Palestinians in the Arab World (review)

144 SAIS REVIEW Palestinians in the Arab World. By Laurie A. Brand. New York: Columbia University Press, 1991. 286pp. $45.00/Paperback. Reviewed by Houeida Saad, JD., MA., American University, 1992. Statelessness is a growing dilemma in international relations; the Palestinian people, lacking an official homeland for decades, nave never been granted rights norrecognition from the international community. Article 1 ofthe 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States provides a "definition" of a state byexplainingastate'sessential characteristics: agovernment; apermanentpopulation ; adefinedterritory; andthe capacityto enterintodiplomaticorforeignrelations with other States. Formal recognition as a state is extremely important in contemporary international law and relations—certain rights and corollary obligations only exist for states. For example, states have the legal capacity to enter into contracts or treaties with States or other international organizations which are governed and binding under international law. Any people without the required elements ofstatehood are considered stateless under domestic and international law and are not afforded the same rights, privileges and protection as citizens or nationals ofa state. Following the termination ofthe British mandate over Palestine, Palestinians emerged as a stateless people and stateless Jews became citizens of a new state: Israel. Laurie A. Brand's Palestinians in the Arab World provides a detailed history ofthe uprooting and dispersal ofthe Palestinians throughout the Arab world from 1947 throughthe mid-1980s. This book is organizedintothreeparts. PartIprovides a framework for the case studies based on what the author terms economic and political marginality. Part ? presents the case studies and Part ?? contains the author's insights and conclusions. Palestinian infrastructure is examined through the concepts of marginality and opportunity. Brand defines marginality as the lack of assimilation whether political, economical or social into the mainstream structure of the host state. Opportunity is the ability to form independentorganizations. The central argument of her study is that the greater the marginality of the Palestinian community to the host country, the greater the probability that Palestinian institutions or organizations will emerge. Few writers or commentators present such a concise historical correlation of emerging Palestinian organizations from communities in the diaspora and the lack of services rendered to them to the discriminatory and exclusionary policies of their host countries. Brand presents a case study ofPalestinian political development in communities in three Arab countries where Palestinians came to reside postthe partitioning of Palestine: Egypt, Kuwait and Jordan. Each community is discussed relative to the foundinganddevelopment ofinstitutions such as theGeneral Union ofPalestine Students (GUPS), the General Union of Palestine Workers (GUPW), the General Union ofPalestinian Women (GUPWom), the General Union ofPalestinian Teachers (GUPT), and the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS). In this unique study, Brand successfully provides the reader with the emerging foundations of these institutions throughout the years (1947-198Os) and Palestinian nationalism as a result of "physical displacement and political disenfranchisement." Brand illustrates how in order to meet their community's necessities, the Palestinian diaspora BOOK REVIEWS 145 mobilized by forming various organizations. The most notorious organization, The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), was established in 1964 to further the "national cause" of Palestinians. The PLO's leadership emerged from their activities in the established institutions. Brand argues that the PLO is similar to a government-in-exile because it had an executive, a cabinet, a parliament, and an army. Throughout the case studies, Brand points out that no country in the Arab world provides Palestinians in their countries with citizenship status equal to their own citizens. This is presented with specific and concrete data from each country examined. Egypt only enfranchised wealthy Palestinian immigrants prior to 1948. Brand documents the evolution of Palestinian treatment under the regimes of Nasir, Sadat and Mubarak. During President Nasir's search for Arab nationalism, Palestinians were allowed to organize, apparently because they did not pose a political hazard. However, they were not given equal employment opportunities until 1962, and they were not offered citizenship, permanent residence or travel documents. Unlike Egypt, Jordan provides citizenship status to Palestinians, but only after King Abdallah annexed the West Bank in 1950 (King Husayn relinquished control in 1988). Jordan was the only country that maintained inclusionary policies toward the Palestinians. Palestinian organizations in Jordan were allowed to expand only as defined by the...