Word: arabism
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...life had been one long schooling in the devious ways of Arab rivals-and of great powers. Abdullah was born in Mecca 66 years ago, into one of the proudest families of Islam, the Hashimites, in the 39th generation in direct line from the Prophet Mohamed. He was the son of Hussein, Sherif of Mecca. From the age of eleven he grew up at the court of the Turkish tyrant Abdul Hamid in Constantinople, where he was, like other children of notables, a hostage for the good behavior of his father. There the boy Abdullah learned languages .(besides Arabic...
...used his charm on all who could help his ambitions (which were great even then) in the declining days of the Ottoman Empire. While he charmed the Turks, who considered him an outstanding member of Parliament, he was also active in the secret anti-Turkish societies which fostered Arab nationalism. His chief aim: to increase the power and domain of the Hashimites...
Wasteland Emirate. When the Turks sided with Germany in World War I, Abdullah and his father and brothers joined the British, led their followers in the Arab Revolt. Colonel T. E. Lawrence ("of Arabia"), chief British agent among the Arabs, thought Abdullah "too clever" and unpredictable to be the Arab leader of the rebellion, picked his brother Feisal instead...
...Wild Adventures." Abdullah's reins would likely pull him up short of that grand design. But few supposed that he would peaceably give up the Arab parts of Palestine. That might, indeed, fit British hopes for the Middle East: they need a secure corridor from the Mediterranean (probable outlet: Gaza) through friendly Hashimite kingdoms to the oil and bases of Iraq. As long as they hold Abdullah's purse strings, they will try to hold Abdullah to this more modest plan. Said a British official in Amman last week: "The Legion will be very prudent. We want...
Most Zionists might also welcome Abdullah's occupation of Arab parts of Palestine. He has a name among Arabs of being too friendly to the Jews. In 1933-until outraged fellow Arabs forced him to renege-he leased 22½ square miles of Transjordan land to the Jews. Both Abdullah and Jewish leaders, as the two dominant contenders for Palestine, knew that in the long run they would have to agree to live side by side. To mollify his Arab allies, Abdullah would have to breathe anti-Zionist fire. But he was a reluctant dragon. While he talked...