States of Separation : Transfer, Partition, and the Making of the Modern Middle East

Across the Middle East in the post–World War I era, European strategic moves converged with late Ottoman political practice and a newly emboldened Zionist movement to create an unprecedented push to physically divide ethnic and religious minorities from Arab Muslim majorities. States of Separation tells how the interwar Middle East became a site for internationally sanctioned experiments in ethnic separation enacted through violent strategies of population transfer and ethnic partition. During Britain’s and France’s interwar occupation of Iraq, Palestine, and Syria, the British and French mandate governments and the League of Nations undertook a series of varied but linked campaigns of ethnic removal and separation targeting the Armenian, Assyrian, and Jewish communities within these countries. Such schemes served simultaneously as a practical method of controlling colonial subjects and as a rationale for imposing a neo-imperial international governance, with long-standing consequences for the region. Placing the histories of Iraq, Palestine, and Syria within a global context of emerging state systems intent on creating new forms of international authority, in States of Separation Laura Robson sheds new light on the emergence of ethnic separatism in the modern Middle East. In The Interwar Eastern Mediterranean, European Colonial Modes Of Establishing Land Claims And Controlling Populations Converged With A Recent Ottoman Past Featuring Desperate And Violent Efforts At Nationalization And An Increasingly Empowered Zionist Settler Colonialism. States Of Separation Explores How This Confluence Produced A Series Of Internationally Supported Plans To Move Minority Communities In, Around, And Out Of The Newly Constituted States Of Iraq, Syria, And Palestine Under The Aegis Of The League Of Nations - A Massive Demographic Experiment That Carried Lasting Political And Social Consequences For The Twentieth Century Middle East And The International Order.--provided By Publisher. Origins -- The Refugee Regime -- The Transfer Solution -- The Partition Solution -- Diasporas And Homelands. Laura Robson. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.