This volume, first published in 1973, brings together a wide range of Professor Landau’s work on recent Middle Eastern history and politics, reflecting the breadth of the author’s concern and research. The first section deals with aspects of political organisation in the Middle East, largely Egypt, towards the end of the nineteenth century. A little-known plan of the Islamic reformer al-Afghani is discussed, showing him in a rather more political light than the religious haze which normally surrounds this pan-Islamic campaigner. The role of the influential secret societies in modern Egypt is outlined, and the politics behind the fluctuations in the degree of responsibility allowed to Egyptian ministers is examined. This section is concluded by a chapter on two proposals for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the Sudan in the early days of Zionism, throwing interesting light on the differing aims of early Zionists and alternative historical paths that might have been taken. The second section of the book contains studies on the Jewish situation in nineteenth-century Egypt, focusing on their position within the larger Muslim society and on socio-economic factors, as well as on the career of James Sanua (‘Abu Naddara’), an Egyptian Jew who played a prominent part in nationalist agitation. The two final parts of the book turn to recent and contemporary electoral politics in the Middle East, with special attention being paid to the political leadership and voting behaviour of the Arabs in Israel. Other studies deal with elections in Lebanon and Turkey, and the final chapter analyses the militant right-wing elements in the Turkish political spectrum.
1. Al-Afghani’s Pan-Islamic Project 2. Prolegomena to a Study of Secret Societies in Modern Egypt 3. Notes on the Introduction of Ministerial Responsibility in Egypt 4. Two Plans for the Establishment of a Jewish Homeland in the Sudan early in the Twentieth Century 5. Ritual Murder Accusations in Nineteenth-Century Egypt 6. The Jews in Nineteenth-Century Egypt: Some Socio-Economic Aspects 7. The Beginnings of Modernization in Education: the Jewish Community in Egypt as a Case Study 8. Abu Naddara: An Egyptian Jewish Nationalist 9. A Note on the Leadership of the Israeli Arabs 10. The Israeli Arabs in the Elections to the Fourth Knesset 11. Elections in Lebanon 12. Turkey from Election to Election 13. The Militant Right in Turkish Politics
Biography
Jacob M. Landau
