Kramer
Martin
The Middle East, Old and New
1902, Theodor
IN
HERZL, the father
of political
Zionism,
pub
lished a Utopian novel entitled Altneuland (Old-New Land).
The story is set in Palestine in the distant future of 1923, by
which time a "New Society" has been established through the
mass
return
of
commonwealth,
or religion.
"New
the Jews. The
Society"
far beyond
nationalism.
There
church,
Jerusalem
are free to worship
"in synagogue,
or the philharmonic
concert."
Its members
guage
is a cosmopolitan
is no official
lan
in the art museum
mosque,
is dominated
a "Peace
by
Palace"
the Latin
bearing
to
is alien
me."
from Terence:
human
inscription
"Nothing
is also a showplace
of the highest
The "New
technol
Society"
and
Odorless
silent
electric
monorails
whisk
the
inhabitants
ogy.
to place; power
is generated
inclined water
by a huge
to the Dead
tunnel
takes on
Sea, which
linking the Mediterranean
the appearance
of Lake Geneva.
And although
the "New Society"
from
place
extends
across
the
and
River,
Jordan
is no conflict
between
there
even
Beirut
and
beyond
and Arabs,
and no
Damascus,
Jews
us rich," says the book's
need for armies.
"The Jews have made
one Arab character.
live with
"Why should we scorn them? They
us as brothers. Why
should we not love them?" On the title page
of his book, Herzl
it, it is no
inscribed this epigraph: "If you will
fairy tale."1
In 1993,
the then-foreign
minister
of Israel,
Shimon
Peres,
pub
lished a book entitled The New Middle East. In it, he announced
that
Martin
Studies
89
the familiar
obsessions
Kramer
is Director
of
at Tel Aviv University.
of the Middle
the Moshe
Dayan
Center
East?nationhood,
for Middle
Eastern
bor
and African
90
Martin Kramer
ders, territory, arms?had
A new age had dawned.
Borders
would
ceased
to matter
Nations
would
be opened. Water
arsenals would
shared. Massive
a single
in an era of globalization.
redefine
their identities.
and natural
resources
be dismantled.
would
The Middle
be
East
to the cooperative
zone, devoted
"I
I
to
of
feel
that
have
earned
the right
pursuit
prosperity.2
wrote
in
memoirs.
I
Peres
in
his
"So much
that
dreamed
dream,"
as fantasy
the past was
dismissed
but has now become
thriving
would
become
reality."3
From
the
"New
across
economic
to the "new Middle
dreamers
East,"
Society"
have imagined
the transformation
of the Middle
this century
into a zone of peace, prosperity,
and cooperation.
The dreams
are familiar
to the West,
of the Jews
because
been
they have
in
But similar dreams
translation.
have been written
dreamt
and
East
in Arabic,
In these visions,
and Persian.
nations
Turkish,
spoken
to the house
is retired
live in harmony,
and religion
of worship.
now neutralized,
cease to divide;
The forces of division,
the diverse
East form around
of the Middle
peoples
the
diverse
of Europe.
ing
peoples
a shared
emulat
interest,
And have not the peoples of theMiddle East usually followed
the lead of theWest? The national projects of this century were all
models.
inspired
by European
of
and
Jews
Europe,
state that would
take
its leaders
Zionism
worked
first
among
emerged
to collect
the Jews
the
in a
of
its place among
the secular nation-states
a
to
not
remake
nationalism
Europe.
only
attempted
into a secular nation-state
but sought
Muslim
recognition
society
as part and parcel of Europe. Arab nationalism
in all its
for Turkey
Turkish
drew
forms
as did
eral,
nationalisms
its inspiration
from Western
liberal
models,
Not
Iranian nationalism.
all of these Middle
gion
the European
illib
Eastern
reli
and most
incorporated
loyalties,
was
in every case, their point of departure
is now
If the new point
of departure
nation-state.
banished
in some
and
role.
old
But
the idea of Europe, is this not the next model
for theMiddle
East?
a willing
the Middle
of the region,
East, suggests
terms. An American
ness of its peoples
to be redefined
in new
wrote
his
coined
the term the same year Herzl
naval
strategist
East
it was aWestern
the
Middle
Altneuland:
invention,
defining
Even
the name
vis-?-vis
the West
graphs.4
Yet
it was
as a transit
only
zone
a matter
for
of
ships,
a few
and
railroads,
before
decades
tele
the
The Middle
the term,
of the region adopted
peoples
world
inhabited.
Could
they themselves
to
of
these
the
testimony
willingness
and
transformed,
And yet,
as the
East
A
resists.
integrated
twentieth
"new Middle
still an "old Middle
filled with
have
been
ism.
In some
in other
But
name
cate
of God.
91
East, Old and New
to describe
the part
there be a more
peoples
in the networks
of
of the
persuasive
to be
redefined,
the world?
of
century
closes, much
East" does exist in places,
the Middle
but
there
is
East" of tradition. The gaps between them
xenophobia,
East, secular
and
fundamental
places
dictatorship,
in the Middle
places,
There
live, die, and occasionally
people
are those in the Middle
East who
culture
flourishes.
kill
in the
communi
from
their computer
their place could be any place.
terminals;
in fervent
Others
communicate
from holy ground;
their
prayer
no
can
In
the
War
be
other
West,
place
place.
post-Cold
politics
In the
is no longer the competition
of ideologies,
but of interests.
Middle
This
is also the competition
of identities.
East, however,
politics
sometimes
obsessive
search for authenticity
does not fit the
neat models of the political scientists and has left the politics of the
Middle East difficult to understand and predict.
eco
of identities,
the prospects
for democracy,
uncertain.
Western
and
look
the
and
peace
experts
growth,
treat the region have been preoccupied
doctors
of diplomacy
who
with
economic
economic
process:
elections,
reforms,
sanctions,
In this
crisis
nomic
But time and again,
their ships run aground
peace negotiations.
currents of unsettled
amidst the swirling
identities.
French political
a model
crafted
scientists
electoral
for
ush
process
Algeria?and
ered in a ruthless civil war. The IMF and World
Turkey
East?and
Nations
the most
successful
economic
reform
now
an
has
Islamist
minister.
Turkey
prime
most
sanctions
the world's
drastic
imposed
institute
Libya?and
their
the best-laid
plans
on
Bank helped
in the Middle
The United
on
Iraq and
in defiance.
leaders
rule
peace
Norwegian
a
between
and
Israel
processors
agreement
engineered
compromise
the PLO?and
killed
Israel's
minister
and
opponents
prime
brought
seems to defy
down
its government.
If the Middle
East sometimes
for its renovation,
it is also home
this is because
to
who
seek
other
people
implement
plans?those
or
in the Bible or the Qur'an,
first revealed
in Nasser's
speeches
sermons.
Khomeini's
to determined
92
Martin Kramer
East
The Middle
will
remains,
true?and
not make
a mosaic?an
as before,
its peoples
only
one
analogy
to make many
are bound
choice.
that
The
is tired
different
region
but still
It
choices.
is composed
of four major
Israel, the Arab
lands, Turkey,
parts:
are distinguishable
and Iran. They
from one another
by a combi
nation
of differences?cultural,
linguistic,
religious,
geographic,
and political. The history of their formation can only be told at
In these few pages,
length.5
the
map
present
disposition
debate
about
itself.
is more
the purpose
in the Middle
forces
to
immediate:
of
East's
great
ISRAEL: CHOICES OF THE CHOSEN
the Old City of Jerusalem is vacated of its
InHerzl's Altneuland,
into a giant museum.
of Prime Minister
Israeli government
a small part of the Old
to transform
inhabitants
the new
sought
museum:
In September
and made
a two-thousand-year-old
it opened
the
1996,
Binyamin Netanyahu
into just such
City
a
Hasmonean
wall
on
tunnel,
the west
side
perimeter
alongside
long-buried
call the Haram
and Muslims
Jews call the Temple Mount
in the midst
of a stalled
The
tunnel
al-Sharif.
peace
opening,
a
Palestinian
and
Palestinian
process,
police
explosion.
ignited
running
of what
Israeli
forces
fought
pitched
battles;
there were
dozens
of casual
ties.
The
dilemmas
Zionism
in its incidental
the two
way,
epitomized
episode,
the birth of political
that face Israel a century
after
since the establishment
of the state.
and half a century
tunnel
the most
is the resistance
of Palestinian
obvious,
that Herzl, with
nationalism
literary license, could
in
either
had to confront,
but that Israel has always
The
first, and
nationalism?a
well
ignore
or in negotiations.
is contested
coveted
Jerusalem
ground,
narrow
in
its
confines
and
every
by both Israelis and Palestinians,
to
from
has
apart
digs
archaeological
explosive
potential,
change
ment
for the
of symbols
It is also
the reservoir
construction.
battle
conflict
stymied,
as a whole,
every
and when
symbol
political
in Jerusalem
are stirred or
aspirations
to political
becomes
subject
manipulation.
But beyond this, the digging of the tunnel exposed another inner
dilemma,
not between
Israelis
and Palestinians,
but between
Israe
East, Old and New
The Middle
Israelis. Some Israelis came to the tunnel as tourists,
a recovered
remnant
in surveying
of their national
came
as
the water
Jewish pilgrims:
tage." But other visitors
stone"
allowed
them to pass still closer to the "foundation
lis and
ested
where
the
Temple Mount,
the First and Second
site
This
visitor's
were
tunnel
of the
the "holy of holies"
of
sanctum,
stood two millennia
that
ago. (On
shrine of the Dome
of the Rock.)
a place
became
or
site
prayers. Heritage
holy place?
own identity. And
in their identities,
in the
point
fervent
inter
"heri
inner
Temples,
the Muslim
stands
today
93
tunnel
where
offered
many
It depended
the
upon
the tunneling
Israelis
sharply divided.
state of Israel was
founded
by a secular national movement
to
a nation
that sought
the Jews that they constituted
persuade
and not
Herzl
(Volk, wrote
Herzl)
just a religious
community.
treatise on Zionism,
in
entitled
his programmatic
first published
not
Der
State
But
"The
of
the
he
did
1896,
Jews."
Judenstaat,
The
envision that itwould be a Jewish state, governed in its policies by
the legal precepts of Jewish law. Neither did Herzl's heirs, from
Chaim
Weizmann
Ben-Gurion.6
through David
a
took
dim view of Zionism
orthodox
giously
Israel for precisely
a false
Jews was
that reason:
in their view,
of
Many
and
the
a secular
state
the reli
state
of
for the
redemption.7
in full force a religious Zionism
there emerged
1967,
that did sense the approach
In that year,
of redemption.
Israeli
arms seized the most
East
sites:
important
Jewish holy
Jerusalem,
But
after
site of theWestern
of
that
Israel's
East
Jerusalem
they made
And
This
tion"
peace
make
chosen
Party
unique
of
"return"
not
definition
(Wailing) Wall,
the Patriarchs.
Tomb
and Hebron,
Zionists
Religious
in 1967 to the biblical
location of the
convinced
themselves
and
Samaria?
a sign of God's
intent.
in
settlements
territories
these
the
Jewish
very
but of Judaism
itself.8
only of Zionism
and
the West
Judea
Bank?was
in the "restora
seeing the hand of God
of Israel to the Jews, also rejected
any
A nation
like any other nation may
compromise.
religious Zionism,
the entire Land
based
on
territorial
concessions.
land. As
put
it:
among
one
"Israel's
of
the
national
the nations?it
But
a chosen
cannot
concede
people
Israel's National
Religious
to the Land of Israel is
connection
leaders
of
is (radically
different)
from
the ties
binding the French, English, Russian and Chinese people to their
94
Martin Kramer
lands.
... For us the Land
of Israel
just an existentially
there could
1980s,
land,
not
By
distinct
the
only
legitimate
Zionist
cultures,
itmany
within
is the
land of destiny,
homeland."9
defined
be no
doubt
one
there
that
the
a chosen
two
existed
other
Each
secular,
religious.
over
are
there
subcultures;
incorporates
important
must
in
be
But
and
the
any generalization
always
laps,
qualified.
as
citizens
Zionism
the
of
broadest
Israel
the
secular
terms,
regards
arbiters
of
Israel's
fate.
The
decisions
of
their
are the only laws that obligate
governments
democratically
In contrast,
Zionism
the "House
of
the state.
regards
religious
as
is the sole legitimate
of God, who
arbiter
Israel"
the instrument
over man's
law must
take precedence
of Israel's fate. God's
law,
elected
and government
decisions
that negate
divine
law cannot
be
legiti
mate.
to paper over the inherent contradiction
possible
two Zionisms
until
the government
1993, when
It was
these
between
of
Israel
recognized the PLO and signed a "Declaration of Principles" that
an Israeli withdrawal
in the West
Bank
from territory
promised
to the settler movement
acted
Rabbis
close
and Gaza.
swiftly,
the government's
ruling rejecting
right to make
issuing a religious
any
concession
by citing
divine
law:
to the laws of the Torah,
it is forbidden to relinquish the
According
over any part
national
of
and
ownership
sovereignty
political rights
of the historic Land of Israel to another authority or people. All of
is now in our possession
the historic Land of Israel which
belongs to
the entire Jewish people, past, present and future, and therefore no
can give away that to which he [alone] does
one in any generation
to do so is null and void,
not have title. Therefore
any agreement
obligates
no one, has no moral
or legal force whatsoever.10
to the claim
that the
only one step from this position
an
had com
instrument
of secular Zionism,
of Israel,
government
a punishable
of
control
law for ceding
divine
sin against
mitted
assas
a
to
the
such
land
of
the
Just
non-Jews.
parts
logic inspired
It was
sin
of Yitzhak
the Israeli prime minister
Rabin,
the state of Israel to the agreements
of
signature
the accords,
Until
the Israeli
Arabs:
in the Tomb
of
extremists
Jewish
settler who
the Patriarchs
had
massacred
in Hebron
who
with
vented
Palestinian
(and whose
their
the
put
the PLO.
rage
on
worshippers
own tomb
The Middle East, Old and New
95
one form of
a religious
shrine for extremists)
personified
this same resistance
resistance.
But after the Israel-PLO
accords,
became
turned
in a struggle
inward,
ship of their peoplehood
That
struggle
Israelis living
be addressed
between
Israeli Jews
over
the relation
to the land.
is not over, for it is not abstract:
there are 150,000
in dozens
of settlements,
and their future has yet to
in the negotiations.
But as the Palestinian
Authority
seems unavoidable.
in reality,
The
the outcome
over
terms
its
differs
from
the
government
Netanyahu
predecessor
to accept
but has chosen
the prin
of Israel's historic
compromise
same.
of
all
the
The
Hebron
agreement,
compromise
provid
ciple
rooted
becomes
ing
for
a
series
of
further
Israeli
expresses
redeployments,
broad Israeli consensus behind the principle of exchanging
the
land
to be a people
for peace. Most
Israelis wish
like all peoples:
they
from their neighbors,
the same certainty
seek the same recognition
in their permanence,
and Chi
that the French, English,
Russians,
nese enjoy. If peace demands
no other
territorial
compromise?and
formula
has
to make
all of
ever worked?then
it. After
the
more
"Land
of
than
Israel"
the majority
a generation,
has vanished.
of Israelis
are willing
the dream
The
of possessing
still
peace process
has been made:
the
faces many
but the crucial decision
hurdles,
land will be partitioned.
to formulate
Once
that occurs,
Israel will
have
a new policy
or separation?
it seek integration
toward
the region. Will
The idea
a
was
of
"new Middle
East" articulated
Peres
by Shimon
greeted
means
most
If
with dour skepticism
Israelis.
allow
integration
by
more
or
the
of
of
thousands
many
entry
Palestinian,
ing
Jordanian,
other
Arab
economy,
workers"
workers
then
to fill the
Israelis
have
lower
rejected
rungs
it. Their
of
Israel's
expanding
for "guest
preference
and the Philippines
is
from Nigeria,
Rumania,
Thailand,
not at all from the Arab
established.
Israel
differs
(In
this,
firmly
oil states of the Gulf, who
also prefer non-Arab
foreign workers.)
means
If integration
closer economic
ties and opportunities,
this
has more
but limited promise.
Israel's economy
appeal,
developed
are in its high-tech
Arab
its
and
great strengths
during
boycott,
to the vast markets
of Europe,
and Asia. As a
exports
America,
now
at $15,000,
has
gross domestic
result, per capita
product,
in
absolute
GDP
Israel's
of
all
exceeds
that
terms,
grown
rapidly;
its next-door
neighbors
combined?Egypt,
Jordan,
Syria,
Leba
Martin Kramer
96
and
Even if the entire Arab market
the Palestinian
Authority.
to open
to Israel, it is no larger than a combination
of the
and Belgium.
Netherlands
The Arab market
is unlikely,
certainly
to offer
in the short
the opportunities
Israel has found
term,
non,
were
elsewhere.
are slim. Perhaps
the prospects
for integration
half
are Jews from Arab
or their
and Muslim
countries
But their cultural
the region grows more
affinity with
rein
The
with
each passing
other
year.
half, recently
Culturally,
of all Israelis
descendents.
attenuated
forced
Russian
Jewish
large-scale
and the ties to American
by
the West,
as America.
It is not
West
Shimon
almost
region
The
of
ing
debate.
has
the
is culturally
define
effectively
of
immigration,
Jewry
then,
surprising,
of a "new Middle
the
the exit
that with
of
East"
Peres,
slogan
disappeared
from Israeli political
Israel's place in the
discourse.
entirely
is now much
less debated
than the nature of Israel itself.
of Palestine
emergence
the borders
between
Since
favored
alongside
them?is
Israel?and
the
fix
final
that
already
intensifying
its inception,
Israel has been a state for the Jews.
in the law of return, guaranteeing
Jews, most
notably
It
immediate citizenship to any Jewish immigrant (although the defi
nition of a Jew is the subject of continuing controversy). Might
this change? Today,
one
while
Zionist,
Zionist.
Will
peace
should
longer
Arab?
a state
"There
democracy,"
part of
of every
the Jewish Left defines
itself
is an Arab?and
five Israelis
as post
a non
to persuade
that Israel at
the majority
they manage
a
state?no
denationalized
become
fully secular and
the Jews but a state of its citizens,
and
Jewish
as
no
is no Jewish democracy,
is
there
Islamic
just
a Jewish
veteran
"A state with
writes
of the Left.
of
if not racist laws, like the 'who is a Jew' law, or the
discriminatory
serious
law defining
the
still?a
law of return, or?more
present
a
not
state
state of Israel as the state of the Jewish people
of
(and
a
as in any normal
not
is
democratic
state."11
its citizens,
state),
so far has been
Post-Zionism
but
in a state
limited
to marginal
its appeal
of peace,
from
also be exerted
could
circles
of intellec
widen.
tuals,
for
the opposite
But pressure will
direction,
a
state:
its public
Israel is a state of the Jews, it is not
while
Jewish
an alliance
are secular. Will
of religious
law and state institutions
have the
believers
traditional
Zionists,
Jews, and ultra-Orthodox
political
clout
to Judaize
the
institutions
of
the
state?
The
same
East, Old and New
The Middle
rabbis who
warn
once warned
the PLO also
with
compromise
against
a secular
to
create
aims
that
trend
present
East'?a
into a 'new Middle
trend
is to blend
"the
against
here which
culture
which
will
cal borders,
could well
97
lead to assimilation."12
will
which
enhance
The
Israel
separate
of Israel's
definition
clearly
of more
the appeal
politi
its neighbors,
defined
cultural
from
strongly
the centuries.
by Judaism
through
saw an increase
in the support
for
Israel's May
choice.
this
just
advocating
parties
It still relies on the strongest
Israel thus stands at a crossroads.
role
borders?a
long played
1996
elections
consensus
in the Middle
East?the
and cultural
social,
in hostile
Its
democratic
of a small people
surroundings.
are resilient,
critical press,
institutions
and its multiparty
politics,
national,
cohesion
and
it as aWestern
define
free markets
an- expanding
by
provided
tains a comparable
over
Israel's debate
edge.
its own
has been
Ballast
country.
main
and Israel's military
economy,
makes
This underlying
self-confidence
far more
identity
than the struggles
violent,
underway
are close ones, and they
the parallels
of Israeli democracy
still lie ahead.
THE ARABS: DIVIDED
distant
Binyamin
Netanyahu
June, the first since
celebrated
in neighboring
countries.
that
the
suggest
greatest
tests
events
stirred
1990.
in verse,
in Cairo:
The
summit
conference
Nizar
poet
Syrian-born
Qabbani
to the assembled
in a poem addressed
has been able to remind you of
Netanyahu
of
the
your identity,
place and date of your birth, to
restore to you your Arab nationality,
it is
how beautiful
If Binyamin
what
he has done.
If this man
Arabism,
But
the memory
of a not-so
the Arabs.
The election
of
still moved
an Arab
prompted
the event
heads-of-state
less
IN INDECISION
two
last summer,
time when Arabism
In Cairo
and much
open,
has been able to restore
and the children of stones
the Arabs to their
to their childhood,
If he has been able to remind us of our names, and the
names of our fathers, and the names of our children,
in
98
Martin Kramer
A
thousand
to his arrival.
welcomes
this is the last occasion
Gentlemen,
before you become extinct.13
was
This
not
the only
the fortieth
summer
of love open
spasm
Abdul
of Gamal
anniversary
of the Suez Canal,
there premiered
to you
of nostalgia.
On July 26,
Nasser's
nationalization
a new
in Cairo
'56.
film, Nasser
The film packed theaters in Egypt and other Arab countries. The
celluloid
followed
Arab
Nasser,
Egypt's
combined
forces of British,
saga
maneuvered
paladin,
as he out
the
and Israeli
French,
was
no
there
license:
the
film
made
too,
Here,
aggression.
literary
mention
of Nasser's
failed Arab
the
sordid
socialism,
regime's
or the later debacle
to tell a clean tale
It preferred
of 1967.
prisons,
of Arabism's
in a drama
moment
golden
that
left many
in
viewers
tears.14
Arab
Arab
steadfastness
socialism,
unity, Arab
in Arabic
these were
the slogans
that resounded
this
The
Arabs
constituted
against
through
a nation,
their division
Israel?
most
of
the Arab
century.
argued
never accept
and must
nationalists,
by foreign pow
some
I division
War
ers?the
that created
twenty
post-World
states.
Nor
should
the
alien
of
presence
separate
Israel,
they accept
or the economic
models
of the imperialist West.
The Arabs
should
draw only on authentic
that made
the same sources
them
sources,
powerful
to achieve
through history. Arab
it, the Arab peoples
ship, and war.
But the reward
each Arab
its own
privileges
a cover
became
lence
state
of Arabs
had
to preserve.
for bullying
against Arabs.
became
became
and
power,
dictator
deprivation,
promised
up with
schemes
did not work:
unity
to
interests
each regime had
defend,
In many
the
places,
slogan of unity
The
and
aggression,
Arab
socialism
more
As
legitimizing
also proved
equal with
for the war
poorer.
they
and dangerous,
and nearly
costly
in spirit and in resources.15
both
collectively
selves,
Arab
came.
its own
some Arabs
dry well:
proved
never
nationalism
put
broke
the vio
to be a
one another,
but
to break
Israel, it
the Arabs
them
the battered
of an entire genera
nationalism,
preference
to feed mouths,
But
films.
still
and
the
tion, may
inspire poetry
now
states
must
The
latest "Unified
look elsewhere.
Arab
Arab
Economic
Report"
summarizes
the problem.16
Between
1980
and
The Middle East, Old and New
99
1994, the population of the Arab countries grew by 48 percent
(from 165 million to 245 million?as
though the Arab world
added another Egypt and a half). Its gross domestic product grew
a decline
15 percent.
in the
This has meant
of 22 percent
a
in
domestic
real
from
terms,
per capita gross
$2,600
product
a
a
to
states
the Arab
have become
year
year. As
$2,000
result,
on
more
to
the
outside
world
for
and
the means
dependent
goods
now
them.
Food
is
billions
of
dollars
short
of
acquire
production
by only
consumption;
can no longer
rapid
a part of the world
that was
do so. Both oil and non-oil
of debt.
expansion
to decline?and
source
energy
lands could
For
stood
diminished
end up very
sometime
in the next
Summit.
assembled
Cairo hosted
"the New
Here,
to do business:
have
hundreds,
a
continues
the third Middle
Hosni
Mubarak.
East Economic
as one journalist
called
Arabs,"
them,
"The New Arabs
lined the corridors
of
the Congress Center in [the Cairo suburb of] Heliopolis
with
itself
seen
Arab
century?the
of humanity.
hour, a truth under
the Arabs,
then, it may be the eleventh
nowhere
better than in the Egypt of President
Last November,
to feed
if the centrality of oil as an
to the bottom
close
able
producers
domestic
product
If the gross
it could plummet
once
tailored
in their
ties and
suits, quiet
exceptional
over Arabic
even when
prefer English
an
themselves."17
the Egyptian
among
True,
speaking
organizers
to create more Arab-to-Arab
nounced
that the objective was
links,
and that regional
not depend
economic
on
would
cooperation
"one particular
were
Israel.
But
too,
country"?meaning
Israelis,
English.
equipped
of
Many
them
in Cairo,
and there could be no doubt
that even Arab-to
present
Arab
links now depended
Eastern peace?and
Israel.
upon Middle
Yet while Arab pragmatists
behind
is
there
put ideology
them,
a
sense
in Arab
still an unease
most
that
the
flammable
lands,
fabrics
of
could
identity
called
Islamism
variously
made
sparks
same premises
be
set ablaze.
or
Islamic
In many
is
places, what
fundamentalism
has already
lands rests upon many
of the
in Arab
fly. Islamism
as Arab nationalism:
it too claims
that a return to
sources
to strengthen
authentic
is the only way
the Muslims
and
confer power
them.
But
to
more
Islamism
authen
upon
pretends
Arab nationalism,
its anti-impe
ticity than even Arabism.
despite
rialist posture,
its idea of the nation
borrowed
from Europe:
Arabs
one
one
thus
Arabs
formed
nation.
But
Islamism
spoke
language,
100
Martin Kramer
avows
not
is the basis of identity.
The
religion,
language,
of
Muslim
believers
constitutes
the
nation
and
the
community
as
it did for the first millennium
focus of natural
of
solidarity,
that
Islam.
This
hood,
Brother
goes back to the Muslim
in Egypt between
the world wars.
Since
in Arab
idea
who
lands
first organized
Islamism has found a following
the mid-1970s,
and
countries,
the most
it has become
in most Arab
form
widespread
of dissent.
But the appeal of Islamism also has its limits. Much
a certain
to do with
to
Islamism
proposes
extermination
"The
intensify
of the Jews
of Palestine,
the people
from
divorce
Syria,
changing
the Arab
realities.
of this has
Most
notably,
Israel.
against
struggle
on
is a specific obligation
placed
Jordan,
and Lebanon,"
Egypt
says
the exiled
leader of the Saudi Islamist opposition
in a typical
statement,
"because
Islamic
from
its roots
been
translated
in the heart
they
have
their
occupied
land."
law
to "destroy the Jewish entity and annihilate
obliges Muslims
Such words
through
holy war."18
into deeds, most
strikingly
of Israel's cities in the spring
sometimes
it
have
in the Hamas
of 1996.
bombings
The words
and
there
be a
sympathizers:
long will
sense among
of
the Arabs
that Israel is the offspring
profound
and
But
the
far
fewer
Arabs
Islamist
accept
aggression
usurpation.
of God,
would
claim that a pragmatic
compromise
defy the will
war"
risk the
and most
know well
that an Islamist
would
"holy
deeds
are
destruction
of
the
have
not
without
themselves.
the Arabs
sometimes
concluded,
an Israel
alongside
some power.
peace
ceded
But
Islamism
also
erects
ruefully,
that has parted
even deeper
resistance
among
another,
between Mus
is an ideology
of difference:
men
and women.
believer
and secularist,
stirs
Islamism
many Arabs.
lim and non-Muslim,
does not simply
Islamism
it also
erect
barricades
barricades
rael;
right
it arises,
it exacerbates
Everywhere
it the potential
of civil war.
ries with
it
in one Arab country,
Sudan?and
between
Muslims
of
aside, most Arabs
to live in
it is preferable
and
from some territory
Islamists
that
the north
between
Islam
the heart
through
those differences,
Islamists
Today,
of
and
and
Is
society.
so car
hold power
torn by civil war,
is a country
of the south.
and non-Muslims
to power
in one other Arab
country,
Alge
Islamists
that too is a land ravaged by civil war, between
ria?and
to unify,
in practice
which
and secularists.
Islamism,
pretends
Islamists
came
close
East, Old and New
The Middle
that has happened,
and where
themselves,
against
in lost lives, devastated
and
been immense,
homes,
economies.
the Islamists over the past few
regimes have rallied against
societies
divides
the costs
ruined
Arab
have
is now
years, and the initiative
success
is due to the effectiveness
due
small measure
in no
too
they
chant
solution,"
concluded
that
the
Islam,
problem.19
If Islamism
now
what
are
choices
on
nevertheless
fate
follows
and
put
by
For a brief moment,
macy.
we are Arabs,
the argument
Eastern
of which
"system"
ment
of
Sudan
Arabism
left? One
with
that privileges
Israeli economic
to establish
of their
But
it is also
suppression.
of millions
of dispossessed
resist the siren call of Islamism,
and Algeria.
"Islam
Arab Muslims
enough
the same
have
is one more
by the Islamists,
down
is the
road
to failure,
Easternism"
previously
American
peace
promoted
by
diplo
the Arabs
entertained
the option. Yes,
to aMiddle
but we also belong
went,
is the "Middle
Israel
the pace of the peace
"Middle Easternism"
became
elites,
as a framework
Much
of their
but
Islamists;
as understood
Israel
offer
in their hands.
back
to the choice
people who
suffer the
and alienated
lest
101
is also
a part.
But
as disillusion
into
process
seeped
It is now
discredited.
Israel and even as a dark
hegemony
over
the Arabs.
the Arab
regarded
conspiracy
(In book
stores in Arab capitals, The New Middle East has been spotted
often alongside The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.) At best,
"Middle
specific
for a new
mula
some
For
that
is seen as a necessary
in
plane of Arab policy
a
control
and water
As
for
sharing.
no resonance.20
level of identity,
it has almost
Easternism"
areas
links
In 1938,
as arms
such
in the Arab
at some
them
the Egyptian
lands, the preferred
the West.
level with
critic
and novelist
Taha
solution
The
idea
Husayn
is an identity
is not new.
published
a
book entitled Mustaqbal al-Thaqafa fi Misr (The Future of Cul
ture in Egypt). Husayn argued that Egypt and the neighboring
countries
culture.
to Europe
at the deepest
level of
belonged
as
had
been
identity
Europeans
suppressed
by
the East. But the eastern Mediterranean
drew
in the Levant
Their
true
from
conquerors
as Europe:
reservoirs
the same cultural
Greek
upon
philosophy,
come
Roman
to rejoin
Christian
time
The
had
law,
morality.
the artificial division
between East and West.21
Europe and demolish
102
Martin Kramer
form of what
Sixty years later, this idea takes the much modified
some Arabs
have called their "Mediterranean
Its discus
option."
sion was
above
the
Barcelona
Conference
of
all, by
prompted,
November
the members
of the
brought
together
twelve
from
the
southern
and
"partners"
Mediterranean.
The Barcelona
Declaration
initiated
1995,
Union
European
southeastern
what
is called
the "Euro-Mediterranean
in the
promote
culture.
the partnership
loans to Arab
partnership,"
and
now
"Mediterraneanism"
has moved
In every respect,
it is less threatening
In a broad Mediterranean
framework,
partner,
giant but one more
effectively
debate.
Easternism."
an economic
to
designed
of
countries.22
idea of
the Arab
fields
economics,
security,
is the creation
of a Euro
objective
zone
In
2010.
free-trade
the meantime,
by the year
avenue
has become
the principal
for EU aid and
cooperation
Its most
ambitious
Mediterranean
The
which
and
to the fore of
than
"Middle
Israel
is not
balanced
by
also marginalizes
The "Mediterranean
the United
option"
Europe.
States and offers a flicker of hope
that some kind of great power
into
the region
and enhance
be
reintroduced
Arab
rivalry might
But
is
vis-?-vis
Israel.
when
"Mediterraneanism"
maneuverability
as
does not go far, since nearly
the discussion
at
to
is
that it cannot
be an
pains
emphasize
analyst
to Arab-Islamic
advent
Since
the
of
Islam,
identity.23
not a bridge,
and so
between
the sea has been a boundary
cultures,
it remains.
discussed
identity,
every Arab
alternative
Indeed,
for Europe,
the point
not
of
the Barcelona
process
is to provide
is to
the
integration:
Europe
with
sufficient
food, housing,
jobs, and
sea as migrants.
cross
so
not
the
its
do
that
multitudes
hope
as the tension
so exposes
the myth
of the Mediterranean
Nothing
societies
the
host
of
Arabs
and
between
filled relations
migrant
promote
southern
separation,
Mediterranean
institutions work
If the Mediterranean's
southern Europe.
emerging
as they are intended,
free-trade
the
Euro-Mediterranean
especially
over
sea
a
trade
and
aid?but
the
for
will
area, they
open
bridge
it to people.
close
Still,
middle
is now the hope
with Europe
this cooperation
shores of the Mediterranean.
classes on the Arab
by burgeoning
besieged
people,
from
of resources
the infusion
of elites
and Islamist
populations
across
the sea might make
For
and
these
threats,
a differ
The Middle
ence. All
their
are that
indications
economies
not
tions will
"Mediterranean
eventually
East, Old and New
states
the Arab
that have
the cultural
develop
dimension
it now
these
reinforced
decades
or more
lacks.
to the Arabs
as part of the post-Cold
War West,
of Arab
the parameters
still determine
life who
to
ists tried
break
that monopoly,
but their
have
it, and the men who
to rule. With
continue
imagining
it is the leaders-for
themselves
two
liberalized
are poised
and that popula
for modest
growth,
as rapidly
in the next decades.
If so, the
expand
the
and may
could
jump-start
region
option"
But if there is one abiding obstacle
violence
103
The Islam
politics.
own
indiscriminate
ruled
the Arabs
for
each
year,
passing
the populations
grow ever
grow one year older while
is little sign that the rule of one man and one party
There
are elections
to collapse
in any Arab
nowhere
country;
leaders
younger.
is likely
held that could be described as free and fair. The Gulf War
followed
the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait
is evidence
which
of
of governance,
But whatever
one
thinks
of Arab
had no effect
that
on this pattern
its tenacity.
authoritarianism?and
its fail
is responsible
for one basic transformation.
It
ings are legion?it
has established
the primacy
of the state in the hierarchy
of loyalties
in Arab
lands. For now and for the foreseeable
future, no other
can compete
the separate
with
pro
identity
effectively
identity
some
are
states.
of
moted
each
Arab
these
twenty
Yes,
by
people
are
But
and
the
Muslims.
for
of
great majority
purposes
Arabs,
most
to
call
themselves
identification,
political
prefer
Egyptians
and Iraqis, Jordanians
and Moroccans,
Palestinians
and Syrians.
In Arab
lands,
the state
is stronger
practical
loyalty
choice
it displays
power,
created
guarantees
powers
ex nihilo,
the focus of
yet they have become
or
most
for
is a
of their citizens
This
subjects.
patronage,
dispenses
of these states
many
than society:
order.24 Western
to avoid
it is identity by default.
choice;
of past ideologies,
is
this resolute
pragmatism
the one option
that has not been tried and found wanting.
If it
leaves even some parts of the Arab world more productive,
peace
pragmatic
Given
the failure
ever
it will have surpassed
ful, and stable,
every populist
ideology
in modern
framed
Such an outcome
Arabic.
would
itself constitute
a new order?not
a borderless
but a place where
borders
utopia,
are finally respected, where
state
reasons
is
where
every
legitimate,
104
Martin Kramer
of state
open
it is not
room
already
TURKEY AND
The
too
IRAN: GROWING
massive
pinkish
in Istanbul was
Sofya
The
for compromise.
late.
formula
work?if
might
DOUBTS
that
building
first consecrated
is now
the museum
in 537
as a cathedral
of Aya
by its
the Byzantine
the Ottoman
Justinian.
Emperor
Following
in
of the city
the Conqueror
transformed
1453, Mehmed
conquest
into a mosque.
the church
Mustafa
Kemal
Atatiirk
ordered
builder,
made
into
a museum
in 1934.
the many
reforms
complemented
a secular nation-state
that Turkey was
But
Aya
were
in the 1990s,
voices
be
made
Sofya again
into
it
of Aya
secularizing
Sofya
meant
to proclaim
of Atatiirk,
all
The
a part of Europe.
in Turkey
demanding
a mosque.
An Islamist party,
and
raised
that
the
(Welfare) Party, had gained strength in Istanbul, capturing
Refah
in 1994.
the municipality
for Muslim
worshippers;
An
area of the museum
was
marked
to broadcast
its minarets
off
the call
began
to prayer. This was but a prelude:
in December
1995, the Islamists
ever
in
and
their strongest
made
elections,
showing
parliamentary
Necmettin
its
first
had
Islamist
the
spring, Turkey
by
prime minister,
Erbakan.
It was
a striking paradox.
in favor of secularism
had made
the most
resolute
Turkey
in
of any Muslim
country.
Beginning
to
set
aside
intellectuals
the
the nineteenth
century,
began
long
to advocate
emulation.
of conflict with
"We are
Europe
history
we
one
to Europeanize,"
wrote
like it or not,
whether
bound,
choice
influential
Arab
books
can
fill our
thinker
and
brains
"Let us leave those
the century.
the
books which
modern
passionately
at the turn of
embrace
with
the
sciences
and
Surely, we
techniques.
in the West."25
Atatiirk
but
the Arabs,
these not among
a political
and ideological
this preference
program,
declaring
state that
to be a basic principle
national
of the Turkish
secularism
from the ruins of the Ottoman
he constructed
Empire. Republican
shall
find
made
Turkey's constitution
(Article 24) forbids "even partially basing
and legal order of the
the fundamental
social, economic,
political,
on
state
class was
also
tenets."
The Turkish
political
religious
to make modern
after
of
determined
part
Turkey
Europe?and,
of
the outbreak
the Cold
War,
105
East, Old and New
The Middle
part
of
the Western
In
alliance.
1952, Turkey was admitted to NATO as a full member.
But the identity chosen by republican Turkey in the first half of
in the latter half.
has come under mounting
this century
pressure
is the part
force has been rapid population
Istanbul
growth.
in Europe;
of Turkey
it has always worn Europe's
that lies physically
most
In 1970,
Its
is telling.
transformation
comfortably.
garb
was
over
in
Istanbul's
three
five
million;
1985,
million;
population
One
and
over
today,
ten million.
in Europe,
but its new
across Anatolia,
towns
and
religion
rural
soon
It will
inhabitants
where
tradition.
have
be the most
come
populous
from
is still rooted
identity
masses
are
These mobile
city
and
villages
in Islamic
the reason
in Europe
in
refuse to entertain
the inclusion
of Turkey
why many
are quick to summon
Union?a
in
the European
fact the Islamists
in turn, should reject Europe. Another
their argument
that Turkey,
an
factor has been the rise of Kurdish
separatism,
disintegrative
reminder
violent
as a homogeneous
two
Over
the past
often
tion
eroded.
that Turkey
nation-state
has
not
achieved
of Turkish-speakers.
consensus
the Turkish
decades,
full
integra
has
been
A
has cushioned
the
economy
slowly
rapidly
expanding
to
in
and
the
which
has
intervened
the
impact,
past
military,
maintain
in barracks
the core principles
of the state, remains
for
now. But the uneasy power-sharing
between
Islamist and secular
ist parties has brought
the competition
of identities
into the cabi
now
out
over
it
is
in
where
battles
domestic
and
net,
played
Islamist
The
of
the
half
has
Turkish
government
foreign
policy.
its NATO
especially
angered
its American
ally by flirtations
a
bloc of Muslim
put together
to Libya,
and
partners
by overtures
Iran. Now
it is busy trying to
with
with Turkey
countries,
developing
at its core, as an alternative
to the EU?although
these countries
is minuscule.
among
Turkey
percent
parties
character
trade
has not gone Islamist. The Refah Party won
just over 21
voters
the vote;
the vast majority
of Turkish
chose
over
over
not
that divide
issues but
the secular
many
of
of the state.
to describe
knows
the present
themselves
this well,
Even
in polls
and he has
of power
by the Islamists
Turkish
and Turkey
politics,
half
shown
has
now
Party's voters prefer
Prime Minister
Erbakan
of the Refah
as "secular."
due
caution.26
But
the sharing
of
rhetoric
the
already
changed
emits mixed
signals to its neigh
106
Martin Kramer
bors
and
the world.
in the
confidence
A
of Turks
minority
significant
made
by Atatiirk
choices
and
has
lost
his
generation;
throw open the issue of Turkey's
for renego
they would
identity
tiation.
If Turkey's
its
secular
democracy,
parliamentary
public
are ever cast into question,
and its Western
alliances
this
order,
would
Islamism's
since Iran's revolu
represent
greatest
triumph
the Cold War,
may
irony is that the West,
having won
see
see
more
to
drift
than
towards
Islam
Turkish
Turkey
prefer
cities.
drift into Europe's
migrants
Iran's own
Another
when
irony is that this comes at a moment
tion. The
of an Islamic
identity has been cast into doubt. There are no
in Iran, the electoral
for this generalization:
menu
not
The hopefuls
does
include avowedly
secular candidates.
to run in the March
who wished
1996 parliamentary
elections
choice
reliable
barometers
were
first vetted;
them
permitting
the cause
received
the
to say, none
stamp
openly
of approval
championed
of de-Islamization.
But evasion
of Islamic
Iranians
secular
only 60 percent
to run. Needless
Los Angeles.
strictures
conduct
The
themselves
clandestine
is rampant.
Behind
as they would
secular
society
regime does
closed doors,
or
in London
re
to
is impossible
not try. While
the
can
of
enforce
authorities,
morality
police,
in the streets, they cannot
them on people's
Islamic norms
impose
a
But
still has
broad-based
minds.
The
revolution
constituency.
the most
part, the
tens of thousands
with
for
press
and,
beneath
the surface,
they value.
what
As
in Turkey,
Iranians
secularism
seem
able
has
militant
the
nationalism,
millennia
people
represented
tive Arab
are and
roots.
nineteenth-century
a
secularists
militantly
adopted
for the complete
tone, calling
and
"The existence
of philosophers
religion.
of
existence
the
rendered
unnecessary,"
prophets
a leading secularizer.
than faith, and that
lieve."27 This
they
of
disestablishment
wrote
over who
in Iran had
In many
instances,
early Iranian
and even anti-Islamic
anti-clerical
learned men
divided
is more
honor
"They say that science
to understand
it is better
than to be
secularism
went
hand-in-hand
with
Iranian
a racially-based
Iranian
idea that there existed
In this view,
Islam
of Islam.
before
the advent
of a great Iranian civilization
the corruption
by primi
at no cultural
cost.28
It
could be discarded
influences.
East, Old and New
The Middle
The
to do just that, through
secular
attempted
to those undertaken
in Turkey.
Their
comparable
Pahlavi
dynasty
izing reforms
failure may be attributed
the enduring
ernization,
the
of
gance
monarchy?but
angry
at this forced
living
traditions
and
dynasties
esteem. One
two
107
causes?a
to many
smaller
of the Muslim
authority
by the mid-1970s,
redefinition.
The
and memories,
lost civilizations,
constituted
wrote
of West
the arro
clergy,
Iranians had grown
of their
denigration
regime's
its celebration
and
Islamist
revolutionary
characteristics:
base
of forgotten
on their self
an assault
that
Iranians
displayed
or even in some instances
from "self,"
(1) alienation,
"hatred,"
from their own religion, culture, worldview,
and character; and (2)
or even boastful pretension
a deep, obsessive,
to attachment
to the
and rootless and vulgar modernism.29
West,
to restore the lost self-esteem.
As Muslims,
he
were
God's
chosen
this
earth
them, they
put upon
people,
to right the wrongs
In a swift revolution,
done by the arrogant.
an Islamic state, and its leaders told its
Iran became
that as
people
Khomeini
promised
assured
Muslims
they had
first decade
The
was
the
assumed
of
the
by a radical
Islamic state. But
dominated
ideal
the
leading
role
in human
history.
decade?
republic?Khomeini's
to
Iran in the image of
remake
attempt
even Khomeini
realized
the dangers
of
Islamic
too far, and the effort was
transformation
pursuing
revolutionary
most
reason was
abandoned
Khomeini's
heirs.
The
by
important
economic.
Iran's population
from 35 mil
probably
skyrocketed
lion in 1979 to more
was
so
than 60 million
increase
The
today.
no
Iran's
that
to
clerical
had
leaders
choice
but
rapid
encourage
birth
control,
seek foreign
had been
that
companies
neurial
expatriates
who
investment
and Western
nationalized,
had fled. Under
Ali Akbar
Hashemi-Rafsanjani,
of the state. Clerics
ing principle
Islamization
has been restricted
loans, privatize
back entrepre
impetus of President
and woo
the
has become
the guid
expediency
to rule Iran, but effective
continue
to public morality
and some as
pects of foreign policy.30
so the Islamization
And
of Iran, like the secularization
of Tur
an
uneven
success
is
mix
of
In Iran, the failures
and failures.
key,
are easier to conceal:
are more
its elections
to read, and
difficult
discontent
is not
allowed
to show
itself
too openly
in the street
or
Martin Kramer
108
soon approach
the press. But the day will
when
mature
inhabitants
will be heirs to the revolution,
most
not
of
Iran's
its makers.
45 percent
is under
of the population
the age of seven
massive
born after the revolution.
Have
the
generation,
Today,
teen?a
in terms of Islam? Are
of identity
a new
ever? Or might
they embrace
to Iran and Islam? There
of allegiances
the redefinition
young
accepted
more
West-stricken
than
they
an amalgam
nationalism,
are no questions
about
the Middle
more
East
than
speculative
these.
MIDDLE
Is there
EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO
a "new Middle
in the making,
the fact that
despite
in
of ridicule
and suspicion
con
Eastern
of the Middle
East's
every Middle
language? Many
con
flicts have subsided.
The Arab-Israeli
and Palestinian-Israeli
the term
flicts,
itself has
the Lebanese
East"
the subject
become
civil war,
the Iran-Iraq war?these
costly
struggles
largely exhausted themselves by the close of the 1980s. The end of
the Cold War
to promote
these resolutions
by removing
local equations
and establishing
the United
did much
from
great power
rivalry
States as the dominant
back
arbiter.
discovered
Kuwait,
a guarantor
of the
invading
become
and put
in isolation,
Saddam
Iraqi president
too late that the United
regional
and order
status
has
it can be said of the Middle
Today
quo.
reigned
Hussein,
States
in
had
driven
Iraq was
ever since.
East that nearly all its
states on the map
self-determination.
The
enjoy
peoples
enjoy
more
are
are
their
still
borders
clearer.
There
keen
legitimacy;
to
rivalries
and suspicions,
and some states are using the moment
rearm for the next bout. The civil wars
in
by Islamism,
engendered
run on; the Kurdish
an open
Sudan and Algeria,
remains
question
wound.
But
century.
for the most
East
the Middle
Now
are more
they must
and
in most
the peoples
of
places,
at
in
time
than
this
any
independent
if they are to com
redefine
themselves
part
pete.
is a ruthless master.
compete
they must. Globalization
was
once
a
Middle
East
rich flow of oil revenues,
irrigated by
But
and their illusions
and arms; ideologies
grew luxuriant.
And
are gone. The Middle
East strains under
must
that
be
fed, clothed,
housed,
populations
days
the weight
of
schooled,
and
The
aid,
those
large
em
109
East, Old and New
The Middle
ployed. If the Middle East is to take off, it cannot wait much
longer. At the beginning of this century, the Middle East stood
less on
or
more
America.
It has
In most
that
they must
they must
to survive.
become
at least
ancient
their
before;
successive
the
derway
under
completely
Christian
Romanization,
the
as modernization.
East
if not
submerged
of Hellenization,
It is now
Islamization.
generically
in the Middle
in this global
era,
themselves.
means,
their policies,
waves
and
ization,
marketed
ones.
East have redefined themselves
were
identities
are pragmatic
of people who will become
That
secularize
inhabitants of the Middle
The
Asia
and Latin
run a much
swifter race.
underway
East is home to millions
The Middle
who
the preparations
places,
as East
same starting
line
far behind and must
the
fallen
for two
turn
of Westernization,
has been
process
The
in fits and
centuries,
un
starts.
Its
peoples have tinkered with it in the hope that it could be made less
destructive
compromise
tion. Now
individuals
the most
part, the result has been a
or preserve
to sustain modernity
tradi
cannot
be deferred much
and
the choice
many
longer,
it.
have already made
of
latter
are
For
failed
is underway,
there are winners
and losers.
their
faith from
ideologizing
religion,
transforming
to
it
the whole
of
while
that faith
identity
reducing
the
Wherever
The
tradition.
that has
a part of their
to one unalloyed
for Jews. In each
race
"Law"
for Muslims,
the "Land"
it will
the
secular
choice:
setting,
they challenge
do too little for too few of us; better to run a different
race, from
we
a
create
us
cannot
rich society,
the inside track. If
let
establish
a just one, for we have a blueprint
in the Qur'an;
if other peoples
refuse
element?the
to love us,
let us love the land,
weakness
of
for we
have
a title deed
in the
Bible.
One
cannot
violent
ment
is that those who make
it
of appeal
the region's
cultural boundaries.
Any two
and a Jewish fundamentalist
may comple
this kind
across
cooperate
deeds by aMuslim
one another,
but
their
authors
cannot
coordinate
their
ef
forts, because they are divided by the deepest of all hatreds. This
so for their opponents.
the region,
strung out across
is not
fer, debate,
erate. They,
cannot
They
linked
disagree,
exchange
too, are not above
be defined
only
inhabit
by whirring
information,
nationality
and
by nationality
a kind
of archipelago,
con
They
faxes.
communicate,
coop
and religion,
but they
and they now
religion,
110
Mart?n Kramer
appear
to have
theMiddle
But
that
constant
in the debate
edge
over
the future
course
of
East.
debate
will
antagonists
the Middle
a slight
East
if it can be won
at all. The
over,
local victories
here or there. But
has always
been a zone of unsettled
of
identities,
new religions
that once produced
and that now
is far from
be able
to claim
quests
new
resurgences.
if it is to expand,
to be sub
is not
archipelago
must
more
its denizens
merged,
produce
growth,
more
and more
In
than
their
rivals.
the
timeless
progress,
hope
a
race
Middle
that
will
time.
be
East,
against
produce
If the
ENDNOTES
Theodor
lishing
Old-New
Herzl,
and Herzl
Press,
Land,
trans.
1960).
For
the time, see Amos Elon, Herzl
Lotta
Levensohn
Bloch
Pub
(New York:
at
in its context,
and the reactions
the book
(New York: Holt, Reinhart andWinston,
1975),
347-351.
2Shimon Peres with Aryeh Naor, The New Middle East (New York: Henry Holt,
1993).
3Shimon Peres, Battling
Weidenfeld & Nicolson,
4On
for Peace: Memoirs,
1995), 355.
ed. David
London
of the term, see Roger
Adelson,
history
East: Money,
1902-1922
and War,
Power,
22-26.
Press,
1995),
University
the early
the Middle
Yale
Landau
and
(New
(London:
the Invention
Haven,
of
Conn.:
5For an ideal telling, see Bernard Lewis, The Middle East: 2000 Years of History
from the Rise of Christianity to the Present Day (London: Weidenfeld &
Nicolson,
1995); for the last two centuries, Bernard Lewis, The Shaping of the
Modern Middle East (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).
6On the different strands of Zionism,
(Hanover,
N.H.:
University
Press
see Gideon
of New
England
Shimoni, The Zionist
for Brandeis
Ideology
Press,
University
1995).
7On
this view
in the pre-1967
period,
see Emile
Marmorstein,
Heaven
at Bay:
The
in theHoly Land (London: Oxford University Press, 1969).
Jewish Kulturkampf
8On the post-1967 period, see Ehud Sprinzak, The Ascendance of Israel's Radical
Right (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991). Another convenient point of
entry to the subject is the five collected volumes produced by The Fundamental
ism Project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and published by the
University
of Chicago
Press
under
the
editorship
of Martin
E. Marty
and
R.
Scott Appleby.
9Hanan Porath, writing in 1986, quoted by Ian Lustick, For the Land and the Lord:
in Israel (New York: Council on Foreign Relations,
Jewish Fundamentalism
84.
1988),
111
The Middle East, Old and New
10Ruling by the Union of Rabbis for the People and Land of Israel, 11 November
1993, quoted by Samuel C. Heilman, "Guides of the Faithful: Contemporary
Religious Zionist Rabbis," in Spokesmen for the Despised: Fundamentalist
Leaders of theMiddle East, ed. R. Scott Appleby (Chicago, 111.:University of
Chicago Press, 1997), 350-351.
nYosef
"A Painful
Ben-Tal,
the Consensus,"
from
Separation
Ha'aretz
(Tel Aviv),
10 January 1997.
"Guides of the Faithful," 351.
12Quoted by Heilman,
13NizarQabbani, poem in Al-Hayat
(Washington), 15 July 1996.
14For a report
15For a fuller
on
the film,
see The Washington
of the crisis
discussion
Nationalism: Mistaken
(London), translated in The New Republic
of Arab
1996.
28 August
Post,
see Martin
nationalism,
"Arab
Kramer,
122 (3) (Summer 1993): 171-206.
Identity," Dcedalus
16The report is analyzed by Rami G. Khouri, "The Arab Nation: Trends, Assets,
Directions," Jordan Times (Amman), 2 April 1996.
17EhudYa'ari, "The New Arabs," The Jerusalem Report, 12 December
18Dr.Muhammad al-Mas'ari in Al-Huquq
don), 22 June 1996.
19For an
of
interpretation
Islamism,
1996.
(London), quoted in The Times
see Martin
Arab
Kramer,
(Lon
and
Awakening
Is
lamic Revival: The Politics of Ideas in theMiddle East (New Brunswick, N.J.:
Transaction
tant
Dcedalus
141-159.
1996),
Publishers,
see Gilles
settings,
recent
For
versus
"Islamists
Kepel,
developments
in Egypt
the State
in two impor
and Algeria,"
124 (3) (Summer 1995): 109-127. The literature on the subject is vast;
a convenient
point
of
entry,
is the
of
see
the debate,
al-wahid?
again,
of The
volumes
Fundamentalism
Project.
20For
current
the
state
Hal
Awsatiyya:
hiya
Salama
The Future
21Taha Husayn,
D.C.:
American
Council
of Culture
of Learned
Ahmad
Salama,
(Cairo: Markaz
al-khiyar
trans.
in Egypt,
Societies,
al-Ahram,
ed.,
Al-Sharq
1996).
Sidney Glazer
(Washington,
For the many
Egyptian
1954).
criticisms of the book, see Israel Gershoni and James P. Jankowski, Defining the
Egyptian Nation 1930-1945
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995),
51-52.
22For the
"The
state
of
the Barcelona
"process"
Euro-Mediterranean
an EU point
from
in Anders
Partnership,"
see Juan
of view,
and J?rgen
Prat,
Bask
Jerichow
Simonson, eds., Islam in a Changing World: Europe and theMiddle East (Rich
mond,
23See
the
Surrey:
"file"
Curzon,
of
157-163.
1997),
on
articles
in Al-Siyasa
"Mediterraneanism"
al-Duwaliyya
(Cairo) (124) (April 1996): 70-137.
24The argument
that
the Arab
Ayubi, Over-Stating
(London:
seated,
but
I. B. Tauris,
can
neither
state
is not
"strong"
but
"hard"
the Arab State: Politics and Society
1995).
they
True,
transform
argues
society.
Ayubi,
the
ismade
by Nazih
in the Middle
regimes
cannot
N.
East
be
un
112
Martin Kramer
25H?sayin Cahit, quoted by Niyazi Berkes, The Development
key (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1964), 299.
26For
two
interim
see
assessments,
Sabri
Sayari,
"Turkey's
of Secularism inTur
Islamist
Challenge,"
East Quarterly 3 (3) (September 1996): 35-43; and Alan Makovsky,
"Assessing the Intentions of Turkey's Refah Party," Muslim Politics Report 10
Middle
1996):
(November-December
1-2,
5.
27Mirza Aqa Khan Kirmani, quoted by Mangol Bayat, Mysticism and Dissent:
Socioreligious Thought in Qajar Iran (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University
Press, 1982), 158.
28On
the
attempt
to
justify
this
nationalism
Vaziri, Iran as Imagined Nation:
York: Paragon House, 1993).
through
The Construction
see Mostafa
historiography,
of National
Identity (New
29Ali Shari'ati, quoted by Hamid Dabashi, Theology of Discontent: The Ideological
Foundations of the Islamic Revolution in Iran (New York: New York University
Press, 1993), 122.
30On
the revolution's
compromises,
see Ervand
Abrahamian,
Khomeinism:
Essays
on the Islamic Republic (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1993),
132-143; and Anoushiravan Ehteshami, After Khomeini: The Iranian Second
Republic (London: Routledge, 1995).