Edward Atiyah

Edward Atiyah (1903-64) was born in Lebanon.

He came to England to study at Oxford University, and there met and married a Scottish woman, Jean. They had four children, including the renowned mathematician, Sir Michael Francis Atiyah and Patrick Atiyah, an academic and professor of law. [http://www.atiyah.plus.com/family.htm]

He served as secretary of the Arab League office in London.

Atiyah is best known for his 1946 autobiography "An Arab Tells His Story", and his 1955 book "The Arabs."

Nakba Controversy

Of all his writing one quote from his 1955 book, "The Arabs", about the causes for the Nakba in 1948 has caused the most controversy:

"but apart from military defeat and the territorial loss of most of Palestine, an appalling human tragedy befell the Arab population of the country during the fighting. Seven or eight hundred thousand of the total Arab population of Palestine (of one-and-a-quarter millions) fled from the country or were driven out into Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt. This wholesale exodus was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boasting of an unrealistic Arab press and the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter of some weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States and the Palestinian Arabs enabled to re-enter and retake possession of their country. But it was also, and in many parts of the country, largely due to a policy of deliberate terrorism and eviction followed by the Jewish commanders in the areas they occupied, and reaching its peak of brutality in the massacre of Deir Yassin.

"There were two good reasons why the Jews should follow such a policy. First, the problem of harbouring within the Jewish State a large and disaffected Arab population had always troubled them. They wanted an exclusively Jewish state, and the presence of such a population that could never be assimilated, that would always resent its inferior position under Jewish rule and stretch a hand across so many frontiers to its Arab cousins in the surrounding countries, would not only detract from the Jewishness of Israel, but also constitute a danger to its existence. Secondly, the Israelis wanted to open the doors of Palestine to unrestricted Jewish immigration. Obviously, the fewer Arabs there were in the country the more room there would be for Jewish immigrants. If the Arabs could be driven out of the land in the course of the fighting, the Jews would have their homes, their lands, whole villages and towns, without even having to purchase them. And this is exactly what happened." ("The Arabs", 1955, pp. 182-183)

Part of the above has often been used as a "proof" that Arabs caused Palestinian exodus in 1948. For example, on 16 June 1961, in "The Spectator", Dr. Leo Kohn, professor of political science at Hebrew University and an ambassador-rank adviser to the Israeli Foreign Office wrote:

There is also a wealth of evidence [..] from Arab sources to show that the Arab League at an early stage of the campaign adopted a policy of evacuating the Arab population to the neighbouring countries, being convinced that their abcence would be of short duration and would facilitate the impendind military operations: "This wholesale exodus was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boasting of an unrealistic Arab press and the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders that it could be only a matter of some weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States and the Palestinian Arabs enabled to re-enter and retake possession of their country."
From "The Arabs" by Edward Atiyah, formerly the Secretary of the Arab League Office in London, Penguin Books, 1955, p. 183.

However, Edward Atiyah himself came forward to dismiss this interpretation. In an article in "The Spectator" 23 June, 1961, he published his reply to Kohn, his main points being:

It leaves out my very next sentence which reads: "But it was also, and in many parts of the country, largely due to a policy of deliberate terrorism and eviction followed by the Jewish commanders in the areas they occupied, and reaching its peak of brutality in the massacre of Deir Yassin."

My second comment is that there is no suggestion whatever in what I wrote that the exodus of the Arab refugees was a result of a "policy" of evacuating the Arab population. What I said is something quite different from the Zionist allegation that the Arab refugees were "ordered" or ever "told" by their leaders to evacuate which is the main point in the whole controversy.

(see Broadcasts )

Bibliography (partial)

*"An Arab Tells His Story An Arab tells his story : a study in loyalties" ( autobiography ) London : Murray, 1946
*"The Thin Line", (a crime novel, later issued as Murder, My Love , filmed by Claude Chabrol, called *Juste Avant La Nuit)1951
*"Black Vanguard" : Peter Davies: London, UK, 1952
*"Lebanon Paradise A novel. London: Peter Davies 1953.
*"The Arabs the Origins, Present Conditions, and Prospects of the Arab World", 1955
*"The Crime of Julian Masters. Robert Hale, London 1959
*"The Eagle Flies from England. Robert Hale, London 1960
*"Donkey From the Mountains" Robert Hale., London 1961 - Later issued as:
*"The Cruel Fire" Doubleday Crime Club 1962

ee also

*, by Christopher Hitchens