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George Antonius

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George Antonius
جورج أنطونيوس
Born(1891-10-19)October 19, 1891
Deir al-Qamar, Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, Ottoman Empire
DiedMay 21, 1942(1942-05-21) (aged 50)
Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine
RegionEastern Mediterranean
SchoolArab nationalism
Main interests
History, literature
Tombstone of George Antonius at the Orthodox cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. The epitaph says "Heed and awaken, O Arabs".

George Habib Antonius, CBE (hon.) (Arabic: جورج حبيب أنطونيوس; October 19, 1891 – May 21, 1942) was a Lebanese author and diplomat who settled in Jerusalem. He was one of the first historians of Arab nationalism. Born in Deir al Qamar to a Lebanese Eastern Orthodox Christian family, he served as a civil servant in the British Mandate of Palestine.[1] His 1938 book The Arab Awakening generated an ongoing debate over such issues as the origins of Arab nationalism, the significance of the Arab Revolt of 1916, and the machinations behind the post-World War I political settlement in the Arab world. In the book, he raised concern about the fate of religious coexistence in Palestine in the face of Zionist colonization, while also recognizing the horror of anti-Jewish Nazism.[2]

Early life and career

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Antonius was born on October 19, 1891 to an Eastern Orthodox Arab family in the Lebanese village of Deir al-Qamar. He was brought up in Alexandria, Egypt, where his father, Habib Antonius, was already well established.[1]

Sir Gilbert Clayton and George Antonius (in white suit) with King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud (centre), Jedda c 1925.

After graduating from Victoria College in Alexandria, Antonius attended King's College at Cambridge University from 1914 to 1930, where he joined the British civil service first in Egypt and then Mandatory Palestine.[1] He then became the deputy in the Education Department in Mandatory Palestine. In 1925, Antonius joined Gilbert Clayton in the newly formed Saudi Arabia, as his translator and advisor in the negotiations to agree on the boundaries of Saudi Arabia[3] with Iraq, Transjordan and Yemen.[4]

He resigned his position in 1930 to become the Middle East field representative of the Institute of Current World Affairs in New York City. He was secretary general to all the Arab delegations to the London Conference of 1939.[5]

Antonius was a follower of Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. He acted as a liaison officer for al-Husseini in negotiations between Palestinian Muslims and the Catholic Church to reach an anti-Zionist agreement. Antonius was among the first Arabs to promote pro-Arab positions regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict in universities in the United States.[6]

Philosophy

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Antonius traced Arab nationalism to the reign of Mehmet Ali Pasha in Egypt. He argued that the Arab nation (which consists of racial and cultural-linguistic elements) has been "dormant" for centuries and that Protestant missionaries from the United States had a specific role in the renewal and "awakening" of the Arabic as a national language. He saw the role of the Syrian Protestant College as central to this development, although he notes that later on, by the end of the 19th century, that role has diminished, since the college initiated instruction in English. By then the torch of the movement had been passed to Arab intellectuals residing in the region of Syria and in Europe and to Arab officers in the Ottoman army who formed a secret society to ultimately promote Arab nationalist interests. These officers proved particularly useful later during World War I after the leadership of the movement openly shifted allegiance to support the Entente. Other than tracing the birth of the Arab national movement, Antonius also argued that it was Great Britain that dishonored its prior commitments to the Arabs and instead pursued its own colonial interests at the expense of what Antonius calls the "true will of the people," namely unity and independence of the would-be Arab state.

Personal life

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Antonius was the son-in-law of Faris Nimr who was a Lebanese journalist and founder of the newspaper Al Muqattam.[7] His wife, who he married in 1928, Katy Nimr, was a daughter of Faris Nimr, a wealthy Lebanese Christian and cultural activist. Antonius had a difficult relationship with the British. Despite his senior position he and his wife were refused membership in the Jerusalem sports club which had a "No Natives" policy.[8]

Legacy

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An annual lecture is given in his memory at St Antony's College, Oxford.[9]

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Cleveland, William (2001). "The Worlds of George Antonius". Auto/Biography and the Construction of Identity and Community in the Middle East. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. p. 126. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-62114-9_9. ISBN 978-1-349-62114-9. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  2. ^ Makdisi, Ussama Samir (2019). Age of coexistence: the ecumenical frame and the making of the modern Arab world. Oakland, California: University of California Press. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-520-97174-5.
  3. ^ University of Oxford. St Antony's College. Middle East Centre. George Antonius Collection. Fonds level description. Biographical history: Antonius, George Habib (1891–1942)
  4. ^ Report by Sir Gilbert Clayton, K.B.E., C.B., C.M.G., on his missions to negotiate certain agreements with the Sultan of Nejd, and instructions issued to him in regard to his mission, National Archives, 25 November 1925, CO 935/1/7
  5. ^ Khalidi, Walid (1984). Before their Diaspora: A photographic history of the Palestinians, 1876–1948. Institute of Palestine Studies. p. 290. ISBN 0-88728-143-5.
  6. ^ Kaufman, Menahem (1986). "George Antonius and American Universities: Dissemination of the Mufti of Jerusalem's Anti-Zionist Propaganda 1930–1936". American Jewish History. 75 (4): 386–396. ISSN 0164-0178.
  7. ^ Ann M. Lesch (2005). "Antonius, George". In Philip Mattar (ed.). Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. New York: Facts on File, Inc. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-8160-6986-6.
  8. ^ Larsson, Theo (1995). Seven Passports for Palestine. Sixty Years in the Levant. Longfield. p. 27. ISBN 0-9525-379-0-7.
  9. ^ Mehrez, Samia (2010). Egypt's Culture Wars – Politics and Practice. American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 9789774163746.
  10. ^ Kessler, Oren (2023). Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 56–57. ISBN 978-1538148808.

Sources

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