YORAM MEITAL

This blog post introduces my reflections on the Living Archives of Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The term "Living Archives" refers to the extensive repository of material culture, including but not limited to synagogues, cemeteries, ritual objects, Judaica, and written records, dispersed throughout Arab and Islamic nations. Contrary to prevailing academic biases, these artifacts are not inert remnants of history but rather form integral components of a living national, social, and communal memory that bridges past and present. Within MENA, Jewish sites and artifacts function as genuine channels through which the narratives of local Jewish communities can be reinterpreted within their contemporary contexts and across various historical periods.

... Archives in the Arab world are closed to researchers, though several private collections—Cairo's Dar al-Khayyal, for example—are acces-sible. ... Some examples are Gamal Abdel Nasser (instead of Jamal 'Abd al-Nasir), Yasser Arafat (Yasir 'Arafat), and Mohammad El Kony ...

EGYPT Dramas of Nationhood: The Politics of Television in Egypt, by LiIa Abu-Lughod. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2005. xvii + 245 pages. Appendix to p. 249. Notes to p. 285. Refs. to p. 302. Index to p. 319. $22. How do Egyptians come to think of themselves as part of a nation? And how should we study the practices involved in this complex process? Dramas of Nationhood sophisticatedly addresses these fundamental questions and provides plenty of insightful answers in a well argued and written manner. LiIa Abu-Lughod's important study deals with the instrumental role of television melodrama serials (aired during the holy month of Ramadan during the 1990s) in the production of Egyptian national culture and molding individuals into modern national citizens. As in other societies, impersonal communication media, first among them TV, are the prime source of information for most Egyptians. AbuLughod convincingly demonstrates how in Egypt "cultural forms like television melodrama [...] are seen by state officials and middle-class professional producers as particularly effective instruments of social development, national consolidation, and 'modernization.' [...] those who make melodrama see themselves as trying to produce modern citizens and subjects" (p. 112). Television melodramas, much like schools, encapsulate and disseminate a similar message: modern education and devotion to the Egyptian nation are the two most treasured objectives that any decent and patriotic citizen should endorse. Almost all the melodramas discussed in Dramas of Nationhood epitomize this fundamental message. Abu-Lughod meticulously examines the gap between the agenda of melodrama's producers and the ways their cultural products were perceived by two groups of poor women: villagers in Upper Egypt and domestic servants in Cairo. The numerous hours Abu-Lughod spent with these women led to her conclusion that receptivity to melodrama's messages about key social and political issues "... are dictated by the often vast distance between the 'realities' dramatized in the serials and people's everyday lives and experiences" (p. 237). According to Abu-Lughod, this is true, at least, for women in rural Upper Egypt and for domestic servants in Cairo, who cannot find their life stories in the concerns and experiences of the mainly upper-class protagonists dominating most television melodramas. Chapter four constitutes one of the most original parts of Dramas of Nationhood. Here Abu-Lughod's critical insight is at its finest, especially when she deals with television scriptwriters and directors - particularly women. She shows convincingly how, in general, their assumptions and perceptions were based on stereotypes and a conservative outlook. Abu-Lughod admits that she has an ambivalent attitude toward feminist melodrama producers ("Finding myself simultaneously sympathetic and uncomfortable with their projects," p. 82). The works of the very few women in the melodrama business are described in Dramas of Nationhood as merely reflecting the "disconnection" of these professionals from the daily realities of the vast majority of Egyptians. The narrow way feminist producers perceive Egyptian television drives Abu-Lughod to present one of her project's most useful claims: "To ignore the negotiations, struggles, and dynamics of a state-run culture industry," she emphasizes, "is to flatten out the processes that shape its products and thus to miss the ways in which it is not simply hegemonic." One should bear in mind that "... the state is not sure what is in its interest, television is always contaminated by that which is counterhegemonic, oppositional, or simply misfitting" (p. …

Sādāt himself ordered the construction of Egypt's monument to the Unknown Soldier, aiming to commemorate the October 1973 war and its historical achievements. Since then, most Egyptians have perceived the October war as an unquestioned victory. The war plan, which was based on the element of surprise, began with a simultaneous attack by the armies of Egypt and Syria on Israel. The greater the commitment the Sādāt administration showed to al-Infitāḥ , the more apparent it became that its success was inescapably bound up with stability and security. For Cairo, the cornerstone of the new program therefore became its need to forge closer ties with the U.S., and to actively involve U.S. decision makers in resolving the conflict with Israel. The Monument to the Unknown Soldier is located in the Madīnat Naṣr district, in the northeastern part of Cairo. Keywords: Cairo; Madīnat Naṣr; October war; Sādāt; Unknown Soldier Monument

FORTHCOMING BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS [OCTOBER 2016] Revolutionary Justice narrates the power struggle between the Free Officers and their adversaries in the aftermath of Egypt’s July Revolution of 1952 by studying trials held at the Revolution’s Court and the People’s Court. The establishment of these tribunals coincided with the most serious political crisis between the new regime and the opposition—primarily the Muslim Brothers and the Wafd party, but also senior officials in the previous government. By this point, the initial euphoria and the unbridled adoration for the Free Officers had worn off, and the focus of the public debate shifted to the legitimacy of the army’s continued rule. Revolutionary Justice focuses on what happened both within and outside the courtroom. The tribunals’ transcripts, which constitute the prime source of this study, afford a rare glimpse of the direct dialogue between opposing parties. The book’s principle argument is that the rhetoric generated by Egypt’s special courts played a crucial role in the denouement of the country’s political struggles, the creation of new historical narratives, and the shaping of both the regime’s and the opposition’s public image. The courtroom deliberations perpetuated the prevailing emergency atmosphere, which helped the junta tighten its grip on the helm and advance its plans for a new dispensation. At the same time, the responses of defendants and witnesses during the trials exposed weaknesses in the official hegemonic narrative. Paradoxically, oppositional views that the regime tirelessly endeavored to silence were tolerated and recorded in the courtroom.

The widespread conception within Israel that there is ‘no partner’ for peace on the Palestinian side lies in the failure to distinguish between the recognition of the State of Israel and recognizing it as a Jewish state. Seeking the PLO to explicitly recognize the State of Israel on the eve of the signing of the Declaration of Principles had transformed into the demand to recognize Israel as the Jewish state as the prerequisite for final status negotiations. While the former was an essential precondition for the Oslo accords, the latter is highly controversial and mirrors a disputed ideological stand between Israel and the Palestinians.

Aujourd'hui il n'y a plus que quelques Juifs vivant en Égypte, reliquat de la communauté florissante qui totalisait quelque 42 000 personnes en 1947. Douze synagogues existent encore au Caire, une ville de plus de 20 millions d'habitants. En dépit du fait qu'elles ne sont perçues que comme un lieu de conservation, les synagogues reflètent les changements qui ont eu lieu dans l'Égypte moderne. Ces synagogues sont le miroir des diverses façons dont les Juifs Égyptiens ont géré la transition vers la modernité. Plus encore, l'étude de débats publics au sujet de ces maisons de prière nous autorise à parler de « synagogues sans Juifs », c'est-à-dire la préservation de l'héritage moderne des Juifs d'Égypte et sa place dans l'histoire du pays et de sa culture.

This book chapter discusses how as the Second Intifada continued, public opinion polls showed that most Israelis considered it to be a war initiated by the Palestinian leadership that rejected Israel’s right to exist. The wide support for anti-Israel terror in Palestinian society attested to a deep-seated opposition to the very existence of the state of Israel. In short, the basic principle underlying Oslo, mutual recognition, was thoroughly shaken.

This book chapter critically analyzes the failure of the Camp David summit (2000). The memoirs of Clinton, Albright, and Ross documented the exclusive responsibility of Arafat for the failure to reach a peace agreement. These claims were consistent with the declarations Barak made at and, in particular, following Camp David. Upon his return from the failed summit, he stated: “We did not succeed for we did not find a partner prepared to make decisions. . . . we did what we could, we left no stone unturned, we exhausted every possibility to bring about an end to conflict and a secure future for Israel.” Few were aware that the blame for the failure and even the formulation of the accusations had already been composed by Barak’s advisers during the early days of the summit, long before serious negotiations had begun.

Chapter 3, Peace in Tatters: Israel, Palestine, and the Middle East. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006.
This chapter analyzes the establishment of a Palestinian Self-Government Authority, and describes Benjamin Netanyahu’s three years of government as a nonstop campaign to derail the implementation of the Oslo blueprint. To a man, cabinet members did all they could to promote the cause, each adding his own ministerial share. In political deliberations, in cabinet and government decisions, and even in Knesset votes the government remained true to the cause, playing havoc with implementation schedules, adopting unilateral decisions, and exploiting the Palestinian leadership’s inability to stanch violence and terror.

The achievements of the Muslim Brotherhood in the first round of the elections are indicative of the dramatic change taking place in Egypt, but they are not evidence that Egypt is about to turn into a radical Islamic republic
that would fundamentally change its foreign affairs and security policy. The claim that the Arab spring has become an Islamic winter is precisely what it sounds like: a simplistic trope that ignores the complexity of the revolution now underway in Egypt.

Over the past year, a recurrent argument has been sounded that in Egypt, the Arab Spring has turned into an Islamic winter. Those making this claim cited the victories by religious party candidates in free and fair elections to government institutions and the process of Islamization promoted by President Mohamed Morsi. However, proponents of this view have focused on one side of the political spectrum, and have tended to dismiss the existence of a significant opposing camp that includes the sectors that led to the civil uprising that toppled the Mubarak regime, as well as the profound influence of the security forces and the judicial system. In fact, the dramatic events now marking Egypt should be examined in the political and social context that characterizes the revolutionary transitional phase underway since the fall of the Mubarak regime.

Mubarak’s trial symbolizes the deep divide between the revolutionaries who
demand a fundamental change, and those who support the continuation of the regime that the ousted president inherited from his predecessors, Anwar Sadat and Gamal Abd al-Nasser. The latter, who led the Free Officers coup (23 July 1952), strove to establish a democratic system of government that raised the banner of equality and justice. Their social and political achievements notwithstanding, Nasser and his confederates laid the foundations for an authoritarian government that would reign well into the next century.

This paper was published in the summer of  2010, several months before the civil uprising named the January 25 Revolution. The paper points out the substantial challenges, both domestic and external, await his successor
in the presidential palace. The government and security forces assure
the continuation of the ruling order in Egypt, but they do not guarantee
automatic broad public support. The conditions of tens of millions of citizens are worsening, and thus the criticism of the regime has sharpened. The article concludes by predicting that "The demand for a swift and overall change in the rules of the political game is shared by different sectors in Egyptian society, and these cannot be solved by rhetorical commitments to democratization and ongoing oppression of the opposition."

Although many have dismissed Egypt's first competitive presidential elections and the parliamentary elections of 2005 as a sham, the election campaigns marked a new departure in the Egyptian political sphere, including a shift in the domestic political balance. This article argues that the convergence of developments in the domestic political arena — including the emergence of new movements — the shifting emphasis of US foreign policy towards democratization, and the emergence of the new Arab media space, give the elections real significance despite the predictability of the results.

In these times of growing insecurity, widening inequities and deepening crisis for civilized governance, Recognition as Key for Reconciliation offers meaningful and provocative thoughts on how to advance towards a more just and peaceful future. From the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict we learn of “thin” and “thick” recipes for solutions. Beyond the Middle East region we learn from studies around the globe: South Africa, Northern Ireland and Armenia show the challenges to genuine recognition of our very human connection to each other, and that this recognition is essential for any sustainable positive security for all of us.

The toppling of a regime, whether by civil insurrection or military coup, invariably gives rise to a fierce struggle over the lineaments of the new order. This transition phase is the moment of truth in every revolution. It is informed by a collapse of the justice system, a deep sense of uncertainty, and a resort to exceptional means on the part of those steering the helm. Among the more pronounced governing measures that tend to be implemented during this juncture is the prosecution of the new regime’s opponents in special courts. In light of the above, Revolutionary Justice focuses on the unique and decisive role of two such tribunals that were set up in Egypt following the military coup on July 23, 1952.

While “show trials” against political dissidents are generally considered of little historical value, Revolutionary Justice argues that the rhetoric generated by the special courts under review played a crucial role in the denouement of political struggles, the creation of new historical narratives, and the shaping of both the regime and opposition’s public image. The deliberations at these tribunals nourished the prevailing emergency atmosphere, which helped the Free Officers tighten their grip on the helm and advance their plans for a new dispensation in the face of strident resistance. On the other hand, the responses of defendants and witnesses to the questions thrust at them during the trial exposed weaknesses in the official hegemonic narrative. Paradoxical as it may seem, oppositional views that the regime tirelessly endeavored to silence and exclude from the public discourse were tolerated and recorded in the courtroom.

Although the Egyptian legal system has merited considerable scholarly attention, there is a glaring shortage of in-depth analysis on its special courts. To date, references to these sort of tribunals center around their verdicts and sentences, and most of the information is gleaned from the era’s press reports. Conversely, Revolutionary Justice focuses on the goings on within and outside the courtroom by predicating itself on the original ten volumes (in Arabic) of the courts under review. The significance of this corpus stems from the fact that the court's transcripts not only document positions, but they afford a rare glimpse at a direct and wide-ranging dialogical “exchange” between parties that held conflicting views. Put differently, these records have preserved voices and arguments of hegemonic speakers, namely judges and prosecutors, as well as those of the opposition – defendants and witnesses. In the process, they reveal the unbridgeable gaps between the official narrative and the counter narratives put forth by the regime’s critics.

The focus of Revolutionary Justice is on a select number of trials that were held at the Revolution’s Court (Mahkamat al-Thawra) and the People’s Court (Mahkamat al-Sh‛ab). Over a thousand of the new regime’s adversaries—the majority of whom were members of the Muslim Brothers, but also senior officials in the previous government—were prosecuted within the framework of these special tribunals. By dint of the swift convictions and severe punishments handed down by these courts, the opposition was kept out of the public sphere for the better part of two decades. What is more, the People’s Court decided the outcome of the epic power struggle within the upper echelons of the military government pitting Prime Minister Gamal ‘Abd al-Nasser against President Muhammad Naguib, as the judges and prosecutors left no stone unturned in their effort to demonstrate the existence of a conspiracy between Naguib and the heads of the popular Islamic movement to seize power. At the conclusion of the trials against the movement’s top brass, the president was stripped of his authority and placed under house arrest, where he would remain until his passing some thirty years later. Naguib’s powers were transferred to the Nasser camp whose members thus became the undisputed masters of the Nile Valley.

At the outset of the July Revolution, the Free Officers strove to replace the monarchy with a democratic system of government that raised the banner of equality and justice. Their social and political achievements notwithstanding, Nasser and his confederates laid the foundations for an authoritarian government that would reign well into the next century. The tribunals under review were dissolved at the end of the July Revolution’s transitional period. However, the long-standing Egyptian practice of adjudicating citizens before special courts would reach new heights in the decades to come. Although the names given to these institutions changed over the years, they were all conferred with exceptional powers. The widespread use of these tribunals, including the military variety, turned this exception into the rule.

As the more recent popular uprising against Hosni Mubarak gained momentum, a riveting public discourse took shape in Egypt that compared the revolution of July 1952 to that of January 2011. In both cases, a strongman’s ouster raised hopes among many Egyptians that a “new beginning” was just around the corner. Additionally, each of the attendant transition phases were undergirded by the following developments: a military council assumed control over the daily running of the state; the powers that be declared a national state of emergency; and a fierce political struggle erupted over the contours of the new dispensation. What is more, the acting governments took extraordinary measures, foremost among suspending the constitution, disbanding parliament, and summarily arresting thousands of people. Many of the detainees were ultimately prosecuted by military and special courts. President Mubarak, members of his family, and senior government officials were brought to justice in what Egyptians have dubbed “the trial of the century.” Perhaps the most dramatic occurrence of the Egyptian 2011 revolution was the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power. However, the movement quickly discovered that assuming the throne is far easier than calling the shots. Exactly one year after being sworn in as the sixth president of the republic, Mohamed Morsi was ousted from his post (July 2013) and is currently on trial for a long row of serious crimes. Drawing on insights gleaned from the July Revolution, the book’s concluding chapter compares the transition phase now underway to the events of 1952.

A comprehensive study on the role of special tribunals and the justice system at large in the making of republican Egypt is bound to attract researchers and students from various disciplines who are interested in why the surfeit of revolutions in the Global South has mostly spawned authoritarian regimes. Unlike the over-generalizing orientalist and essentialist theories according to which the southern hemisphere is inherently undemocratic and its religions and cultures inimical to liberal values, Revolutionary Justice point of departure is that the particular justice system in each country has loomed large in the final outcome of these successions. Given the universal engrossment with the Arab Spring and the trials against the region’s ousted strongmen, this study is also likely to merit an extensive readership beyond the halls of the academe.


Further details in Oxford University Press site:
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/revolutionary-justice-9780190600839?q=meital&lang=en&cc=il

FORTHCOMING BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS [OCTOBER 2016]
Revolutionary Justice narrates the power struggle between the Free Officers and their adversaries in the aftermath of Egypt’s July Revolution of 1952 by studying trials held at the Revolution’s Court and the People’s Court. The establishment of these tribunals coincided with the most serious political crisis between the new regime and the opposition—primarily the Muslim Brothers and the Wafd party, but also senior officials in the previous government. By this point, the initial euphoria and the unbridled adoration for the Free Officers had worn off, and the focus of the public debate shifted to the legitimacy of the army’s continued rule. Revolutionary Justice focuses on what happened both within and outside the courtroom. The tribunals’ transcripts, which constitute the prime source of this study, afford a rare glimpse of the direct dialogue between opposing parties. The book’s principle argument is that the rhetoric generated by Egypt’s special courts played a crucial role in the denouement of the country’s political struggles, the creation of new historical narratives, and the shaping of both the regime’s and the opposition’s public image. The courtroom deliberations perpetuated the prevailing emergency atmosphere, which helped the junta tighten its grip on the helm and advance its plans for a new dispensation. At the same time, the responses of defendants and witnesses during the trials exposed weaknesses in the official hegemonic narrative. Paradoxically, oppositional views that the regime tirelessly endeavored to silence were tolerated and recorded in the courtroom.

Yoram Meital’s Revolutionary Justice: Special courts and the formation of republican Egypt makes one of the most significant incursions into this field for a generation. Meital looks back to the formative years of the present-day Egyptian state after its military led revolution of 1952, and the creation of the system that remains in place to this day. He grapples with the perennial source-material problem of the Middle East’s postcolonial history through a remarkable and untapped record: a dozen volumes of court transcripts from revolutionary tribunals used in the founding of the republic. These volumes, which Meital stumbled on in a Cairo bookshop….

This zoom lecture was hosted by the Jewish Community in Cairo, on June 28, 2020. It describes the rediscovery of a rare medieval manuscript copy of Ketuvim (Writings), the third part of the Hebrew Bible, which was copied by the scribe Zechariah Ben 'Anan in the year 1028. It also presents the manuscript's main features, and it lays out a plan for retention of these treasures in Egypt as the property of the local Jewish community and a component of Egyptian national history.

In the course of carrying out a project surveying synagogues in a Cairo now nearly devoid of Jews, a rare medieval manuscript copy of a portion of the Bible was rediscovered. The manuscript, with a colophon indicating that it was copied by the scribe Zechariah Ben 'Anan in the year 1028, had been catalogued in the first half of the twentieth century but its whereabouts were unknown of late. This lecture describes the manuscript's features and the process of its discovery along with numerous other rare books and manuscripts in the Karaite synagogue. It lays out a plan for retention of these treasures in Egypt as the property of the local Jewish community and a component of Egyptian national history. A n article about the manuscript and its rediscovery was published by the Jewish Quarterly Review (2020), and its free to download in the journal website.

The upcoming lecture is sponsored by the Drop of Milk Association, The Jewish community in Cairo, Sunday, June 28, at 8:30pm Cairo time.
For registration, please contact Samy Ibrahim:
admin@dropofmilkeg.com