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Documents

1970

Edward Said, 'The Arab Portrayed'

It was following the Six-Day War of 1967 that Arab Americans began to seriously discuss, and be politically active in, questions regarding the Arab World and US government policy and US public mindsets towards it, as Salim Yacub’s Imperfect Strangers: Americans, Arabs, and U.S.-Middle East Relations in the 1970s (2016) has argued.

This is an essay written in 1967/68 by the literary scholar and then slowly emerging public intellectual Edward Said (1935-2003). It was originally published in a special issue of the US journal The Arab World, which was republished as an edited volume titled The Arab-Israeli Confrontation of 1967: An Arab Perspective. Beginning with an incident at Princeton University in summer 1967, Said analyzes US views of Arabs—situating them vis-à-vis European views somewhat differently than he later would in his 1978 classic Orientalism—and ends by invoking (Western) “imperialism” and “the Arab’s … right to reoccupy his place in history and in actuality,” a theme he would develop in his masterly Beginnings: Intention and Method (1975)

April 2, 1956

France's Policy in the Middle East

French influence could be useful for the Arab cause, especially against Jews, based on its record of aid and nonintervention.

December 17, 1963

Record of the Second Meeting between Premier Zhou Enlai and President Nasser

Zhou and Nasser discuss developments in and relations with Libya, Tunisia, Israel, Palestine, Morocco, Yemen, and Mauritania, as well as the Non-Aligned Movement and the proposed second Asian-African Conference.

February 10, 1966

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Information Department, 'Some Aspects of Israel's Foreign Policy and the GDR's Position Toward Israel"

A detailed analysis of Israel's founding and the history of East German foreign policy toward Israel and the Arab states. Vehemently attacking Israel, and emphasizing the close relations between West Germany and Israel, was considered essential to capture the interest of Arab audiences, steering them towards closer relations with the GDR.

March 14, 1974

Report on the Visit of Saddam Hussein to Moscow

In a meeting initiated by Saddam Hussein with Leonid Brezhnev, Alexei Kosygin, Andrei Gromyko, and Boris Ponomarev, the Iraqi leader discussed relations with the Soviet state, United States involvement in the Middle East, border conflict, and the development of the Iraqi economy.

June 30, 1986

[GDR] Contacts with Israel

Attachment to a letter from Koenig to Sieber dated 10 July 1986. This report assesses the increase in contact between the GDR and Israel, especially in the field of culture and science. It identifies the advantages and disadvantages of this development, including the negative impression it might create in Arab countries. Greater contact with Israel may damage the GDR's relations with the Arab countries. A proposal is made on the basis of this analysis: all contact with Israel must be carefully coordinated with the GDR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The report provides a general list of basic principles for relations with Israel. Attached is a note containing policy advice on Israeli compensation claims.