We visited BYU\u2019s Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies again today. \u00a0 \u00a0(LDS Media Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Continuing with the manuscript:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even with all of its many setbacks, Palestinian nationalism was not easily put down. \u201cWhat<\/em> Palestinian nationalism?\u201d you are ask\u00ading yourself. \u201cDidn\u2019t I just read that Palestinian nationalism was vir\u00adtually dead after the disaster of 1948 left the Palestinians and their land parcelled out among various countries and facing assimilation?\u201d True. But the 1967 Israeli conquest of Gaza and the West Bank, which realized the long-standing Zionist dream of Jewish control over all of Palestine, also reunited Palestine for the Palestinians. They were one unit once again. And now they did not have to fight for the attractions of life in Jordan in one place and \u201cthe flesh pots of Egypt\u201d in another. They had one common enemy, and in that common enemy they again found their nationhood. They were dif\u00adferent from Egyptians or Jordanians or Syrians or Lebanese. Those Palestinians who lived under Israeli control were unique among Arabs by that very fact.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Palestinians under Israeli rule were not faced with assimila\u00adtion the way they had been under the control of other Arabs or the way their fellow Palestinians were in Lebanon or Jordan. The Israelis spoke a different language. They followed a different religion, when they had one at all, and they certainly had a different history and culture. What is more, they did not want <\/em>to assimilate the Palestin\u00adians. Such assimilation would have been a threat to Jewish identity. And the Palestinians did not want to become Jews. Instead, they wanted to show their disdain and to maintain their distinctness. And the distinctness was in being, precisely, Palestinian. But that new sense of Palestinian nationhood could not be expressed under Israeli occupation. The Palestinian flag, for instance, was illegal until the advent of Israeli-PLO peace talks.<\/span><\/p>\nIn 1969, a civil engineer by the name of Yasir Arafat, who was the leader of the most prestigious group of Palestinian guerrilla fighters, known as Fatah (\u201cVictory,\u201d or \u201cConquest\u201d), was elected chairman of the PLO\u2019s executive committee. He stepped into the leadership left by the humiliation of the Six Day War. He made the PLO into a truly independent Palestinian organization, one that could deal with the Arab states of the region more or less as an equal. With his past experience as a successful engineering con\u00adtractor, he managed the PLO\u2019s finances relatively well. He turned it into a multibillion dollar operation that runs radio sta\u00adtions, administers educational programs, gives out scholarships and welfare payments, and maintains a salaried bureaucracy. His role thereafter was very much like that of the old bedouin shaykh of pre-Islamic times: He was the ostensible leader over a broad spectrum of organizations, which range from what might be consid\u00adered the political right to what are definitely radically leftist move\u00adments, but his control over them was often shaky at best, and he was only first among equals. For all these limitations, however, at least some of the credit for the resurrection of Palestinian national\u00adism, which had seemed dead for a while, must be given to Arafat. He also had help from the Israelis, of course. Their treatment of the Palestinians and their lack of interest in a real solution to the prob\u00adlem played right into Arafat\u2019s hands.<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Jerusalem, Israel<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Continuing with the manuscript: \u00a0 Even with all of its many setbacks, Palestinian nationalism was not easily put down. \u201cWhat Palestinian nationalism?\u201d you are ask\u00ading yourself. \u201cDidn\u2019t I just read that Palestinian nationalism was vir\u00adtually dead after the disaster of 1948 left the Palestinians and their land parcelled out among various countries and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Meet Mr. Arafat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" Continuing with the manuscript: Even with all of its many setbacks, Palestinian nationalism was not easily put down. "What\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet Mr. Arafat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" Continuing with the manuscript: Even with all of its many setbacks, Palestinian nationalism was not easily put down. "What\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-10T17:23:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-05T15:53:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2017\/10\/jerusalem-center-byu-1316213-gallery-2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html\",\"name\":\"Meet Mr. Arafat\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-10T17:23:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-05T15:53:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" Continuing with the manuscript: Even with all of its many setbacks, Palestinian nationalism was not easily put down. \\\"What\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Meet Mr. Arafat\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meet Mr. Arafat","description":" Continuing with the manuscript: Even with all of its many setbacks, Palestinian nationalism was not easily put down. \"What","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meet Mr. Arafat","og_description":" Continuing with the manuscript: Even with all of its many setbacks, Palestinian nationalism was not easily put down. \"What","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2018-05-10T17:23:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-09-05T15:53:45+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2017\/10\/jerusalem-center-byu-1316213-gallery-2.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html","name":"Meet Mr. Arafat","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-05-10T17:23:16+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-05T15:53:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" Continuing with the manuscript: Even with all of its many setbacks, Palestinian nationalism was not easily put down. \"What","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/05\/meet-mr-arafat.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Meet Mr. Arafat"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60956\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"BYU](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/10\/jerusalem-center-byu-1316213-gallery-2.jpg\")
<\/a>