Center Journals

In the aftermath of the harsh winter of 1911, the Ottoman province of Aleppo witnessed an acrimonious confrontation in the form of a "war of telegrams" between the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) Vali Hüseyin Kâzım Bey and his supporters, on the one hand, and a large portion of the city's no-tables who were opposed to his policies, on the other, against the backdrop of accusations made by the Vali against those whom he called the “oppressive notables” (mütegalibe eşrâf) of persecution of the poorest segments of the population and evasion of the payment of agricultural taxes (‘aşâr), as well as obstruction of the work of the official tax collection functionaries. This paper argues that the Vali's attempt to weaken the power of local notables falls within the broader and more comprehensive framework of the “anti-notables move-ment,” launched by the CUP under the second constitutional era (meşrutiyet), targeting the notables of the ancien régime in Aleppo in particular, whose in-fluence, which the constitutional regime tried to reduce, had proved to be a stumbling block to the CUP's quest to restructure the local government. It also considers that the policy pursued by the CUP aimed at breaking the power of local notables, especially those under the umbrella of the Ottoman opposition party organizations, did not end with the recall of the Vali but rather continued later at an accelerating pace, in conjunction with the CUP's completion of their control of the State.

This study investigates how the Zionist movement and Israel managed to enlist approximately 26,700 troops from abroad. They belonged to two groups: the first, called “overseas conscripts” (Gahal) and numbering more than 22.000, were Jews in Eastern Europe who had survived the Holocaust. The second group, called “overseas volunteers” (Mahal) and numbering around 4,000, came primarily from the United States, South Africa, Britain, Canada, and some other states. This article examines the critically important role played by the "Gahal" soldiers and "Mahal" volunteers in the 1948 war, boosting the Israeli army’s numbers and significantly increasing its qualitative power. They provided the army with the experts, consultants, and professional soldiers whom it desperately needed, which had a major impact on the course and outcomes of the war.

The history of anti-colonial activism in Egypt during the first quarter of the twentieth century often focuses on developments within the territorial bounda-ries of the modern Egyptian state. However, there was a significant cohort of Egyptian activists who opposed British occupation while residing abroad in cities such as Paris, London, Geneva, Berlin, Beirut, and Istanbul. This article examines these groups, particularly those based in Berlin in the period leading up to the 1919 Revolution, highlighting their crucial role in sparking the up-rising. Following a review of the literature on anti-colonial activism in Egypt and the proposal of a new framework for understanding its transnational and diasporic dimensions, the article reconsiders the activities of these nationalist groups and their political engagements.

Title: Disclosures of Memory and Documents as Witnesses: From the Memoirs of M’Barek Bouderka (Abbas) Introduction and discussion: Tayeb Biad Year: 2020 Pages: 414