedera.

    Tel Aviv was founded on land purchased from Bedouins north of Jaffa. This is the 1909 auction of the first lots

    The "Second Aliyah" took place between 1904 and 1914, during which approximately 40,000 Jews immigrated, mostly from Russia and Poland,[150] and some from Yemen. The Second Aliyah immigrants were primarily idealists, inspired by the revolutionary ideals then sweeping the Russian Empire who sought to create a communal agricultural settlement system in Palestine. They thus founded the kibbutz movement. The first kibbutz, Degania, was founded in 1909. Tel Aviv was founded at that time, though its founders were not necessarily from the new immigrants. The Second Aliyah is largely credited with the Revival of the Hebrew language and establishing it as the standard language for Jews in Israel. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda contributed to the creation of the first modern Hebrew dictionary. Although he was an immigrant of the First Aliyah, his work mostly bore fruit during the second.

    Ottoman rule over the eastern Mediterranean lasted until World War I when the Ottomans sided with the German Empire and the Central Powers. During World War I, the Ottomans were driven from much of the region by the British Empire during the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

    20th century

    Ottoman administrative divisions in the region prior to WWI
    Palestine in British map 1924 the map now in the National Library of Scotland

    In common usage up to World War I, "Palestine" was used either to describe the Consular jurisdictions of the Western Powers[151] or for a region that extended in the north-south direction typically from Rafah (south-east of Gaza) to the Litani River (now in Lebanon). The western boundary was the sea, and the eastern boundary was the poorly-defined place where the Syrian desert began. In various European sources, the eastern boundary was placed anywhere from the Jordan River to slightly east of Amman. The Negev Desert was not included.[152]

    For 400 years foreigners enjoyed extraterritorial rights under the terms of the Capitulations of the Ottoman Empire. One American diplomat wrote that "Extraordinary privileges and immunities had become so embodied in successive treaties between the great Christian Powers and the Sublime Porte that for most intents and purposes many nationalities in the Ottoman empire formed a state within the state".[153]

    The Consuls were originally magistrates who tried cases involving their own citizens in foreign territories. While the jurisdictions in the secular states of Europe had become territorial, the Ottomans perpetuated the legal system they inherited from the Byzantine Empire. The law in many matters was personal, not territorial, and the individual citizen carried his nation's law with him wherever he went.[154] Capitulatory law applied to foreigners in Palestine. Only Consular Courts of the State of the foreigners concerned were competent to try them. That was true, not only in cases involving personal status, but also in criminal and commercial matters.[155]

    According to American Ambassador Morgenthau, Turkey had never been an independent sovereignty.[156] The Western Powers had their own courts, marshals, colonies, schools, postal systems, religious institutions, and prisons. The Consuls also extended protections to large communities of Jewish protégés who had settled in Palestine.[157]

    The Moslem, Christian, and Jewish communities of Palestine were allowed to exercise jurisdiction over their own members according to charters granted to them. For centuries the Jews and Christians had enjoyed a large degree of communal autonomy in matters of worship, jurisdiction over personal status, taxes, and in managing their schools and charitable institutions. In the 19th century those rights were formally recognized as part of the Tanzimat reforms and when the communities were placed under the protection of European public law.[158][159]

    Under the Sykes–Picot Agreement of 1916, it was envisioned that most of Palestine, when freed from Ottoman control, would become an international zone not under direct French or British colonial control. Shortly thereafter, British foreign minister Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine.[160]

    The British-led Egyptian Expeditionary Force, commanded by Edmund Allenby, captured Jerusalem on 9 December 1917 and occupied the whole of the Levant following the defeat of Turkish forces in Palestine at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918 and the capitulation of Turkey on 31 October.[161]

    Mandate Palestine (1920–1948)

    The new era in Palestine. The arrival of Sir Herbert Samuel, H.B.M. High Commissioner with Col. Lawrence, Emir Abdullah, Air Marshal Salmond and Sir Wyndham Deedes, 1920.

    Following the First World War and the occupation of the region by the British, the principal Allied and associated powers drafted the Mandate which was formally approved by the League of Nations in 1922. Great Britain administered Palestine on behalf of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1948, a period referred to as the "British Mandate." Two states were established within the boundaries of the Mandate territory, Palestine and Transjordan.[162][163] - The preamble of the mandate declared:

    "Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favor of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."[164]

    Not all were satisfied with the mandate. Some of the Arabs felt that Britain was violating the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence and the understanding of the Arab Revolt. Some wanted a unification with Syria: In February 1919 several Moslem and Christian groups from Jaffa and Jerusalem met and adopted a platform which endorsed unity with Syria and opposition to Zionism (this is sometimes called the First Palestinian National Congress). A letter was sent to Damascus authorizing Faisal to represent the Arabs of Palestine at the Paris Peace Conference. In May 1919 a Syrian National Congress was held in Damascus, and a Palestinian delegation attended its sessions.[165] In April 1920 violent Arab disturbances against the Jews in Jerusalem occurred which became to be known as the 1920 Palestine riots. The riots followed rising tensions in Arab-Jewish relations over the implications of Zionist immigration. The British military administration's erratic response failed to contain the rioting, which continued for four days. As a result of the events, trust between the British, Jews, and Arabs eroded. One consequence was that the Jewish community increased moves towards an autonomous infrastructure and security apparatus parallel to that of the British administration.

    In April 1920 the Allied Supreme Council (the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan) met at Sanremo and formal decisions were taken on the allocation of mandate territories. The United Kingdom obtained a mandate for Palestine and France obtained a mandate for Syria. The boundaries of the mandates and the conditions under which they were to be held were not decided. The Zionist Organization's representative at Sanremo, Chaim Weizmann, subsequently reported to his colleagues in London:

    There are still important details outstanding, such as the actual terms of the mandate and the question of the boundaries in Palestine. There is the delimitation of the boundary between French Syria and Palestine, which will constitute the northern frontier and the eastern line of demarcation, adjoining Arab Syria. The latter is not likely to be fixed until the Emir Feisal attends the Peace Conference, probably in Paris.[166]

    Churchill and Abdullah (with Herbert Samuel) during their negotiations in Jerusalem, March 1921

    The purported objective of the League of Nations Mandate system was to administer parts of the defunct Ottoman Empire, which had been in control of the Middle East since the 16th century, "until such time as they are able to stand alone."[167]

    In July 1920, the French drove Faisal bin Husayn from Damascus ending his already negligible control over the region of Transjordan, where local chiefs traditionally resisted any central authority. The sheikhs, who had earlier pledged their loyalty to the Sharif of Mecca, asked the British to undertake the region's administration. Herbert Samuel asked for the extension of the Palestine government's authority to Transjordan, but at meetings in Cairo and Jerusalem between Winston Churchill and Emir Abdullah in March 1921 it was agreed that Abdullah would administer the territory (initially for six months only) on behalf of the Palestine administration. In the summer of 1921 Transjordan was included within the Mandate, but excluded from the provisions for a Jewish National Home.[168] On 24 July 1922 the League of Nations approved the terms of the British Mandate over Palestine and Transjordan. On 16 September the League formally approved a memorandum from Lord Balfour confirming the exemption of Transjordan from the clauses of the mandate concerning the creation of a Jewish national home and from the mandate's responsibility to facilitate Jewish immigration and land settlement.[169] With Transjordan coming under the administration of the British Mandate, the mandate's collective territory became constituted of 23% Palestine and 77% Transjordan. The Mandate for Palestine, while specifying actions in support of Jewish immigration and political status, stated, in Article 25, that in the territory to the east of the Jordan River, Britain could 'postpone or withhold' those articles of the Mandate concerning a Jewish National Home. Transjordan was a very sparsely populated region (especially in comparison with Palestine proper) due to its relatively limited resources and largely desert environment.

    Palestine and Transjordan were incorporated (under different legal and administrative arrangements) into the Mandate for Palestine issued by the League of Nations to Great Britain on 29 September 1923

    In 1923 an agreement between the United Kingdom and France established the border between the British Mandate of Palestine and the French Mandate of Syria. The British handed over the southern Golan Heights to the French in return for the northern Jordan Valley. The border was re-drawn so that both sides of the Jordan River and the whole of the Sea of Galilee, including a 10-metre wide strip along the northeastern shore, were made a part of Palestine[170] with the provisons that Syria have fishing and navigation rights in the Lake.[171]

    The Palestine Exploration Fund published surveys and maps of Western Palestine (aka Cisjordan) starting in the mid-19th century. Even before the Mandate came into legal effect in 1923 (text), British terminology sometimes used '"Palestine" for the part west of the Jordan River and "Trans-Jordan" (or Transjordania) for the part east of the Jordan River.[172][173]

    Rachel's Tomb on a 1927 British Mandate stamp. "Palestine" is shown in English, Arabic (فلسطين), and Hebrew, the latter includes the acronym א״י for Eretz Yisrael

    The first reference to the Palestinians, without qualifying them as Arabs, is to be found in a document of the Permanent Executive Committee, composed of Muslims and Christians, presenting a series of formal complaints to the British authorities on 26 July 1928.[174]

    Infrastructure and development

    Between 1922 and 1947, the annual growth rate of the Jewish sector of the economy was 13.2%, mainly due to immigration and foreign capital, while that of the Arab was 6.5%. Per capita, these figures were 4.8% and 3.6% respectively. By 1936, the Jewish sector had eclipsed the Arab one, and Jewish individuals earned 2.6 times as much as Arabs. In terms of human capital, there was a huge difference. For instance, the literacy rates in 1932 were 86% for the Jews against 22% for the Arabs, but Arab literacy was steadily increasing.[175]

    Under the British Mandate, the country developed economically and culturally. In 1919 the Jewish community founded a centralized Hebrew school system, and the following year established the Assembly of Representatives, the Jewish National Council and the Histadrut labor federation. The Technion university was founded in 1924, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1925.[176]

    As for Arab institutions, the office of "Mufti of Jerusalem", traditionally limited in authority and geographical scope, was refashioned by the British into that of "Grand Mufti of Palestine". Furthermore, a Supreme Muslim Council (SMC) was established and given various duties, such as the administration of religious endowments and the appointment of religious judges and local muftis. During the revolt (see below) the Arab Higher Committee was established as the central political organ of the Arab community of Palestine.

    During the Mandate period, many factories were established and roads and railroads were built throughout the country. The Jordan River was harnessed for production of electric power and the Dead Sea was tapped for minerals – potash and bromine.

    1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine

    Sparked off by the death of Shaykh Izz ad-Din al-Qassam at the hands of the British police near Jenin in November 1935, in the years 1936–1939 the Arabs participated in an uprising and protest against British rule and against mass Jewish immigration. The revolt manifested in a strike and armed insurrection started sporadically, becoming more organized with time. Attacks were mainly directed at British strategic installations such as the Trans Arabian Pipeline (TAP) and railways, and to a lesser extent against Jewish settlements, secluded Jewish neighborhoods in the mixed cities, and Jews, both individually and in groups.

    Violence abated for about a year while the Peel Commission deliberated and eventually recommended partition of Palestine. With the rejection of this proposal, the revolt resumed during the autumn of 1937. Violence continued throughout 1938 and eventually petered out in 1939.

    The British responded to the violence by greatly expanding their military forces and clamping down on Arab dissent. "Administrative detention" (imprisonment without charges or trial), curfews, and house demolitions were among British practices during this period. More than 120 Arabs were sentenced to death and about 40 hanged. The main Arab leaders were arrested or expelled.

    The Haganah (Hebrew for "defense"), an illegal Jewish paramilitary organization, actively supported British efforts to quell the insurgency, which reached 10,000 Arab fighters at their peak during the summer and fall of 1938. Although the British administration did not officially recognize the Haganah, the British security forces cooperated with it by forming the Jewish Settlement Police and Special Night Squads.[177] A terrorist splinter group of the Haganah, called the Irgun (or Etzel)[178] adopted a policy of violent retaliation against Arabs for attacks on Jews.[179] At a meeting in Alexandria in July 1937 between Jabotinsky and Irgun commander Col. Robert Bitker and chief-of-staff Moshe Rosenberg, the need for indiscriminate retaliation due to the difficulty of limiting operations to only the "guilty" was explained. The Irgun launched attacks against public gathering places such as markets and cafes.[180]

    The Arab revolt of 1936–39 in Palestine. A Jewish bus equipped with wire screens to protect civilian riders against rocks and grenades[citation needed] thrown by militants.

    The revolt did not achieve its goals, although it is "credited with signifying the birth of the Arab Palestinian identity.".[181] It is generally credited with forcing the issuance of the White Paper of 1939 which renounced Britain's intent of creating a Jewish National Home in Palestine, as proclaimed in the 1917 Balfour Declaration.

    Another outcome of the hostilities was the partial disengagement of the Jewish and Arab economies in Palestine, which were more or less intertwined until that time. For example, whereas the Jewish city of Tel Aviv previously relied on the nearby Arab seaport of Jaffa, hostilities dictated the construction of a separate Jewish-run seaport for Tel Aviv.

    World War II and Palestine

    When the Second World War broke out, the Jewish population sided with Britain. David Ben Gurion, head of the Jewish Agency, defined the policy with what became a famous motto: "We will fight the war as if there were no White Paper, and we will fight the White Paper as if there were no war." While this represented the Jewish population as a whole, there were exceptions (see below).

    As in most of the Arab world, there was no unanimity amongst the Palestinian Arabs as to their position regarding the combatants in World War II. A number of leaders and public figures saw an Axis victory as the likely outcome and a way of securing Palestine back from the Zionists and the British. Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, spent the rest of the war in Nazi Germany and the occupied areas, in particular encouraging Muslim Bosniaks to join the Waffen SS in German-conquered Bosnia. About 6,000 Palestinian Arabs and 30,000 Palestinian Jews joined the British forces.

    On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on the British Commonwealth and sided with Germany. Within a month, the Italians attacked Palestine from the air, bombing Tel Aviv and Haifa.[182]

    In 1942, there was a period of anxiety for the Yishuv, when the forces of German General Erwin Rommel advanced east in North Africa towards the Suez Canal and there was fear that they would conquer Palestine. This period was referred to as the two hundred days of anxiety. This event was the direct cause for the founding, with British support, of the Palmach[183]—a highly-trained regular unit belonging to Haganah (which was mostly made up of reserve troops).

    Jewish Brigade headquarters under both Union Flag and Jewish flag

    On 3 July 1944, the British government consented to the establishment of a Jewish Brigade with hand-picked Jewish and also non-Jewish senior officers. The brigade fought in Europe, most notably against the Germans in Italy from March 1945 until the end of the war in May 1945. Members of the Brigade played a key role in the Berihah's efforts to help Jews escape Europe for Palestine. Later, veterans of the Jewish Brigade became key participants of the new State of Israel's Israel Defense Force.

    Starting in 1939 and throughout the war and the Holocaust, the British reduced the number of Jewish immigrants allowed into Palestine, following the publication of the MacDonald White Paper. Once the 15,000 annual quota was exceeded, Jews fleeing Nazi persecution were placed in detention camps or deported to places such as Mauritius.[184]

    In 1944 Menachem Begin assumed the Irgun's leadership, determined to force the British government to remove its troops entirely from Palestine. Citing that the British had reneged on their original promise of the Balfour Declaration, and that the White Paper of 1939 restricting Jewish immigration was an escalation of their pro-Arab policy, he decided to break with the Haganah. Soon after he assumed command, a formal 'Declaration of Revolt' was publicized, and armed attacks against British forces were initiated. Lehi, another splinter group, opposed cessation of operations against the British authorities all along. The Jewish Agency which opposed those actions and the challenge to its role as government in preparation responded with "The Hunting Season" – severe actions against supporters of the Irgun and Lehi, including turning them over to the British.

    The country developed economically during the war, with increased industrial and agricultural outputs and the period was considered an `economic Boom'. In terms of Arab-Jewish relations, these were relatively quiet times.[185]

    End of the British Mandate 1945–1948

    Arab autobus after an attack by Irgun, 29 December 1947

    In the years following World War II, Britain's control over Palestine became increasingly tenuous. This was caused by a combination of factors, including:

  • World public opinion turned against Britain as a result of the British policy of preventing Holocaust survivors from reaching Palestine, sending them instead to Cyprus internment camps, or even back to Germany, as in the case of Exodus 1947.
  • The costs of maintaining an army of over 100,000 men in Palestine weighed heavily on a British economy suffering from post-war depression, and was another cause for British public opinion to demand an end to the Mandate.[186]
  • Rapid deterioration due to the actions of the Jewish paramilitary organizations (Hagana, Irgun and Lehi), involving attacks on strategic installations (by all three) as well as on British forces and officials (by the Irgun and Lehi). This caused severe damage to British morale and prestige, as well as increasing opposition to the mandate in Britain itself, public opinion demanding to "bring the boys home".[187]
  • US Congress was delaying a loan necessary to prevent British bankruptcy. The delays were in response to the British refusal to fulfill a promise given to Truman that 100,000 Holocaust survivors would be allowed to emigrate to Palestine.[citation needed]

In early 1947 the British Government announced their desire to terminate the Mandate, and asked the United Nations General Assembly to make recommendations regarding the future of the country.[188] The British Administration declined to accept the responsibility for implementing any solution that wasn't acceptable to both the Jewish and the Arab communities, or to allow other authorities to take over responsibility for public security prior to the termination of its mandate on 15 May 1948.[189]

UN partition and the 1948 Israeli-Arab War

Palestinian territories 1948 Palestinian exodus
Man see school nakba.jpg

Main articles
1948 Palestinian exodus


1947-48 civil war
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 War
Causes of the exodus
Depopulated areas
Nakba Day
Palestine refugee camps
Palestinian refugee
Palestinian right of return
Present absentee
Transfer Committee
Resolution 194

Background
British Mandate of Palestine
Israel's declaration of independence
Israeli-Palestinian conflict history
New Historians
Palestine · Plan Dalet
1947 partition plan · UNRWA

Key incidents
Battle of Haifa
Deir Yassin massacre
Exodus from Lydda

Notable writers
Aref al-Aref · Yoav Gelber
Efraim Karsh · Walid Khalidi
Nur Masalha · Benny Morris
Ilan Pappe · Tom Segev
Avraham Sela · Avi Shlaim

Related categories/lists
Depopulated villages category
List of depopulated villages

Related templates
Palestinians


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UN partition plan, 1947

On 29 November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted 33 to 13 with 10 abstentions, in favour of a plan to partition the territory into separate Jewish and Arab states, under economic union, with the Greater Jerusalem area (encompassing Bethlehem) coming under international control. Zionist leaders (including the Jewish Agency), accepted the plan, while Palestinian Arab leaders rejected it and all independent Muslim and Arab states voted against it.[190][191][192] Almost immediately, sectarian violence erupted and spread, killing hundreds of Arabs, Jews and British over the ensuing months.

The rapid evolution of events precipitated into a Civil War. Arab volunteers of the Arab Liberation Army entered Palestine to fight with the Palestinians, but the April–May offensive of Yishuv forces defeated the Arab forces and Arab Palestinian society collapsed. Some 300,000 to 350,000 Palestinians caught up in the turmoil fled or were driven from their homes.

David Ben-Gurion proclaiming independence beneath a large portrait of Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism

On 14 May, the Jewish Agency declared the independence of the state of Israel. The neighbouring Arab state intervened to prevent the partition and support the Palestinian Arab population. While Transjordan took control of territory designated for the future Arab State, Syrian, Iraqi and Egyptian expeditionary forces attacked Israel without success. The most intensive battles were waged between the Jordanian and Israeli forces over the control of Jerusalem.

On June 11, a truce was accepted by all parties. Israel used the lull to undertake a large-scale reinforcement of its army. In a series of military operations, it then conquered the whole of the Galilee region, both the Lydda and Ramle areas, and the Negev. It also managed to secure, in the Battles of Latrun, a road linking Jerusalem to Israel. In this phase, 350,000 more Arab Palestinians fled or were expelled from the conquered areas.

During the first 6 months of 1949, negotiations between the belligerents came to terms over armistice lines that delimited Israel's borders. On the other side, no Palestinian Arab state was founded: Jordan annexed the Arab territories of the Mandatory regions of Samaria and Judea (today known as the West Bank), as well as East Jerusalem, while the Gaza strip came under Egyptian administration.

The New Historians, like Avi Shlaim, hold that there was an unwritten secret agreement between King Abdullah of Transjordan and Israeli authorities to partition the territory between themselves, and that this translated into each side limiting their objectives and exercising mutual restraint during the 1948 war.[193]

1948 to present

Arab-Israeli conflict
Israel and arab states map.png
Israel and members of the Arab League
Date Early 20th century-present
Location Middle East
Result Ongoing
Belligerents
Flag of the Arab League.svg
Arab nations
Flag of Israel.svg
Israel
Arab-Israeli conflict series
Participants

On the same day that the State of Israel was announced, the Arab League announced that it would set up a single Arab civil administration throughout Palestine,[194][195] and launched an attack on the new Israeli state. The All-Palestine government was declared in Gaza on 1 October 1948,[196] partly as an Arab League move to limit the influence of Transjordan over the Palestinian issue. The former mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, was appointed as president. The government was recognised by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, but not by Transjordan (later known as Jordan) or any non-Arab country. It was little more than an Egyptian protectorate and had negligible influence or funding. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the area allocated to the Palestinian Arabs and the international zone of Jerusalem were occupied by Israel and the neighboring Arab states in accordance with the terms of the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Palestinian Arabs living in the Gaza Strip or Egypt were issued with All-Palestine passports until 1959, when Gamal Abdul Nasser, president of Egypt, issued a decree that annulled the All-Palestine government.

In addition to the UN-partitioned area allotted to the Jewish state, Israel captured and incorporated[citation needed]a further 26% of the Mandate territory (namely of the territory to the west of the Jordan river). Jordan captured and annexed about 21% of the Mandate territory, which it referred to as the West Bank (to differentiate it from the newly-named East Bank – the original Transjordan). Jerusalem was divided, with Jordan taking the eastern parts, including the Old City, and Israel taking the western parts. The Gaza Strip was captured by Egypt. In addition, Syria held on to small slivers of Mandate territory to the south and east of the Sea of Galilee, which had been allocated in the UN partition plan to the Jewish state. Negotiations involving the United Nations over the current status of Jerusalem as a capital city are still continuing as a part of the UN-sponsored "Two-State Solution". Currently, Jerusalem as a whole is not internationally or legal recognised as the capital city of the State of Israel or the Palestinian Territories.

For a description of the massive population movements, Arab and Jewish, at the time of the 1948 war and over the following decades, see Palestinian exodus and Jewish exodus from Arab lands.

In the course of the Six Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt.

The region as of today: Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights

From the 1960s onward, the term "Palestine" was regularly used in political contexts. The Palestine Liberation Organization has enjoyed status as a non-member observer at the United Nations since 1974, and continues to represent "Palestine" there.[197] According to the CIA World Factbook,[198][199][200] of the ten million people living between Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, about five million (49%) identify as Palestinian, Arab, Bedouin and/or Druze. One million of those are citizens of Israel. The other four million are residents of the West Bank and Gaza, which are under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority, which was formed in 1994, pursuant to the Oslo Accords. As of July 2009, approximately 305,000 Israelis live in the 121 officially-recognised settlements in the West Bank.[201] The 2.4 million[citation needed] West Bank Palestinians (according to Palestinian evaluations) live primarily in four blocs centered in Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus, and Jericho. In 2005, Israel withdrew its army and all the Israeli settlers were evacuated from the Gaza Strip, in keeping with Ariel Sharon's plan for unilateral disengagement, and control over the area was transferred to the Palestinian Authority. However, due to the Hamas-Fatah conflict,and to local elections, the Gaza Strip has been in control of Hamas since 2006. Even after this disengagement, the UN, Human Rights Watch, and many other international bodies and NGOs consider Israel to be the occupying power of the Gaza Strip because Israel controls Gaza's airspace and territorial waters, and does not allow the movement of goods in or out of Gaza by air or sea.[202][203][204]

Demographics

Early demographics

Estimating the population of Palestine in antiquity relies on two methods – censuses and writings made at the times, and the scientific method based on excavations and statistical methods that consider the number of settlements at the particular age, area of each settlement, density factor for each settlement.

According to Magen Broshi, an Israeli archaeologist "... the population of Palestine in antiquity did not exceed a million persons. It can also be shown, moreover, that this was more or less the size of the population in the peak period—the late Byzantine period, around AD 600"[205] Similarly, a study by Yigal Shiloh of The Hebrew University suggests that the population of Palestine in the Iron Age could have never exceeded a million. He writes: "... the population of the country in the Roman-Byzantine period greatly exceeded that in the Iron Age...If we accept Broshi's population estimates, which appear to be confirmed by the results of recent research, it follows that the estimates for the population during the Iron Age must be set at a lower figure."[206]

Demographics in the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods

In the middle of the 1st century of the Ottoman rule, i.e. 1550 AD, Bernard Lewis in a study of Ottoman registers of the early Ottoman Rule of Palestine reports:[207]

From the mass of detail in the registers, it is possible to extract something like a general picture of the economic life of the country in that period. Out of a total population of about 300,000 souls, between a fifth and a quarter lived in the six towns of Jerusalem, Gaza, Safed, Nablus, Ramle, and Hebron. The remainder consisted mainly of peasants, living in villages of varying size, and engaged in agriculture. Their main food-crops were wheat and barley in that order, supplemented by leguminous pulses, olives, fruit, and vegetables. In and around most of the towns there was a considerable number of vineyards, orchards, and vegetable gardens.

By Volney's estimates in 1785, there were no more than 200,000 people in the country.[208] According to Alexander Scholch, the population of Palestine in 1850 had about 350,000 inhabitants, 30% of whom lived in 13 towns; roughly 85% were Muslims, 11% were Christians and 4% Jews[209]

According to Ottoman statistics studied by Justin McCarthy,[210] the population of Palestine in the early 19th century was 350,000, in 1860 it was 411,000 and in 1900 about 600,000 of which 94% were Arabs. In 1914 Palestine had a population of 657,000 Muslim Arabs, 81,000 Christian Arabs, and 59,000 Jews.[211] McCarthy estimates the non-Jewish population of Palestine at 452,789 in 1882, 737,389 in 1914, 725,507 in 1922, 880,746 in 1931 and 1,339,763 in 1946.[212]

Official reports

In 1920, the League of Nations' Interim Report on the Civil Administration of Palestine stated that there were 700,000 people living in Palestine:

Of these 235,000 live in the larger towns, 465,000 in the smaller towns and villages. Four-fifths of the whole population are Moslems. A small proportion of these are Bedouin Arabs; the remainder, although they speak Arabic and are termed Arabs, are largely of mixed race. Some 77,000 of the population are Christians, in large majority belonging to the Orthodox Church, and speaking Arabic. The minority are members of the Latin or of the Uniate Greek Catholic Church, or—a small number—are Protestants. The Jewish element of the population numbers 76,000. Almost all have entered Palestine during the last 40 years. Prior to 1850 there were in the country only a handful of Jews. In the following 30 years a few hundreds came to Palestine. Most of them were animated by religious motives; they came to pray and to die in the Holy Land, and to be buried in its soil. After the persecutions in Russia forty years ago, the movement of the Jews to Palestine assumed larger proportions.[213]

By 1948, the population had risen to 1,900,000, of whom 68% were Arabs, and 32% were Jews (UNSCOP report, including bedouin).

Current demographics

According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, as of May 2006, of Israel's 7 million people, 77% were Jews, 18.5% Arabs, and 4.3% "others".[214] Among Jews, 68% were Sabras (Israeli-born), mostly second- or third-generation Israelis, and the rest are olim — 22% from Europe,the former Soviet republics, Russia, and the Americas, and 10% from Asia and Africa, including the Arab countries.[215]

Of Israel's 7 million citizens, 516,569 Jewish ones live in enclaves referred to as Israeli settlements and outposts in various lands adjacent to the state of Israel occupied by Israel during the Six Day War.[216][217][218]

According to Palestinian evaluations, The West Bank is inhabited by approximately 2.4 million Palestinians and the Gaza Strip by another 1.4 million. According to a study presented at The Sixth Herzliya Conference on The Balance of Israel's National Security[219] there are 1.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank. This study was criticised by demographer Sergio DellaPergola, who estimated 3.33 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip combined at the end of 2005.[220]

According to these Israeli and Palestinian estimates, the population in Israel and the Palestinian Territories stands between 9.8 and 10.8 million.

Jordan has a population of around 6,000,000 (2007 estimate).[221][222] Long term Palestinian war refugees constitute approximately half of this number.[223]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Palestine Exploration Fund". The Palestine Exploration Fund. http://www.pef.org.uk/oldsite/Paldef.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-04. 
  2. ^ http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=31&letter=P
  3. ^ de Geus, 2003, p. 7.
  4. ^ a b c d e Sharon, 1988, p. 4.
  5. ^ a b c Room, 1997, p. 285.
  6. ^ a b Fahlbusch et al., 2005, p. 185.
  7. ^ Lewis, 1993, p. 153.
  8. ^ a b c d Carl S. Ehrlich "Philistines" The Oxford Guide to People and Places of the Bible. Ed. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan. Oxford University Press, 2001.
  9. ^ Jacobson, David M., Palestine and Israel, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 313 (Feb., 1999), pp. 65–74
  10. ^ The Southern and Eastern Borders of Abar-Nahara Steven S. Tuell Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 284 (Nov., 1991), pp. 51–57
  11. ^ Herodotus' Description of the East Mediterranean Coast Anson F. Rainey Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 321 (Feb., 2001), pp. 57–63
  12. ^ Beloe, W., Rev., Herodotus, (tr. from Greek), with notes, Vol.II, London, 1821, p.269
  13. ^ Elyahu Green, Geographic names of places in Israel in Herodotos
  14. ^ a b c d e f Lehmann, Clayton Miles (Summer 1998). "Palestine: History: 135–337: Syria Palaestina and the Tetrarchy". The On-line Encyclopedia of the Roman Provinces. University of South Dakota. http://www.usd.edu/~clehmann/erp/Palestine/history.htm#135-337. Retrieved 2008-07-06. 
  15. ^ Sharon, 1998, p. 4. According to Moshe Sharon: "Eager to obliterate the name of the rebellious Judaea", the Roman authorities renamed it Palaestina or Syria Palaestina.
  16. ^ Robinson, Edward, Physical geography of the Holy Land, Crocker & Brewster, Boston, 1865, p.15
  17. ^ a b Kaegi, 1995, p. 41.
  18. ^ Marshall Cavendish, 2007, p. 559.
  19. ^ Lassner and Troen, 2007, pp. 54–55.
  20. ^ Gudrun Krämer (2008) A History of Palestine: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Founding of the State of Israel Translated by Gudrun Krämer and Graham Harman Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-11897-3 p 16
  21. ^ Judea[dead link]
  22. ^ According to the Jewish Encyclopedia published between 1901 and 1906: "Palestine extends, from 31° to 33° 20′ N. latitude. Its southwest point (at Raphia = Tell Rifaḥ, southwest of Gaza) is about 34° 15′ E. longitude, and its northwest point (mouth of the Liṭani) is at 35° 15′ E. longitude, while the course of the Jordan reaches 35° 35′ to the east. The west-Jordan country has, consequently, a length of about 150 English miles from north to south, and a breadth of about 23 miles at the north and 80 miles at the south. The area of this region, as measured by the surveyors of the English Palestine Exploration Fund, is about 6,040 square miles. The east-Jordan district is now being surveyed by the German Palästina-Verein, and although the work is not yet completed, its area may be estimated at 4,000 square miles. This entire region, as stated above, was not occupied exclusively by the Israelites, for the plain along the coast in the south belonged to the Philistines, and that in the north to the Phoenicians, while in the east-Jordan country the Israelitic possessions never extended farther than the Arnon (Wadi al-Mujib) in the south, nor did the Israelites ever settle in the most northerly and easterly portions of the plain of Bashan. To-day the number of inhabitants does not exceed 650,000. Palestine, and especially the Israelitic state, covered, therefore, a very small area, approximating that of the state of Vermont." From the Jewish Encyclopedia Boundaries and Extent
  23. ^ According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911), [1] Palestine is:
    "[A] geographical name of rather loose application. Etymological strictness would require it to denote exclusively the narrow strip of coast-land once occupied by the Philistines, from whose name it is derived. It is, however, conventionally used as a name for the territory which, in the Old Testament, is claimed as the inheritance of the pre-exilic Hebrews; thus it may be said generally to denote the southern third of the province of Syria.
    Except in the west, where the country is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, the limit of this territory cannot be laid down on the map as a definite line. The modern subdivisions under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire are in no sense conterminous with those of antiquity, and hence do not afford a boundary by which Palestine can be separated exactly from the rest of Syria in the north, or from the Sinaitic and Arabian deserts in the south and east; nor are the records of ancient boundaries sufficiently full and definite to make possible the complete demarcation of the country. Even the convention above referred to is inexact: it includes the Philistine territory, claimed but never settled by the Hebrews, and excludes the outlying parts of the large area claimed in Num. xxxiv. as the Hebrew possession (from the " River of Egypt " to Hamath). However, the Hebrews themselves have preserved, in the proverbial expression " from Dan to Beersheba " (Judg. xx.i, &c.), an indication of the normal north-and-south limits of their land; and in defining the area of the country under discussion it is this indication which is generally followed.
    Taking as a guide the natural features most nearly corresponding to these outlying points, we may describe Palestine as the strip of land extending along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea from the mouth of the Litany or Kasimiya River (33° 20' N.) southward to the mouth of the Wadi Ghuzza; the latter joins the sea in 31° 28' N., a short distance south of Gaza, and runs thence in a south-easterly direction so as to include on its northern side the site of Beersheba. Eastward there is no such definite border. The River Jordan, it is true, marks a line of delimitation between Western and Eastern Palestine; but it is practically impossible to say where the latter ends and the Arabian desert begins. Perhaps the line of the pilgrim road from Damascus to Mecca is the most convenient possible boundary. The total length of the region is about 140 m (459.32 ft); its breadth west of the Jordan ranges from about 23 m (75.46 ft) in the north to about 80 m (262.47 ft) in the south."
  24. ^ Sir Alan Gardiner, Egypt of the Pharaohs, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1961) 1964 pp.131, 199, 285, n.1.
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  30. ^ Herodotus, The Histories Bk.7.89
  31. ^ e.g. Antiquities 1.136.
  32. ^ cf. Pliny, Natural History V.66 and 68.
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  45. ^ Harris, 1996, p. 253.
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  64. ^ Stager, Lawrence E., "Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel" in Michael Coogan ed. The Oxford History of the Biblical World, Oxford University Press, 2001. p.92
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  71. ^ Pritchard, Texts p. 321
  72. ^ Pritchard, Pictures p. 275, 744
  73. ^ J. Simons, Jerusalem in the Old Testament (1952) p. 175-92
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  • Gelber, Yoav (1997) Jewish-Transjordanian Relations 1921-48: alliance of bars sinister. London: Routledge ISBN 0-7146-4675-X
  • Gerber, Haim (1998) "Palestine" and Other Territorial Concepts in the 17th Century", in: International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol 30, pp. 563–572.
  • Gilbar, Gar G. (1986) "The Growing Economic Involvement of Palestine with the West, 1865-1914", in: David Kushner (ed.). Palestine in the Late Ottoman Period: political, social and economic transformation. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers ISBN 90-04-07792-8
  • Gilbar, Gar G. (ed.) (1990) Ottoman Palestine: 1800-1914: studies in economic and social history. Leiden: Brill ISBN 90-04-07785-5
  • Gilbert, Martin (2005) The Routledge Atlas of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. London: Routledge ISBN 0-415-35900-7
  • Gottheil, Fred M. (2003) "The Smoking Gun: Arab immigration into Palestine, 1922-1931, Middle East Quarterly, X (1)
  • Grisanti, Michael A.; Howard, David M. (2003). Giving the Sense: understanding and using Old Testament historical texts (Illustrated ed.). Kregel Publications. ISBN 0825428920, 9780825428920. http://books.google.com/?id=stMd0QV97IYC&pg=PA160&dq=%22united+monarchy%22+evidence+archaeology&q=%22united%20monarchy%22%20evidence%20archaeology 
  • Hansen, Mogens Herman (ed.) (2000) A Comparative Study of Thirty City-state Cultures: an investigation. Copenhagen: Kgl. Danske Videnskabernes Selskab ISBN 87-7876-177-8
  • Harris, David Russell (1996) The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia. London: Routledge. ISBN 1-85728-537-9
  • Hayes, John H. & Mandell, Sara R. (1998) The Jewish People in Classical Antiquity: from Alexander to Bar Kochba. Louisville KY: Westminster John Knox Press ISBN 0-664-25727-5
  • Hughes, Mark (1999) Allenby and British Strategy in the Middle East, 1917-1919. London: Routledge ISBN 0-7146-4920-1
  • Ingrams, Doreen (1972) Palestine Papers 1917-1922. London: John Murray ISBN 0-8076-0648-0
  • Kaegi, Walter Emil; Kaegi, Walter Emil (1995). Byzantium and the Early Islamic Conquests (Reprint, illustrated ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521484553, 9780521484558. http://books.google.com/?id=YSULouFrzx4C&pg=PA41&dq=byzantine+palestine+I+and+II&q= 
  • Khalidi, Rashid (1997) Palestinian Identity. The Construction of Modern National Consciousness. New York: Columbia University Press ISBN 0-231-10515-0
  • Johnston, Sarah Iles (2004) Religions of the Ancient World: a guide. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press ISBN 0-674-01517-7
  • Karpat, Kemal H. (2002) Studies on Ottoman Social and Political History. Leiden: Brill ISBN 90-04-12101-3
  • Katz, Shemu'el (1972) Admat merivah: metsiʾut ṿe-dimayon be-Erets Yiśraʾel. Tel-Aviv: Hotsaʾat sefarim Ḳarni אדמת מריבה : מציאות ודמיון בארץ ישראל / שמואל כץ. 8791. (מהדורה שנייה מורחבת ומעודכנת)
  • Katz, Shmuel (1973) Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine. Shapolsky (London: W. H. Allen) ISBN 0-933503-03-2 (Translation of Admat merivah)
  • ---do.---(1985) New updated ed. New York: Steimatzky/Shapolsky ISBN 0-933503-03-2
  • Killebrew, Ann E. (2005). Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity: An Archaeological Study of Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines and Early Israel 1300-1100 BC. Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 1-58983-097-0
  • Kimmerling, Baruch and Migdal, Joel S. (1994) Palestinians: The Making of a People. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press ISBN 0-674-65223-1
Works written before 1918
  • Le Strange, Guy (1890) Palestine under the Moslems: a description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500; translated from the works of the mediaeval Arab geographers. [London] : Alexander P. Watt for the Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund; Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin (Reprinted by Khayats, Beirut, 1965, with a new introd. by Walid Khalidy.; AMS Press, New York, 1975) ISBN 0-404-56288-4
  • Twain, Mark (1867) Innocents Abroad. London: Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-243708-5

External links

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The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations

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The logo of The National Council on U.S. Arab-Relations.

The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) is an American non-profit organization NGO dedicated to improving American knowledge and understanding of the Arab world.

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[edit] Background

Founded in 1983, NCUSAR has public charity status in accordance with Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

The headquarters of the Council are located at 1730 M Street, Washington DC. Utilizing its politically central location and ties with sister organizations, the Council plays a leading role in convening regular meetings of the heads of a dozen Arab-U.S. relations organizations devoted to sharing information, discussing strategies, avoiding duplication of effort, and identifying and pursuing opportunities for greater inter-organizational cooperation.

The Council is staffed by professionals and experts in the field of Arab politics. Most notable is President and CEO Dr. John Duke Anthony. Vice Presidents Patrick Macino and Dr. James Winship act as Director of Development and Program Manager respectively, while Megan Geissler heads the nationally recognized Model Arab League. These managers are backed by a team of interns who work seasonally. A fall spring internship opportunity is offered to college students, and a special fellowship exists for summer interns.

The National Council is supported primarily by philanthropists, individuals, and institutions in the United States and the Arab world. Their involvement with the Council often begins with a single event or activity and grows into a broader and lasting relationship based on a shared commitment to the Council's vision and mission. The number of people involved with the Council has grown greatly over the years thanks to connections that developed into significant bonds of cooperation.

[edit] Vision

The National Council's vision is a relationship between the United States and its Arab partners, friends, and allies that rests on as solid and enduring a foundation as possible. This foundation is dedicated to mutual political endeavors, economic ventures, and reciprocal appreciation for culture and heritage.

[edit] Mission

The National Council's mission is educational. It seeks to enhance American awareness understanding of Arab countries, the Middle East, and the Islamic world. It fulfills these goals by promoting programs for leadership development, educational lectures and publications, and public forums.

NCUSAR hosts the annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference, a gathering of prominent minds to discuss that year's pressing issues in the Arab world. It also sponsors the intercollegiate Model Arab League, a student forum similar to the Model United Nations. Study abroad opportunities exist in the form of the Yemen College of Middle Eastern Studies and the Cairo League of Arab States Exchange. The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations periodically sponsors public educational programs on Capitol Hill. There, an assemblage of domestic and internationally renowned specialists analyze, discuss, and debate issues of importance to the relationship between the U.S., Middle East, and Islamic World. Such events seek to strengthen bonds of trust and friendship while examining complex political issues.

As a public service the Council serves as a nexus of information and contacts for grassroots, governmental, business, religious, and international institutions. In these ways the Council helps strengthen and expand the overall Arab-U.S. relationship.

[edit] Publications

In addition to the distribution of routine newsletters, the Council provides a number of valuable resources concerning Arab politics, history, and relation with the West. Video and audio recordings as well as transcripts of events hosted by the Council are made available to the public on a regular basis. Most notable of these are videos and transcripts of the forum discussions held at the annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference. Also offered are free essays and articles published by Dr. John Duke Anthony, who has written in the past for Encyclopedia Britannica and the Gulf Co-operation Council. The NCUSAR also posts resources it deems useful in spreading knowledge about the Arab World.

The National Council publishes the Saudi-U.S. Relations Information Service (SUSRIS) The SUSRIS project offers an objective and comprehensive view of the U.S.-Saudi Arabia relationship. SUSRIS's main goal is to provide information from a variety of sources that would otherwise be difficult for most readers to uncover. It's free e-newsletter offers original materials such as interviews, essays, and more. Since its launch in 2003, the response to this resource has been extraordinary, with monthly Web site visits measured in the millions. The success of this publication is clear as SUSRIS is routinely cited by major international media as a news source. A subscription to the e-newsletter is free and open to the general public.

[edit] External links

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