September 1970 and the Palestinian Issue: A Case Study of Student Politicization at the American University of Beirut (AUB)

Abstract

This article uses a case study of the American University of Beirut (AUB) to investigate which regional events proved the most influential in delineating students' political positions in the years immediately after the 1967 War. In particular, the Israeli attack on the Beirut Airport in December 1968 and the Jordanian assault on the Palestinian fedayeen in Black September of 1970 catalyzed activism around a leftist, progressive, and pro-Palestinian political platform. The most frequent and most passionate protests waged by the students between 1967 and the start of the Lebanese Civil War were against the university administration and the Jordanian government. In the students' view, these actors impeded their freedom of action, speech, and political influence, while guaranteeing that the forces standing behind them, the United States, and Israel, increased their power in the region. The administration and the Jordanian leadership thus provided the prototypes for all the characteristics the students opposed. Conversely, the students saw the actions of the Palestinian fedayeen organizations as not only a means for regaining Palestine but as a program for fighting imperialism in all its guises.

Notes

 1. ‘Guerrilla U,’ Newsweek 5 October 1970 p.68.

 2. See Shafik Jeha, Darwin and the Crisis of 1882 in the Medical Department (Beirut: American University of Beirut Press 2004), for the claim that 1882 represented the first instance of Arab student protest.

 3. ‘Important Notice,’ Lookout 29 March 1952. Between 1949 and 1974, Outlook served as the student newspaper. Traditionally on April Fool's Day, the editors called the paper Lookout. All editions of Outlook are stored at the American University of Beirut/Library Archives.

 4. ‘Strike Paralyzes AUB for a Week,’ Outlook 11 January 1969 p.3.

 5. Edward Shils, ‘Dreams of Plentitude, Nightmares of Scarcity’ in Seymour Martin Lipset and Philip G. Altbach (eds) Students in Revolt (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company 1969) pp.4–5.

 6. Halim Barakat, Lebanon in Strife: Student Preludes to the Civil War (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press 1977) pp.76–7. Surveys present a great many problems for the researcher, and Barakat's book came under severe scrutiny for the types of questions he asked and the computations he made. However, these numbers at least give some indication of the viewpoints of the students in that period, and the conclusions he reached correlate with the messages coming through most of the written sources from this period.

 7. Shils (note 5) p.12.

 8. ‘Behind the Strikes: Views of University Students Here,’ Daily Star 14 January 1969. All issues of Daily Star are from American University of Beirut/Library Archives.

 9. Barakat (note 6) p.139.

10. For a detailed study of the genesis and actions of the main political groups on campus in the late 1960s and early 1970s, see Makram Ghassan Rabah, ‘The Student Movement at the American University of Beirut 1967–1975,’ MA thesis, American University of Beirut (2007).

11. I have not identified the speakers of the quotes cited unless they held specific positions on campus or wrote articles under their own by-lines.

12. See, for example, President's Annual Report to the Board of Trustees: 1970–71 p.27. At that time, 4,015 students registered on campus. American University of Beirut/Library Archives.

13. The Lebanese Student League, or al-Rabita, formed in 1958. See Rabah (note 10) p.32.

14. ‘Refugee Report: “Just Like a Dream – As If We'd Never Been There,”’ Outlook 4 November 1967 p.2. The camp was situated 45 km south of Amman.

15. ‘Refugee Report: “Just Like a Dream – As If We'd Never Been There,”’ Outlook 4 November 1967 p.2. The camp was situated 45 km south of Amman p.3.

16. ‘On Twentieth Anniversary: Students Protest U.N. Partition of Palestine,’ Outlook 2 December 1967 p.2.

17. Individual faculty and administration members certainly supported the actions of the students over the next few years, but the overall opinion, particularly of the administration, was of opposition to the student movement.

18. Majida Muashsher, ‘Inter-University Panel Debates on “The Role of Student After June 5,”’ Outlook 24 February 1968 p.6.

19. ‘Students Condemn Israeli Parade in Silent March,’ Outlook 4 May 1968 p.1.

20. Organization of Arab Students at AUB, Letter, 9 May 1968. All letters, broadsheets, and transcripts of radio broadcasts are from American University of Beirut/Library Archives.

21. ‘Student Demonstrations in Beirut Today Protesting Against the Jordanian Events,’ al-Anwar 11 November 1968 p.3 (in Arabic).

22. an-Nahar, 7 November 1968 p.4 (in Arabic).

23. ‘60% of Student Body Supports Strike,’ Outlook 9 November 1968 p.1.

24. ‘In Its First Survey, Outlook Polls Students on Strike,’ Outlook 9 November 1968 p.3.

25. ‘AUB Strike in Its Second Week,’ Outlook 18 January 1969 p.3.

26. ‘AUB Strike in Its Second Week,’ Outlook 18 January 1969 p.3

27. ‘As a Lebanese,’ Outlook 18 January 1969 p.2.

28. See, for example, a statement by the AUB Student Societies, 8 January 1969.

29. ‘AUB Students Launch Constructive Projects,’ Daily Star 15 January 1969.

30. 12 January 1969. Broadcasts of the Voice of the Students.

31. ‘Classes Resume Today Following Eleven Hectic Days,’ Outlook 3 May 1969 p.1; and The Student Council, Letter, n.d. (in English and Arabic).

32. Fawwaz Traboulsi, A History of Modern Lebanon (London: Pluto Press 2007) p.154.

33. Barakat (note 6) p.124.

34. Halim Barakat, ‘Social Factors Influencing Attitudes of University Students in Lebanon towards the Palestinian Resistance Movement,’ Journal of Palestine Studies 1/1 (Autumn, 1971) p.90.

35. Halim Barakat, ‘Social Factors Influencing Attitudes of University Students in Lebanon towards the Palestinian Resistance Movement,’ Journal of Palestine Studies 1/1 (Autumn, 1971) p.91, note 3. In a footnote to the last piece of data, Barakat explains that he conducted a new poll with Jordanian students in fall 1970 and that only 22 percent now ‘strongly supported’ the Palestinian commandos, 22 percent ‘did not support them’ and 56 percent ‘supported them with reservation.’

36. Ibid. p.94.

37. Rima Najjar, ‘“Speakers’ Corner” to Fight Apathy on Campus,' Outlook 17 November 1969 p.4.

38. Nadi Hijab, Outlook 27 October 1970 p.6.

39. ‘Girl Commando Leila Khaled at AUB Balfour Anniversary,’ Daily Star 2 November 1969.

40. ‘Commando at Speaker's Corner: Leila Khaled: Let's Rebuilt Wahadat!,’ Outlook 3 November 1970 p.12.

41. For more information on the Rogers Plan, see William B. Quandt, Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Since 1967, Revised Edition (Washington DC: Brookings Institute Press and Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press 2001); Robert J. Pranger, American Policy for Peace in the Middle East 1969–1917: Problems of Principle, Maneuver and Time, Foreign Affairs Study 1 (Washington DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, April 1971).

42. ‘Fateh Leader at AUB: “We Cannot Lay Down Our Arms for We Would Be Giving up Our Lives; Jordan Massacres are Part of Rogers Plan”,’ Outlook 12 January 1971 p.1.

43. ‘Fateh Leader at AUB: “We Cannot Lay Down Our Arms for We Would Be Giving up Our Lives; Jordan Massacres are Part of Rogers Plan”’, Outlook 12 January 1971

44. ‘Fateh Leader at AUB: “We Cannot Lay Down Our Arms for We Would Be Giving up Our Lives; Jordan Massacres are Part of Rogers Plan”’, Outlook 12 January 1971 p.9.

45. al-Hayat 12 January 1971 p.5 (in Arabic).

46. ‘“Voice of Student” Reverberates New Clashes in Jordan,’ Outlook 12 January 1971 p.1.

47. ‘AUB Strikes Against Jordan “Lackeys,”’ Outlook 19 January 1971 p.1.

48. ‘AUB Strikes Against Jordan “Lackeys,”’ Outlook 19 January 1971 p.12.

49. ‘At Speaker's [sic] Corner: Jordan Regime Rapped for 90-Minute Running,’ Outlook, January 19 1971 p.3. See also al-Anwar, 15 January 1971 p.6. (in Arabic).

50. Progressive Arab Student Forces in Lebanon, ‘Important Announcement,’ February 1971.

51. ‘Exhibit, Folklore, Tag Day, Panel Discussion Highlight Karameh Week,’ Outlook 30 March 1971 p.12.

52. ‘Warm Tributes to the Palestinian Revolution and Heated Diatribes Against Jordanian Regime and Imperialism Dominate Speaker's [sic] Corner,’ Outlook 30 March 1971 p.14.

53. ‘Warm Tributes to the Palestinian Revolution and Heated Diatribes Against Jordanian Regime and Imperialism Dominate Speaker's [sic] Corner,’ Outlook 30 March 1971 p.15.

54. Student Council, Letter, 30 March 1971.

55. Union of Jordanian Students in Lebanon and the Student Council of the American University of Beirut, ‘Announcement,’ 30 April 1971 (in Arabic).

56. ‘Speaker's [sic] Corner Session Ends Without Incidents Despite Volatile Atmosphere and Tension,’ Outlook 4 May 1971 p.4.

57. ‘The Free University – What It Is,’ Outlook 12 January 1971 p.6.

58. Free University Collective, ‘Sadeq Al-Azm's Comeback: Free University Challenges AUB Educational Initiative,’ Outlook 19 January 1971 p.9.

59. Nicely Student Council Action Committee, ‘An Appeal to The Silent Majority,’ Outlook 30 November 1971 p.7.

60. President's Annual Report p.5.

61. AUB Student Council, ‘Bulletin 1,’ Outlook 25 May 1971, p.11.

62. ‘Academic Program is Suspended Following “Not Vote” to Proposals and Occupation of Jessup, Fisk Halls, Including Office of the Dean; Masri: “It's Just What We Expected!”’ Outlook 25 May 1971 p.1.

63. President's Annual Report p.4.

64. ‘Speakers’ Corner,' Outlook 21 March 1972 p.3.

65. Mohammad Matar, Letter, 21 May 1974.

66. See Rabah (note 10) pp.93–6.