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CHAPTER
TWO
INITIAL
FORMATION
The
Arab and Palestinian nationalist struggle for independence
was characterized by self-awareness and class-consciousness,
whose embryonic form could be traced back to 1845. James
Fenn, the British Consul in Jerusalem, reported to the
British Ambassador in Constantinople between 1846 and
1862. He pointed to the fact that the Palestinian Arabs
were displaying political consciousness in its early stages.
In a letter Fenn wrote to British Ambassador David Clarendon,
dated 3 August 1854, he stated that some of the Arabs
did not respect the Ottomans and considered them invaders
and robbers of the Caliphate. In another letter, this
time written to British Ambassador Malisbury, dated 13
September 1858, Fenn indicated that the Palestinian Arabs
were familiar with the word 'independence', which, in
this period, they associated with their sought after independence
from the Ottoman Empire.1
The
Arab consciousness began to express itself in the Palestinians'
active role in the formation of literary societies that
focused on the revival of Arab literature, language, and
heritage. Although the societies defined themselves as
'literary' in their declared purposes, they were primarily
politically oriented. Indeed, their formation could be
viewed as a preparatory step in the process of political
activism.
Al-Jam'iyyah
Al-'Ilmiyyah As-Suriyyah (the Syrian Scientific Society)
was formed in 1847. Born as a literary society, its main
activities involved the holding of symposia and the giving
of speeches by its members, whose lectures concentrated
on the Arabic language and heritage. Both Arabs and foreigners
participated in the formation of this society, including
Nassif Al-Yazigi, Nofal Nofal and Butrus Al-Bustani among
the Arabs, and Churchill and Wandeik among the foreigners.
After it was reestablished in 1868, its membership included
people from outside Beirut, especially those who resided
in Constantinople and Damascus. It was then that it became
an expression of nationalist consciousness.2
It
is important to point out that Nassif Al-Yazigi was a
Lebanese Christian intellectual who descended from the
old social classes that were influential in the period
that preceded the Ottoman reformation. While young, he
had the advantage of living in a literary and scientific
environment. He was an outspoken advocate of Arab nationalism
and worked diligently at compiling an Arabic encyclopedia
dealing with the vocabulary of the Arab language and Arabic
literature. Al-Yazigi was to become one of the leaders
of Arab nationalism after 1866.
Butrus
Al-Bustani could also be considered one of the active
Arab leaders in the national movement following the Lebanese
civil war of 1860. A Christian Arab, he was a philologist
specializing in Hebrew and Latin, and he displayed great
scientific knowledge. As a nationalist, he showed a great
interest in national education and the prevalence of civil
and religious liberty throughout his life. In his journal,
Al-Jinan, for example, the indivisibility of faith and
love of the motherland serves as the core of its topics.3
The
formation of the Syrian Scientific Society could be viewed
as a manifestation of the liberal atmosphere and tolerance
that marked the Egyptian rule in Greater Syria. One should
not forget that it came in the midst of rising tension
between the people of the Arab East and the Ottoman Empire,
which was actively attempting to reestablish its strong
central authority in the Arab East region. Consequently,
the formation could be considered an important pillar
of the Arab nationalist movement, especially as other
Arab nationalists were to follow the footsteps of Al-Yazigi
and Al-Bustani and establish literary societies of their
own.
In
1875, the graduates of the American University of Beirut
formed the Beirut Secret Society, whose founders included,
among others, Fayez Nimr Pasha, Ibrahim Al-Hurani, Ya'qoub
Al-Yaziji and Shahin Makaryus. In attempting to promote
national consciousness among Arabs, the Society emphasized,
in its program, the necessity of obtaining Ottoman recognition
of Arabic as an official language, and demanded that Syria
be politically independent and united with Lebanon. The
freedom of the press was also underlined, as was the call
for an Arab boycott of the Ottoman military conscription.
Through
the formation of secret societies, Arab activism was to
reach a point where it would involve the holding of conventions,
something that was recognized as an advanced step in the
Arabs' struggle for independence from the Turks. Among
the attendees and active participants in the Damascus
Congress of 1877 were the loyal A'yan leaders of Beirut,
Sayda and Damascus, who acted in consultation with Shiites
in 'Amil Hill. Among those were the Shi'ite leader and
clergyman Mohammed Al-Amin Ali Siran, Shabib Pasha Al-As'ad
Al-Wa'ili, Ahmad Abbas Thari Az-Zahari, Al-Haj Ibrahim
Agha Al-Juhari, Al-Haj Hussein Bayham and the Beiruti
A'yan leader Ahmad As-Sulih. It was decided to declare
the independence of Syria, but while recognizing the Ottoman
Caliphate, and Prince Abdul Qader Al-Jaza'iri was chosen
as the ruler of Greater Syria. In response, the Ottoman
authority rejected their demands and put the leaders of
the Congress under house arrest.
This
action on the part of the Ottomans did not deter other
Arab leaders from moving forward in their bid for Arab
independence. In 1881, a number of young Arabs formed
the Jam'iyyat Hafez Haqouq Al-Millah Al-Arabiyyah (the
Society for Preserving the Rights of the Arab Millah),
whose leaders emphasized the need for Christian-Muslim
cooperation in the struggle to achieve Arab independence
from the Turks.4
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