Past Read: The Struggle for Arab Independence: Riad el-Solh and the Makers of the Modern Middle East

Seale, Patrick. The Struggle for Arab Independence: Riad el-Solh and the Makers of the Modern Middle East. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010)


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Patrick Seale has the reputation of being one of the best biographers and political analysts of the modern Middle East. His book on Riad el-Solh (1894-1951, رياض الصلح), the first post-independence Prime Minister of Lebanon, is no exception. It is of interest that this volume was commissioned by a descendant of el-Solh, but there is no question that, regardless, this is a figure who warrants in-depth study in his own right. Seale situates el-Solh alongside other Arab nationalists and thinkers of his day, focusing on the political interplay between Arab leaders of the Levant as they strategized to end the British and French Mandates.

Seale describes el-Solh's meetings with early Zionist leaders, including Chaim Weizmann and David Ben Gurion, and his offer of a canton to the Zionists within a projected future Arab state. El-Solh's vision was always of a greater, united Arab state, unifying Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and Lebanon, and his associations with the Zionists serves as a useful reminder that early Middle East leaders were not always quite so averse to partnership. Ever the pragmatist, he focused on confessional reconciliation within Lebanon, and was a proponent of the Arab League. Though his assassination on July 16, 1951 has never been resolved, Seale implicates King Abdullah of Jordan, who was himself assassinated days later in Jerusalem.