Geographical review, Vol. 37, No. 3 (july, 1947), pp. 414-435. W. B. Fisher: "near" and "middle" East are increasingly a factor in world affairs. He says the region links Europe, Asia, and africa, and is increasingly regarded as a factor.
Geographical review, Vol. 37, No. 3 (july, 1947), pp. 414-435. W. B. Fisher: "near" and "middle" East are increasingly a factor in world affairs. He says the region links Europe, Asia, and africa, and is increasingly regarded as a factor.
Geographical review, Vol. 37, No. 3 (july, 1947), pp. 414-435. W. B. Fisher: "near" and "middle" East are increasingly a factor in world affairs. He says the region links Europe, Asia, and africa, and is increasingly regarded as a factor.
Geographical review, Vol. 37, No. 3 (july, 1947), pp. 414-435. W. B. Fisher: "near" and "middle" East are increasingly a factor in world affairs. He says the region links Europe, Asia, and africa, and is increasingly regarded as a factor.
Author(s): W. B. Fisher Reviewed work(s): Source: Geographical Review, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Jul., 1947), pp. 414-435 Published by: American Geographical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/211129 . Accessed: 28/02/2013 04:40 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . American Geographical Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Geographical Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions UNITY AND DIVERSITY IN THE MIDDLE EAST* W. B. FISHER IT WAS said of a French writer who had attempted to evaluate and re- define the confused literary trends of his day that he had entered the Augean stable of French literature "pour y ajouter." A similar criticism might well be leveled at the geographer who tries to define the terms "Near" and "Middle" East, especially when the issue, after having engaged the attention of several geographical societies for some time,I has recently been carried to the highest governmental level.2 Nevertheless, it is important that the question should be resolved. The region linking Europe, Asia, and Africa is increasingly a factor in world affairs, whether regarded from the political or the economic point of view; and to the interest of specialists must now be added the awakened attention of the general public in Britain, and to a smaller extent in America, many of whom now have a firsthand acquaintance with the region as the result of military service. "NEAR" OR "MIDDLE" The older division of Asia into Near, Middle, and Far East had a certain merit of logicality, but its usefulness was impaired by the looseness with which the terms were applied3 and by the association of "Near East" with the pre-IgI8 Ottoman Empire. It can be argued that there have in effect been two distinct Near Easts: the one historical, developed as the result of historical accident, a politically unified region with well-defined limits; the other geographical, smaller in extent, showing only a limited natural unity. The lack of environmental unity has made it difficult for the geogra- pher to justify an alternative definition of a Near East when he has, rightly, shown himself unwilling to accept the Ottoman Empire as an effective geographical concept. We need only to glance at current literature to be * A review of some of the recent literature on the Middle East of interest to geographers. The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to H. A. R. Gibb, Laudian professor of Arabic at the Uni- versity of Oxford, for many of the ideas that appear in this essay. See, for example, Sir George Clerk's presidential address to the Royal Geographical Society, Geogr. Journ., Vol. 104, 1944, pp. I-7, reference on pp. 4-5; also Lawrence Martin: The Miscalled Middle East, Geogr. Rev., Vol. 34, 1944, pp. 335-336. 2 Reply by the Prime Minister of Great Britain to a deputation from the Royal Geographical Society, quoted by Lord Rennell of Rodd in his presidential address to the society, Geogr. Journ., Vol. 107, 1946, pp. 81-89; reference on pp. 85-86. 3 The Middle East comprised Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Arabia. To the west of this lay the Near East, to the east the Far East. This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MIDDLE EAST assured of the impossibility of satisfactory definitions in this respect.4 Accord- ingly, main emphasis and general sanction have been given to the historical Near East; and, because of this predominantly historical connotation, the term "Near East" lost in significance with the end of the Ottomans. It may be pertinent to recall similar geographical expressions that, also having strong historical associations, have, as it were, been overlain by later political events and have taken on a restricted meaning implying fixed relation to a definite historical epoch. If we no longer speak of Eastern Rumelia, of Bosnia-Herzegovina, or of the Sanjak of Novi-Bazar, it is not because these territories no longer exist in the geographical sense but because the political conditions that helped to give them effective reality no longer obtain. It would therefore seem that there are grounds for grouping "Near East" with these historical terms, and in this way the vagueness and inac- curacy now attached to use of the expression would disappear. The war of I939 at one stroke removed the question of territorial defini- tion in Western Asia from the academic groves to which it had hitherto been mainly confined. There came the fait accompli by which a military province stretching from Iran to Tripolitania was created and named "Middle East." It would seem appropriate to trace the stages by which the name "Middle East" gained acceptance in its present meaning. The establishment in the region of large military supply bases brought the necessity to reorganize certain elements of both the political and the economic life of the countries concerned, in order to meet the changed conditions of war. A resident Minister of State was appointed to deal with political matters; an economic organization, the Middle East Supply Centre, originally British, but later Anglo-American, was set up to handle economic questions. It was inevitable that the territorial designation already adopted by the military authorities should continue in the new sphere; hence "Middle" East took on full official sanction and became the standard term of reference, exclusively used in the numerous government publications summarizing political events, territorial 4 It is sufficient to consider only the geographical literature of the past few years. Sir Percy Loraine, speaking before the Royal Geographical Society, would define the Near East as the Balkan States, Egypt, and the coastal areas on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean and of the Black Sea. Colonel Lawrence Martin (op. cit.) would qualify this to read "and sometimes Egypt." On the other hand, the Middle East could be described "roughly as being Iran, 'Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Arabian peninsula" (Sir Percy Loraine: Perspectives of the Near East, Geogr. Journ., Vol. I02, 1943, pp. 6-13, references on p. 6; italics in both cases are the present writer's). At the other end of the scale, ErnestJurkat (see footnote 39, below) shows the Near East as extending from western Afghanistan to Crete, both inclusive, but exclusive of Egypt. The inadequacy of "Near East" is also apparent from the titles "The Nearer East" of Hogarth and "Nationalism and Imperialism in the Hither East" of Kohn. 415 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW surveys, and schemes of economic development.5 The British government was fully committed from the start to the new designation; American participation in the M.E.S.C. and other organizations has begun to bring about more slowly the same result in the other part of the English-speaking world. Following the practice of their respective governments, a number of learned societies in both countries have adopted the new term. In Britain the Royal Institute of International Affairs and the Royal Central Asian Society employ "Middle" East without comment; in the United States a Middle East Institute has recently come into existence.6 Equally significantly, the name has been adopted in the countries to which it is held to apply: the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem now publishes a "Statistical Handbook of Middle Eastern Countries," and the Arab Offices in London and Wash- ington show no reluctance to follow the same usage. With such a popular basis, it is difficult to challenge the validity of "Middle East"; and the geographer, however strongly he may feel, runs the risk of appearing pedantic when he tries to reimpose a nomenclature that has largely ceased to be current in everyday speech and association. Too much confusion now attaches to the term "Near East" for it ever to be re- adopted. DEFINITION OF "MIDDLE EAST" How is the Middle East of the present day to be defined? The publica- tions of the British government include 2I countries in the region-Malta, Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, Egypt, Cyprus, the Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Transjordan, Iraq, Iran, the sheikdoms of the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia, the Yemen, Aden and the protectorate, Eritrea, Ethiopia, British, French, and Italian Somaliland, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan-but, as the author of "Middle East Science" recognizes, the inclusion of some of these is the result of fortuitous administrative grouping by military authorities. It would seem greatly preferable to omit from this list the Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and the three Somalilands, which are all more properly considered as parts of intertropical Africa, and to replace them with Turkey, which, intimately linked to its southern and eastern neighbors by ties of geography, was not s Four important examples, published (1946) or to be published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, are the reports prepared by the members of the Scientific Advisory Mission to the Middle East Supply Centre: No. I, "The Agricultural Development of the Middle East," by B. A. Keen (xii and 126 pp. 5s. od.); No. 2, "Middle East Science: A Survey of Subjects Other Than Agri- culture," by E. B. Worthington (xiii and 239 pp. 7s. 6d.); No. 3, "Rural Education and Welfare in the Middle East," by H. B. Allen (vi and 24 pp. is. 6d.); No. 4, "Animal Industry in the Middle East," by N. C. Wright (in preparation). 6 See the Geographical Review, Vol. 37, I947, pp. 329-330. 4i6 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MIDDLE EAST included in the governmental publications because of a purely temporary and political separation from the rest of the Middle East. The position of Malta and Tripolitania is open to doubt; as in the case of the Sudan, there are grounds for attaching them to other areas: and although there is little to separate Cyrenaica from Egyptian Libya, Mr. E. E. Evans-Pritchard has shown7 that some division can be made between Cyrenaica and Tripolitania. To the west lie the Barbary States, a purely African unit; to the east, Libya and the Nile Valley, a region with affinities to Asia and, somewhat more remotely, to Southeastern Europe. With these changes, it would seem possible to postulate on geographical grounds the existence of a natural region to which the name Middle East could be applied. It is true that the division proposed is open to criticism; but wartime experience in administration has shown that within this region there are common elements of natural environment and social organization. Our task is to discover these elements, and to evaluate them alongside the elements of disunity, which up to the present have prevented the large-scale grouping from assuming a permanent form. FACTORS OF UNITY: PHYSICAL As a beginning, we may note the corridor function of the Middle Eastern region, which, intimately related to the adjacent lands of Africa, Asia, and Europe, has served as a routeway by which racial and cultural movements, both autochthonous and foreign, have spread throughout the world. It is significant that the physical pattern of the Middle East combines in close juxtaposition regions of isolation, in which such movements could originate, and well-defined routeways-the Nile Valley, the Fertile Crescent, and, less apparent but none the less important, the steppe zone flanking the inner plateau basins of Asia Minor and Iran. The implications of this function of the Middle East have not been lost on the modern world. Of a number of informatory publications, best described as ouvrages de vulgarisation, two may be cited8 as drawing special attention to the position of the Middle East as a factor in world affairs. 7 E. E. Evans-Pritchard: The Cyrenaica-Tripolitania Boundary, Geogr. Journ., Vol. 107, 1946, pp. I69-I70. 8 The Middle East: Turkey-Syria-Palestine-Transjordan-Egypt. 38 pp. Royal Inst. of Internatl. Affairs Information Notes No. 1, I943. 6d. The Middle East: Australia's Front Line. 36 pp. World Affairs Paper No. 3. Research Section, Aus- tralian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, I94I. 5d. To these may be added Samuel Van Valkenburg: Whose Promised Lands? [A Political Atlas of the Middle East and India], Headline Ser. No. 57, Foreign Policy Association, New York, 1946, pp. 5-88.- EDIT. NOTE. 4I7 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW Perhaps the greatest single physical factor of unity in the Middle East is climate. A marked seasonal rhythm of rainy winters and dry summers -with summer aridity absolute south of a line from the Elburz Mountains to Crete-and a temperature range best described as moderately continental produce highly characteristic conditions. To this simple regime there are only two significant exceptions. On the eastern Black Sea coast of Asia Minor and near the southern shore of the Caspian a summer maximum of rainfall indicates an approach to conditions of continental interiors in tem- perate latitudes; in the uplands of southwestern Arabia a monsoonal current, still something of a mystery in its origin and behavior, brings summer rainfall to the Yemen but not to the coastlands of Aden. Climatological studies of the Middle East are few, and so far no general synthesis of climate has appeared. One obstacle is the lack of data, but the recent war has partly improved the position, and further development in this field is now probable. Within the last few years three publications of the Section Geologique de la Delegation Generale FranSaise au Levant9 have made a small beginning on the general problems of climate and mete- orology in the Middle East. On the "Carte pluviometrique" the limitations of the data are clearly apparent, and the short period of the rainfall averages, in a region where variability of rainfall is pronounced, detracts somewhat from the value of the results. Another aspect of climate in the Middle East, the possibility of climatic change within historical time, has been dealt with in two very dissimilar works:I0 Keen's "The Agricultural Development of the Middle East" and Glueck's "The RiverJordan." From both books emerges an emphatic verdict that such changes as have appeared are due to man's activities, and not to climatic variation. Mention will be made of the first work at a later stage; Dr. Glueck's study, primarily archeological and historical, embodies much sound observation and valuable research, but it is vitiated by overstatement and an unfortunate choice of language. The illustrations, among the finest ever to appear in a study of the Middle East, also lose from inadequate re- production. 9 C. Combier: Apercu sur les climats de la Syrie et du Liban, une carte au millionieme des.pluies et vents. 3I pp. Beirut, I945. W. B. Fish [i.e. Fisher] and L. Dubertret: Carte pluviometrique du Moyen-Orient au deux million- ieme, Notes et M'moires de la Section Geol., Vol. 4, 1946, pp. II5-12I. W. B. Fish [i.e. Fisher]: Premieres notes sur la meteorologie de la Syrie et du Liban, ibid., 1945, pp. 9I-113. See also L. Dubertret: Presentation de cartes geologiques et topographiques de la Syrie et du Liban, Bull. L'Assn. de Geographes Franiais, Nos. 181-182, 1946, pp. II4-II5. 10 Keen, op. cit. (Footnote 10 is continued on the following page.) 4i8 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MIDDLE EAST OCCUPATIONS AND SOCIAL GROUPINGS Vegetation, both natural and cultivated, shows close adaptation to the climatic regime. A rapid cycle of growth and structural adaptation to resist water loss or special tolerance of aridity and salinity give rise to a flora that, although varying locally, imposes a markedly uniform pattern throughout the region as a whole. More important still, man's organization of this environment is conditioned by a scarcity of water (irrigation is necessary for certain crops even on the west coast of Syria, where rainfall is more than 35 inches a year). This conditioning has produced a closely linked trilogy of occupations and social groups. The most important element in the trilogy is the agricultural population of the Middle East. In a brilliant study" the late Dr. Jacques Weulersse insists on the essential unity of this peasant group, which, sharing a common tradition of specialized occupation of the soil, extends far beyond the limits of political frontiers. One of the factors of peasant unity is the long period of occupation, from which arises a dis- tinguishing quality: "Le fellah est tout le contraire d'un primitif; ce serait plut6t un hypercivilise." Peasant life must therefore be related to a dual background of history and geography, and with this approach, fully ex- panded by detailed regional observation of the highest order, Dr. Weulersse propounds the thesis that material and social conditions are interrelated and that changes in the one will inevitably affect the other-a thesis of the greatest importance to the relationship between the Middle East and the Western powers. Alongside the cultivating population are the nomads-pastoral, yet dependent on the settled people they despise for a part of their food supply, especially when rains have failed in the desert. Also in close relation are the town dwellers, the merchants and small craftsmen, often hated by the peasants as middlemen and extortioners, who nevertheless provide an outlet for agricultural produce and who supply in return a small quantity of manu- Nelson Glueck: The River Jordan: Being an Illustrated Account of Earth's Most Storied River. xvi and 268 pp. The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1946. $3.50. A background to Biblical studies is provided by George Ernest Wright and Floyd Vivian Filson (editors) in "The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible" (114 pp. [Westminster Aids to the Study of the Scriptures.] The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, I945. $3.50 [English edition, S.C.M. Press, London, I946. 2Is.]). In addition to numerous maps showing physical features and political grouping at various periods, there is an outline of the wider historical and cultural movements in the Middle East and the Mediterranean. "The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible," edited byJohn D. Davis, is another useful reference book (5th edit., revised and rewritten by Henry Snyder Gehman. xii, 658, and 4 pp. Ibid. The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1944. $3.50). I Jacques Weulersse: Paysans de Syrie et du Proche-Orient. 329 pp. (Le Paysan et la Terre, No. 3.) N.R.F.-Gallimard, [Tours], I946. 360 fr. 419 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW factured goods. From these three elements, closely integrated by material and cultural ties, has arisen the present complex pattern of society in the Middle East; and it is on this basis that one can postulate a unity for the region as a whole. As a tapestry or painting owes its special character to an inter- mingling of diverse color masses, so the Middle East can be conceived as a unity based on a number of distinctive yet related ways of life. It is also possible to discern why a more restricted territorial definition such as "Near East" is difficult of application. Trade, agriculture, and nomadic pastoralism in close connection are as characteristic of Iran as of Egypt or Arabia; and the attempt to divide the Levant from Iraq ignores the presence of the Syrian desert, a region that gives a measure of unity to the lands on its borders, in much the same way as the countries of Southern Europe are linked by the Mediterranean. Complementing the material factors of unity is the more easily apparent cultural influence of Islam, which, like Judaism, is a strong social bond. Although non-Moslem minorities exist and schism has created a Shi'a block within the Sunni world, the influence of a single religious system, based on easily understood principles, has given rise to a culture that now transcends purely religious limits. No one would dispute the validity of the expression "Moslem world," though this cannot be defied in terms of race, of language, or of political grouping.I2 At the present time cultural patterns, developed on a basis of Moslem civilization, are evolving along new paths. It is probable that Islam as a religion is in decline-the complaint of slackness in observance and non- attendance at prayers would, however, find echo in contemporary Christian clerical circles-and that materialism and nationalism borrowed from the West are tending to replace older values. Two important books illustrate this tendency.'3 In A. H. Hourani's "Syria and Lebanon" we have as it were the mechanism of the change: Moslem society driven by the pressure of events to adopt new ideas and new techniques from outside in order to survive in a world dominated by alien influences. "Reaction to the impact of the West has been neither uncritical rejection nor uncritical acceptance, but a process of questioning which still continues." Freya Stark's "East 12 Cf. Edward J. Byng: The World of the Arabs (xx and 325 pp. Little, Brown & Co., Boston, I944. $2.50) for a discussion of these points. 13 A. H. Hourani: Syria and Lebanon: A Political Essay. x and 402 pp. Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Oxford University Press, London, New York, Toronto, I946. $5.oo. Reference on p. 74. Freya Stark: East Is West. xxii and 2I8 pp. John Murray, London, I945. I2s. 6d. (American edition: The Arab Island: The Middle East, I939-I943. xxiv and 235 pp. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1945. $3.50.) 420 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MIDDLE EAST Is West" gives us results of the penetration of Western ideas. The older society of Ottoman days is giving way to a new grouping, in which the aristocratic "pasha" is replaced by a middle-class "effendi" more closely attached to the people for whom he is working, either as administrator or as technician. Nationalism is in some respects a tendency running counter to unity. Nevertheless, there are signs that the wider implications of Middle Eastern unity are not forgotten, and that a more comprehensive political grouping, for which there is abundant historical sanction, may one day develop. In 1944 the Arab League, comprising the states of Egypt, Iraq, the Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan, and the Yemen, came into existence.'4 As at present constituted, the Arab League represents merely a negative attitude, a defensive reaction in the face of outside aggression. Concerned only with the limited objective ofjoint political action in order to preserve or develop the autonomy of Moslem regions, the league must be thought of merely as a tactical union of convenience, since any attempt at joint economic develop- ment of the member states has so far been avoided.I5 This is not to say, however, that the future policy of the Arab League must always remain negative:'6 sharing a common experience of recent penetration or domination by Western powers, all the states of the Middle East have a single political objective that may well be the basis of a more substantial cooperation at a later period. Signs are not lacking that the Arab League may one day be expanded to include the non-Arab states of Turkey and Iran,'7 both of which form part of the Moslem world and have in different ages made effective contributions to the organization of the Middle East as a single unit. FACTORS OF DIVERSITY: LANDFORMS AND STRUCTURE Among the outstanding factors of diversity must be reckoned landforms and structure. In the north, there extends a broad belt of folded ranges, '4 On the evolution of the Arab League see Cecil A. Hourani: The Arab League in Perspective, Middle East Journ., Vol. i, 1947, pp. 125-136. Is The establishment in London and Washington of Arab Offices, from which propagandist material is issued, is interesting as a sample of the activities of the Arab League and as an illustration of the manner in which the Arab has taken up the weapons of the West in order to resist Western pressure. I6 "The duty laid upon the Arab leaders is, in its essence, closely parallel to that laid upon the leaders of the United Nations. In their respective spheres both must stimulate and mobilize the moral forces which will transform a negative and defensive union into a creative enterprise" (H. A. R. Gibb: Toward Arab Unity, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 24, I945-I946, pp. 119-129; reference on p. I29). '7 In this connection, one may note the conclusion of a Treaty of Friendship between Turkey and Iraq in April, 1946, and of a Pact of Friendship between Turkey and Transjordan, signed in January, 1947. In the early part of 1946 the President of the Lebanese Republic paid an official "visit of friendship" to Turkey. 42I This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW enclosing fragments of older structures, some of which, such as the plateau block of central Iran, are large and some, such as those of Turkey, are small though numerous. The intense disturbance of the region, which cannot yet be said to have come entirely to an end, has given rise to widely different structural formations. In Armenia, immense lava flows of Tertiary and Quaternary age border forms of Archean origin; and the simplicity of folding in the western Zagros contrasts strongly with extensive overthrusting and deformation in the inner parts of the ranges. A full range of rock types, from Archean gneiss and Cambrian rock salt to Quaternary sandstone, adds further variety to the region. Outside the geosynclinal area of the north, the Middle East consists of a vast stable block, on which sediments have been laid down in discontinuous horizontal layers. This block, part of the ancient continent of Gondwana- land, has undergone fracture in the Red Sea-Jordan-Orontes area, with the result that Arabia is now detached from the main African mass; but otherwise the block has resisted fold movements, so that later sediments resting on it are either undisturbed or merely wrinkled. Broad, open land- scapes, extensive river basins, and rolling plateau country are therefore characteristic of the center and south. Complexity of structure and inaccessibility have retarded geological exploration, and many fundamental problems remain to be solved. In the last few years, however, important advances have been made. A full geologi- cal map of Turkey, excellently produced in eight sheets, has recently been completed and contributes greatly to an understanding of one of the most involved of geological regions.'8 Mention must also be made of the work of Dr. L. Dubertret in Syria and the Lebanon. The pre-IgI8 surveys of Blanck- enhom have been extended and developed to cover most of the two coun- tries, and the results of twenty years of devoted work, at times singlehanded, appear in a series of maps now in course of publication.'9 From these maps one can appreciate not only the physical structure of the northern Levant but also the interrelation between physical conditions and social develop- ment through which a mixed population of Moslems and Christians, living side by side for centuries, have come to be in close occupation of a topo- graphically difficult region. Reference may also be made to the work of Leo Picard of the Hebrew University ofJerusalem, notably "Structure and 18 Geological Map of Turkey. I: 800,000. In 8 sheets. Ministry of the Interior, Ankara, 1946. 19 Section Geologique, Delegation Generale de France au Levant, Beirut: Carte lithologique de la bordure orientale de la Mediterranee (with notes in French and English), 1943; Carte geologique de la Syrie et du Liban au 20o.ooome (in preparation); Carte geologique de la Syrie et du Liban au 5o.ooome (in preparation). See reference in footnote 9. 422 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MIDDLE EAST Evolution of Palestine."20 Professor Picard has greatly advanced our knowl- edge of the tectonics of the Levant, particularly in relation to the difficult question of the formation of the Red Sea-Jordan rift. In I940 the American geologist F. G. Clapp published a most important study of eastern Iran,2 an area thitherto practically untouched by geological surveys. New light has been thrown on a part of the Middle East that by reason of structural complexity and difficulty of access-both topographically and politically-had remained largely unsurveyed. A later work by Dr. R. Furon of the University of Teheran22 summarizes much of the existing geological literature on Iran and provides a copious bibliography. Dr. Furon also discusses the possibility of a continuation of the Ural fold system into central Iran, and a prolongation even as far as Oman and Madagascar. In this, as also in a geological map accompanying the article, he has been subjected to some criticism from other authorities on the geology of Iran. A further study of the region, more particularly the structural and tectonic aspects, has been made by J. W. Schroeder.23 RACIAL, LINGUISTIC, AND RELIGIOUS DIVERSITIES The racial, linguistic, and religious divisions of the Middle East, out- standing among factors of disunity, cannot easily be summarized, because of their extraordinary diversity. The Middle East, a land bridge, has received racial contributions from many parts of the Old World. Some have been assimilated and intermingled with previously existing strains; others have drifted into isolated areas-mountain or desert-and have thus maintained a relative purity. The Armenians and the Syrian Bedouins, the one a highly distinctive branch of the Alpine race, the other of comparatively unaltered Mediterranean stock, might be taken as typical of the latter group; in the more open lands a basic Armenoid and Mediterranean intermixture has been enriched by Hamitic, Negrito, Mongoloid, and proto-Nordic ele- ments in varying proportion. Language distribution is easier to define. Within the last twelve centuries Arabic, a Semitic tongue from central Arabia, has almost entirely ousted all other languages in the southern part of the Middle East, and Aramaic, 20 Leo Picard: Structure and Evolution of Palestine, With Comparative Notes on Neighbouring Countries. iv and I34 pp. Bull. Geol. Dept., Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem, Vol. 4, No. 2-3-4, I943. 21 Frederick G. Clapp: Geology of Eastern Iran, Bull. Geol. Soc. of America, Vol. 5I, Part I, 1940, pp. I-IoI. 22 Raymond Furon: La geologie du plateau iranien (Perse-Afghanistan-Beloutchistan), Memoires Musee Natl. d'Hist. Naturelle, Vol. 7 (N.S.), No. 2, Paris, I94I, pp. I77-414. 23Jean William Schroeder: Essai sur la structure de l'Iran, Eclogae Geol. Helvetiae, Vol. 37, No. I, I944, pp. 37-81. 423 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW an older Semitic language that was widely spoken in the time of Christ, now survives only in a few villages near Damascus and Mosul. The flood of Arabic was arrested at the mountain zone of the north; and Persian, although much influenced by Arabic, is still current in the extreme east. Eastern Anatolia is a veritable museum of languages. Kurdish and Armenian are the most widespread, but numerous Caucasian and Central Asiatic languages are spoken by tribesmen. Farther to the west, Turkish, also from Central Asia, has established a dominance over Greek, which now survives only in Cyprus and the smaller islands. Later intermingling of peoples on a small scale has made it necessary for most modern governments to employ at least two, and sometimes three or four, official languages. Although predominantly Moslem, the Middle East contains minorities of Christians and Hebrews, whose frequently higher economic and cultural level gives them an influence out of proportion to their numbers. Some of these minorities have connections with larger communities in Europe and America; others are isolated remnants of early Christian sects that have died out elsewhere. Islam itself is by no means united. The Shi'a faith is dominant in Iran and in much of Iraq and may be considered a reflection of the separate cultural development of that area, which owes somewhat more than the rest of the Middle East to classical Greek influence. Farther west, smaller sects have found relative security in highland areas from orthodox Moslem persecu- tion. The Yazidi of the Jabal Sinjar of Iraq and the Alawi, Druses, and Metwali of western Syria all represent heretical Moslem belief combined with a more primitive animism and totemism. The Alawi have been studied by Weulersse,24 and once again a valuable piece of local documentation shows one line along which future research must move; especially interesting are his numerous local distribution maps, usually rare in studies of the Middle East. GROWTH OF NATIONALISM Upon such a variegated social basis, the present national states have been built; and it is inevitable that many communities should find in the existing frontiers an incomplete realization of their political aspirations. Chief among these nationally conscious groups are the Kurds, the Armenians, and the Assyrians; and of these the Kurds, living in the mountain zone of the borders of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, are the largest in number. A realistic survey 24Jacques Weulersse: Le pays des Alaouites. Vol. I, 418 pp.; Vol. 2, 104 plates. (Institut Franpais de Damas.) Arrault & cie, Tours, I940. 250 fr. 424 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MIDDLE EAST by Westermann25 traces the political and social development of all three groups and relates local feeling to wider questions of international rivalry involving Britain, France, Russia, and the United States. The survey is authoritative and carefully documented, but at times an obscurity of language makes it difficult to separate fact and deduction from a background of sug- gestion and imputation deriving from political intrigue-a situation that in one sense, however, may be considered an epitome of Middle Eastern politics as a whole. The author's conclusion that no wholly acceptable solution of present difficulties is likely to be found will immediately invite a comparison with the position in Palestine. The social organization of the Kurds has been described at greater length by Professor Westermann and by W. G. Elphinston.26 Tribalism still persists; and a marked individualism, which has hitherto prevented the development of political cooperation, together with the scattered distribu- tion of the Kurds makes it difficult to see how a successful national unity could emerge. The recent development of nationalist states in the Middle East has in some respects been a further factor of disunity. Member states of the Arab League, at various levels of economic and political evolution, have so far shown somewhat of a disinclination to extend political cooperation into the economic field. Economic nationalism, a feature during the last 20 years of Turkey and Iran, and to a smaller extent of Egypt, has tended to emphasize the differences between states. Egypt, deriving advantage from a position on the main trade routes of the world, is drawing farther and farther away from countries such as Transjordan, where natural resources are few; and the establishment of cotton mills by strongly nationalist rulers in Turkey and Iran has acted unfavorably on the older textile centers of Syria, which formerly could count on the entire Ottoman Empire as a market. How far these difficulties will disappear under the solvent of political cooperation remains to be seen. A thoughtful interpretation by Haas27 deals with the growth of national- ism in Iran, where special features deriving from the relative isolation of the country have given rise to a highly individual culture. A philosophic con- ception dominates the work: emphasis is placed on things of the mind as 25 William Linn Westermann: Peoples of the Near East without a National Future. 20 pp. (American Interests in the War and the Peace.) Council on Foreign Relations, New York, I944. 26 William Linn Westermann: Kurdish Independence and Russian Expansion, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 24, 1945-1946, pp. 675-686. W. G. Elphinston: The Kurdish Question, Internatl. Affairs, Vol. 22, 1946, pp. 9I-103. 27 William S. Haas: Iran. xi and 273 pp. Columbia University Press, New York, 1946. $3.50. 425 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW a key to an understanding of the modem country; and this unusual approach, which devotes a chapter to Persian psychology but relegates irrigation to a short appendix, permits the close synthesis of geographical and historical fact that would seem to be the best method of understanding the Middle East and its inhabitants. Two useful little works concerned with factual presentation give the salient features of the development of Transjordan.28 Transjordan, in certain respects an artificial unit, would benefit from a wider political grouping that would place it more closely in touch with the Mediterranean and with neighboring areas of the Levant. The historical role of Syria, a debatable ground between East and West, is given prominence in Mr. Fedden's "Syria,"29 which, based on intimate acquaintance with virtually all parts of the country, claims to be the first comprehensive survey in English of Syria and its peoples. Colonel de Gaury vividly depicts Arabian life under the patriarchal government of King ibn-Saud.30 Recent exploitation of oil by American interests, in a country hitherto isolated from the rest of the world, has produced a sudden impact of Westernization; and one of the most interesting parts of "Arabia Phoenix" deals with the social and physical changes among former nomads who are now working in the oil fields. The influence of the Western world on Saudi Arabia is also treated by K. S. Twitchell.3 PROBLEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST In a masterly summary by Professor Gibb32 the main problems of the Middle East at the present day are said to lie "in unregulated or badly regulated economic institutions, in insufficient power of control on the one hand and maladjustment of production and distribution on the other, in the general failure of the local Governments to understand the problems in- 28 A. Konikoff: Transjordan: An Economic Survey. 2nd edit. 120 pp. (and Supplement, "Selected Bibliography of Eastern Palestine," i6 pp.). Jewish Agency for Palestine, Economic Research Institute, Jerusalem, 1946. 600 mils. Baha Uddin Toukan: A Short History of Trans-Jordan. 49 pp. Luzac & Co., London, I945. 5s. (paper cover). 29 Robin Fedden: Syria: An Historical Appreciation. 288 pp. Robert Hale & Co., London, I946. 2Is. 30 Gerald de Gaury: Arabia Phoenix: An Account of a Visit to Ibn Saud, Chieftain of the Austere Wahhabis and Powerful Arabian King. I69 pp. George G. Harrap & Co., London, Sydney, etc., I946. Ios. 6d. 3" K. S. Twitchell, with the collaboration of Edward J. Jurji: Saudi Arabia; With an Account of the Development of Its Natural Resources. xiii and 192 pp. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N. J., I947. $2.50 (See the review in the Geogr. Rev., Vol. 37, I947, pp. 337-338.) See also Richard H. Sanger: Ibn Saud's Program for Arabia, Middle EastJourn., Vol. I, I947, pp. 18o-I9o. 32 H. A. R. Gibb: Middle Eastern Perplexities, Internatl. Affairs, Vol. 20, 1944, pp. 458-472; reference on p. 458. 426 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MIDDLE EAST volved, . . . their selfishness and their general fumbling." Bitter wartime experience of inflation, high prices, and shortage of necessities not only has emphasized the importance of economic factors but has brought into question the whole system of government, which in many instances has shown itself unequal to coping with the situations produced. At a time when such questions have come to the forefront, it is useful to have a number of objective analyses of economic development in the Middle East. The "Statistical Handbook" of the Jewish Agency for Palestine has rendered valuable service in summarizing in a single volume the more important material available for Middle Eastern countries.33 The statistics range from climatic and population data to cost-of-living indices, but they must be viewed against the background of local conditions-a high degree of illiteracy among the general population, widespread distrust of the inten- tions of official enumerators, and "a mentality which does not always view with favour the exact and numerical approach to reality." The title of Alfred Bonne's "The Economic Development of the Middle East"34 is to some extent misleading; for the book tends to devote its at- tention to the problems of Palestine in relation to those of other Middle Eastern countries, and the section dealing with "the peculiar position of Palestine as the country of the Jewish National Home" and Palestine's "potential importance for other Oriental countries," gives only one of a number of possible solutions to economic difficulties in the Middle East. One of the more valuable parts ofWorthington's "Middle East Science"35 is a statement of the position in the Middle East of various branches of applied science. The complexity of the problems in general and the inter- dependence of physical and social factors are again made plain, but at the same time the author draws attention to specific ways in which future de- velopment might take place. As an example of a reasoned scientific approach to problems that under Middle Eastern conditions are too often seen only 33 Statistical Handbook of Middle Eastern Countries: Palestine, Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, the Lebanon, Syria, Transjordan, Turkey. 2nd edit. x and I83 pp. Jewish Agency for Palestine, Economic Research Institute, Jerusalem, I945. 800 mils. Reference on p. II. For further statistical details on Palestine see the Statistical Abstract of Palestine, 1944-1945. 8th edit. x and 295 pp. Compiled and published by the Department of Statistics, Jerusalem, 1946. 800 mils or I6s. od. (Crown Agents for the Colonies, London). This edition for the first time includes "a chapter on Physiography, which describes the development of meteorological observations, and the climatic con- ditions in Palestine, and a chapter on the Census of Industry of 1940 and of I943." 34 Alfred Bonne: The Economic Development of the Middle East: An Outline of Planned Re- construction after the War. Revised edit. xii and 164 pp. (International Library of Sociology and Social Reconstruction.) Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London, 1945 (first published inJerusalem, I943). I2S. 6d. 35 See footnote 5, above. 427 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW in their political aspect, "Middle East Science" is an important contribution. Similar observations can be made of Keen's book on Middle East agri- culture.36 Agriculture supports by far the greater part of the population, and most schemes for development come back to the fandamental problem of increasing the productivity of the land. In Dr. Keen's opinion the Middle East stands on the verge of a rapid agricultural evolution similar to that which took place one or two centuries ago in Western Europe. It is neces- sary, however, once again to guard against a too hasty adaptation of Western methods: the centuries-old swing plow, ideally suited to a shallow soil underlain by hardpan, cannot even yet be satisfactorily replaced by a steel implement; and the practice of burning animal dung for fuel, long con- demned by Western agriculturists, is shown by Dr. Keen to be at least as useful as letting manure become oxidized in the top layer of soil that may reach a temperature of I6o?-I8o0 F. in the summer. The need for a general approach to agricultural problems is also stressed, the whole emphasis of the study being laid on the similarity of physical and social conditions over a wide area. Of the great need for education there is little to say here,37 but it is important that instruction should be carefully adapted to the real needs of the population. The growth of a "young effendi" class comparable with the babu of India should be avoided at all costs, and there is danger in a too rapid spread of Westernization in this respect. In the words of Professor Gibb, "what is wrong with the present Western institutions in the Middle East is ... that they are too superficial, having no depth of foundation in the minds of either politicians or people." Summing the main economic problems of the Middle East, Dr. K. A. H. Murray38 draws attention to the fact that too optimistic a view is some- times taken of the potentialities of the region. Only 5 per cent of the total area is regarded as cultivable, and the mineral resources are small; hence there is inevitably a low standard of productivity, which is further depressed by the prevalence of disease. By its short but incisive and well-informed examination of current problems, Dr. Murray's article acts as a valuable corrective to a number of somewhat inflated estimates of economic produc- tivity that have recently appeared. 36 See footnote 5. Attention may also be called to the many valuable papers published in the Pro- ceedings of the Conference on Middle East Agricultural Development, Cairo, February 7-10, 1944 (x and 220 pp. Middle East Supply Centre Agric. Rept. No. 6, Cairo. 25 pt.). 37 See Allen, op. cit. (see footnote 5). 38 A short outline is given in: Keith A. H. Murray: Some Regional Economic Problems ofthe Middle East, Internatl. Affairs, Vol. 23, I947, pp. 11-19. 428 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MIDDLE EAST POPULATION PRESSURE One of the outstanding economic problems of the present-day Middle East is pressure of population. A timely series of monographs39 draws attention to the rapid growth in numbers, which in Turkey is expected to produce a 70 per cent increase between 1935 and I970. Lack of data makes it difficult to carry demographic analysis very far, but it is apparent that for the Middle East as a whole birth rates of 50 to 60 per thousand must be considered average. High death rates have hitherto acted as a check, but experience in India has shown that advances in social conditions tend to reduce the death rate, without effecting a corresponding decrease in births, so that unless the general productivity of land is increased, the general standard of living is threatened. The problem is accentuated in Egypt, where 99 per cent of the population of I6.5 million are living on the 4 per cent of the total area contained in the Nile valley and delta. With limited prospects of extension of the cultivated land, and with only a slender basis for in- dustrialization, Egypt does not face an encouraging outlook. Better health measures to reduce the alarmingly high incidence of disease seem doomed to react unfavorably at first on the general standard of living. In Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and the Levant prospects appear somewhat better. An improved technique of agriculture and wider development of irrigation could extend the margin of cultivation considerably. Moreover, the varied mineral wealth, particularly in Turkey and Iran, offers potentialities for a relatively substantial measure of industrialization; and in the Levant com- merce based on transit traffic, light industry, and a tourist-pilgrim traffic could help to support a larger population. In the past, emigration, chiefly to the Americas, and best developed in the Levant, has absorbed a surplus of population. This movement is now falling off; and Cleland suggests that a solution to the general population difficulties of the Middle East might lie in controlled migration within the region itself. Previous experience with the Armenians in Syria and the Assyrians in Iraq has not been happy, but increased irrigation in Iraq might make it possible to settle a part of the excess population of Egypt there. 39 Ernest Jurkat: Prospects for Population Growth in the Near East, in Demographic Studies of Selected Areas of Rapid Growth, 22nd Ann. Conference Milbank Memorial Fund, 1944, New York, 1944, pp. 79-96. Clyde V. Kiser: The Demographic Position of Egypt, ibid., pp. 97-I22. W. Wendell Cleland: A Population Plan for Egypt, ibid., pp. I23-I37. Frank W. Notestein and Ernest Jurkat: Population Problems of Palestine, Milbank Memorial Fund Quart., Vol. 23, 1945, pp. 307-352. Eliahu Epstein: Demographic Problems of the Lebanon, Journ. Royal Central Asian Soc., Vol. 33, 1946, pp. 150-154. 429 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW In discussing the demographic position of Palestine, it is difficult, or perhaps impossible, to separate economic from political factors. A careful survey based on statistics that are more comprehensive than for most Middle Eastern countries states conclusions that would well repay study by anyone interested in the future of Palestine: The needed economic development may be possible; it can scarcely be profitable . . . Clearly, therefore, all parties in the region have a stake in the maintenance of Jewish interest ... On the other hand, ... it appears that a catastrophe ... is not outside the bounds of possibility if enthusiasm for aJewish state should result in ... really heavy immigration ... There are almost no limits to the population that could be supported, given someone to bear the cost. There are very real limits to the population that has any prospect of being self- supporting at reasonable levels of living ... The higher the density, the greater the difficulties and the greater the cost. ... If heavy immigration should come about soon, there is even a considerable chance that the whole process will break down and that within a decade or two there will be an emigration of Jewish population.4o THE OIL RESOURCES A further factor in the economic development of the Middle East is the utilization of the oil resources, which would now seem to be among the most extensive in the world. A short but useful summary by G. M. Lees41 adds considerably to our knowledge of a question that, because of the inter- national rivalries centering about it, has so far been little discussed factually. Pipe lines, in operation and construction, from Iraq and the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean are enabling states of the Levant to share in benefits accruing to the actual oil zones in Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia; and there is slowly taking shape an increasingly close economic integration affecting the Iranian and Saudi Arabian nomads now employed in the oil fields, the cultivators of Iraq, where royalties are being spent on irrigation develop- ment, and the commercial populations of Haifa and Tripoli. The joint participation of Western powers in the exploitation of oil resources-the Iraq Petroleum Company type of arrangement between Britain, France, and the United States and the recent Anglo-Iranian Oil Company agreement with American interests may be cited-gives hope that friction over oil concessions may be avoided, though the position of Russia remains doubtful. Oil resources in more specific relation to their geographical setting are 40 Notestein and Jurkat, op. cit. (see footnote 39), pp. 349-3 5I. 41 G. M. Lees: Oil in the Middle East, Journ. Royal Central Asian Soc., Vol. 33, 1946, pp. 47-57. Reference must also be made to G. M. Lees and F. D. S. Richardson: The Geology of the Oil-Field Belt of S.W. Iran and Iraq, Geol. Mag.,Vol. 77, 1940, pp. 227-252, which gives an authoritative and highly informative description of one of the largest oil structures in the world. 430 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MIDDLE EAST dealt with in a longer article by Dr. Lees, which will form a chapter in the book on the world geography of petroleum now in preparation at the American Geographical Society. POLITICAL PROBLEMS Attention must be given first to internal affairs; for at the present time a crisis of unusual severity and extent is bringing into question the entire spiritual and political bases of society. The weakness of the Islamic world vis-a-vis the West has led to much self-criticism among Moslems themselves. Has Islam failed? Should there be a return to Islam, with a corresponding rejection of Western ideals? How far is it possible to combine the best of both systems, so as to produce a new social philosophy? Such questions are consciously or unconsciously in the minds of many of the more progressive elements in the Middle East; and the apparent success of the materialist nationalism of Europe and America, which is constantly before them, induces a temptation to follow a similar path. The widespread lack of enlightened political leadership has led to a general mood of impatience and frustration that could easily foster dicta- torship. "Strong" methods have a certain appeal to Middle Eastern peoples as frequently the only way by which direct action can occur in a stagnant political system-we need only note the regimes of Kemal Atatiirk and Riza Shah in this respect42- but such action is at the price of the severance of a country from its neighbors and the ultimate narrowing of social and political opportunity. "Dictatorship in petty States is a factor of disintegra- tion and conflict."43 One approach to the problem would seem to lie in a closer and more positive mutual understanding of the cultures of East and West. This point is emphasized by the authors cited as dealing with general philosophical questions,44 and it is significant that Mr. Hourani, as a representative of the East, should feel that "Islam will be helped in defining its attitude to philo- sophical issues by considering the attitude taken by another religion." There is, however, much need for greater discrimination and selection in the acceptance of the cultural contributions made by the West to the life of the East, in order to avoid a perfunctory imitation of the West without an understanding of the deeper principles involved. 42 It might also be suggested that the enthusiastic applause accorded by Middle Eastern cinema audiences to newsreel shots of Generalissimo Stalin-far greater than for any other war leader-derives in part from the same psychology. 43 Gibb, Middle Eastern Perplexities (see footnote 32, above), p. 462. 44 Ibid., A. H. Hourani, op. cit. (see footnote 13, above), and Stark, op. cit. (see footnote I3). 431 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW In the sphere of external politics, attention has centered on two main problems: the maintenance or attainment of full independence; and a final settlement of the Palestine question. The withdrawal of the British from Egypt and the French from Syria has brought the first aspiration considerably nearer to full realization; the second remains, a focus of cultural, economic, and political rivalry, involving a growing circle of states and communities. THE PALESTINE PROBLEM There can be no general discussion of Palestine within the limits of the present essay, It is, however, urged that there be more of geography and less of politics in our approach to the problem. Greater attention could well be given not merely to the physical factors affecting absorptive capacity for immigrants and possible economic development but also the wider aspects of geography, involving adjacent countries. Palestine cannot be considered in isolation from its neighbors; the underlying theme of several books reviewed here is that the interests and problems of any one country in the Middle East transcend its boundaries and that changes in one area will ultimately cause repercussions in another. This fact is implicit in a number of studies devoted to possible economic development in Palestine and the Middle East as a whole, including the report of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry. This report, which provides a most important summary not merely of political events but also of economic development and future possibilities, states that the full de- velopment of irrigation "requires the willing cooperation of adjacent Arab states. '45 Under present political conditions in the Middle East this cooperation is, to say the least, unlikely; nevertheless, a number of schemes for the development of irrigation have been proposed, most of which require collaboration from Syria, the Lebanon, and Transjordan. The best known of these schemes is that of Professor Lowdermilk,46 who advocates large- scale development of the water resources of the Jordan Valley in a manner somewhat similar to that followed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Other plans involving the utilization of water resources lying in part outside 45 Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry: Report to the United States Government and His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, Lausanne, Switzerland, April 20, 1946. viii and 92 pp. U. S. Dept. of State Publ. 2536 (Near Eastern Ser. 2), 1946. Reference on p. so. See also: "A Survey of Palestine, Prepared in December 1945 and January 1946 for the Information of the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry." Vol. I, vi and 534 pp.; Vol. 2, v and 535-II39 pp. Government Printer, Pales- tine, I946. ?P.2 per set. 46 Walter Clay Lowdermilk: Palestine: Land of Promise. xi and 236 pp. Harper & Brothers, New York and London, 1944. $2.50. (See the review in the Geogr. Rev., Vol. 35, I945, pp. I68-170.) 432 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MIDDLE EAST Palestine have been put forward by Messrs. Savage and Hays (Commission on Palestine Surveys).47 In a criticism of these schemes Mr. Ionides48 suggests that no attention has been paid to the limitations imposed by the actual amount of rain falling within Palestine and propounds the view that some of the envisioned advances in Palestinian agriculture can take place only at the expense of agriculture in other areas, notably Transjordan. "M. G. I.," in an article entitled "Irrigation in Palestine: A Key to Economic Absorp- tive Capacity" expresses the opinion that Palestine itself "must be regarded as being agriculturally saturated."49 An appraisal of Palestine's capacity for survival and growth is made by Professor A. E. Kahn.50 Limiting his examination to purely economic and even financial factors, Kahn points out that economic conditions in Palestine since the founding of the Jewish National Home cannot be said ever to have been "normal." During the twenty years I919-I939, Palestine had the heaviest import of capital per head of population in the world; and when this inflow declined after 1939, a "boom" due to war conditions swiftly de- veloped and has so far continued. The conclusion reached, namely that although the present population of Palestine, both Jewish and Arab, can probably be supported from current resources, "continued absorption of immigrants . . . is contingent upon a continued inflow of capital," gives added point to the observations of Notestein and Jurkat.5s A detailed discussion of the general economic problems affecting Pales- tine is given in "Palestine: Problem and Promise: An Economic Study,"52 of which one can fairly say that it affords an independent and objective survey of current trends and difficulties. Disparity in standards of living as between Arab and Jew is one of the root causes, if not the greatest single element, 47 A brief statement is given by Abel Wolman, in collaboration with James B. Hays and A. E. Barrekette: Proposed Plan of Irrigation and Hydro-Electric Power Development for Palestine, Technion Journ., Vol. 5, I946, pp. 37-40. 48 M. G. Ionides: The Perspective of Water Development in Palestine and Transjordan, Journ. Royal Central Asian Soc., Vol. 33, 1946, pp. 271-280. 49 The World Today, Vol. 3, 1947, pp. I88-I98; reference on p. 198. 50 Alfred E. Kahn: Palestine: A Problem in Economic Evaluation, Amer. Econ. Rev., Vol. 34, 1944, pp. 538-560; reference on p. 560. 5' Notestein and Jurkat, op. cit. (see footnote 39, above). 52 Robert R. Nathan, Oscar Gass, and Daniel Creamer: Palestine: Problem and Promise: An Eco- nomic Study. Prepared under the auspices of the American Palestine Institute. x and 675 pp. Public Affairs Press, American Council on Public Affairs, Washington, D. C., 1946. $5.00. A lavishly illustrated picture of progress made in Palestine and further possibilities is presented in "Palestine's Economic Future: A Review of Progress and Prospects," edited by J. B. Hobman (310 pp. Percy Lund Humphries & Co., London, I946. ISs.). This is a book of essays "written by experts actually engaged in Palestine in the schemes and industries under review. Other contributors, like Professor Lowdermilk, Sir John Russell, Professor Laski and Mr. Robert Nathan, have special qualifications and sympathies for discussing the larger pattern of future expansion" (p. 9).-EDIT. NOTE. 433 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW of the present tension; and even though at some stage most economic problems are cut across by a political factor, the most fruitful approach to a solution of Palestinian affairs is likely to lie in improvement of living con- ditions for all concerned. It is, however, necessary to take into account differences of psychology and temperament that occur in the Arab world. One unfortunate feature of the Western approach to the Middle East is an insistence on material achievement as a criterion of cultural and political development, with the practical corollary that acts of penetration or interference by outside nations are justified if material benefits are conferred. Timeo Danaos et donaferentes is likely to be the Arab reaction to proposals from the West that are sincerely believed by their sponsors to be to the advantage of the Arab himself; and one of the difficulties in Palestine is the hesitancy on the part of the Arab to set any value on economic progress, which is regarded by Zionists as a main justification for the continued immigration ofJews into the country. A factual background to policies in Palestine is given by a publication of the R.I.I.A.53 and by a short paper of which the title is the best summary.54 "The Palestine Impasse" is interesting as the unbiased view of an observer relatively remote from the heat of controversy. A more extensive survey by a writer versed in English, Arabic, and Hebrew and closely in touch with recent developments in Palestine provides an impartial and well-documented exposition of both Arab and Jewish viewpoints.55 Allowance must be made for the troubles of the mandatory power, which, committed to a con- tradictory and perhaps impossible policy, was exposed to world-wide, and at times uninformed, criticism; yet it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the British government was unwilling or unable to examine the full implications of its policy for the country and the people. Mr. Barbour goes so far as to suggest that nearly all Palestine's troubles "might be said to come from lack of national direction"; but he also singles out Zionist intransigency and distortion as a contributing factor to difficulties in working the Balfour Declaration. How far this latter opinion invalidates the impartiality of his book will be a matter of personal interpretation. The wider aspects of Jewish settlement in various countries of the world 53 "Great Britain and Palestine, I915-I945." 3rd edit. xii and 178 pp. Royal Inst. of Internatl. Affairs Information Papers No. 20, London and New York, 1946. 7s. 6d. ($2.00). 54 A. E. Prince: The Palestine Impasse, Internatl. Journ.: Canadian Inst. of Internatl. Affairs Quart., Vol. I, 1946, pp. 122-133. 55 Nevill Barbour: Nisi Dominus: A Survey of the Palestine Controversy. 248 pp. George G. ,-arrap & Co., London, Toronto, etc., 1946. 8s. 6d. (American edition: Palestine: Star or Crescent? x and 310 pp. Odyssey Press, New York, 1947. $3.00.) 434 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MIDDLE EAST are dealt with by the Reverend J. W. Parkes.56 Although his book is con- cerned with problems of the Jewish people as a whole, some attention is inevitably focused on Palestine; and in the second part an evaluation of the function of the country in relieving the distress of Jewry gives the author's view that, although achievements have been limited, nevertheless the National Home for the Jews has, on the whole, been of benefit to the people whom it was intended to serve. In ending this discussion the author desires to reinforce what was said earlier regarding geography and politics in relation to Palestine. Purely political argument derives too closely from naked power for either side to adopt it as the main basis of approach. The Arab League, a possible fruitful beginning to genuine cooperation on a regional level throughout the Middle East, will, if political considerations continue to be its only driving force, ultimately pass into a sterile and disastrous fanaticism. Equally serious- ly, Zionism cannot risk a full appeal to power politics, since ultimately the balance will inevitably lie to the disadvantage of a small Jewish minority in a Moslem world. The Middle East is now in many respects a tabula rasa, ready to receive the impress of new policies and new human relationships. Forms of society that have endured since the Middle Ages are now in rapid decay and must be replaced by other groupings. As alternatives, we have on the one hand narrow regionalism, leading finally to disruptive nationalism, on the other the opportunity for more fruitful development on a wider scale, following the organization of the Middle East as a single unit. s6John Hadham, pseud. [J. W. Parkes]: The Emergence of the Jewish Problem, I879-I939. xxiv and 259 pp. Issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs. Oxford University Press, London, 1946. I5s. EDIT. NOTE. "Of making many books there is no end" applies with singular force to the present status of writings on the Middle East. "The gathering of the relevant titles alone would impose a staggering effort .... No two lists of suggested introductory reading about this region are likely to correspond," says E. A. Speiser in "The United States and the Near East." New titles have continued to appear since the final manuscript was received from Dr. Fisher. Two that may be added to his references are Professor Speiser's book and "Palestine: A Study of Jewish, Arab, and British Policies" (published for the Esco Founda- tion for Palestine). Comments on these books may be found in the review section of this number of the Geographical Review. 435 This content downloaded on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 04:40:41 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions