In September 2005 I started the blog Tabsir (“Insight”) with several other colleagues to provide information on the Middle East as a supplement to the news and to note items of interest. The blog has been in hibernation since late 2018 as I simply had no time to keep it going. I am reviving the blog for posting items time to time and hope to involve several other academic colleagues as well.
A Visit to Yemen in 1884: Part 2
In a previous post I mentioned the visit to Yemen in 1891 by an Italian traveler after a journey that took him through Tunis and Egypt. His name is G. B. Rossi and his Nei Paesi d’Islam was published in 1897 with some 70 drawings. Here are some of the illustrations of Yemenis at that time:
A Visit to Yemen in 1884: Part 1
Most scholars who have read about the many travelers to Yemen in the past are well aware of the Italian Renzo Manzoni, whose 1884 El Yemen records his visit to Ottoman Yemen in 1877-1878. This travel account has even been translated into Arabic. A little more than a decade later, in 1891, another Italian visited Yemen after a journey that took him through Tunis and Egypt. His name is G. B. Rossi and his Nei Paesi d’Islam was published in 1897 with some 70 drawings. It is a popular account, drawing on earlier works of Yemen along with his own personal anecdotes about his visit, which he notes was at a time when there was tension between the Ottomans and the Imam. For a flavor of his writing, consider the following near the start of his discussion on Yemen:
Rossi provides a map about his journey:
Among other items is a list of the altitudes of Yemen’s main towns at the time.
What makes this text worth looking at is the number of illustrations. I attach one below and will follow up with more posts of the illustrations.
To be continued…
If Only Abraham Had Known
A fable, dedicated to Mark Twain and all who really understand what it means to suffer
Abraham was sitting just inside his tent flap near the oaks of Mamre. He was getting on in years and his son Ishmael would soon have to take over the family herds. So it was time to think about buying a burial site, perhaps the cave that Hittite had offered over near Hebron. Then he lifted up his eyes and three men stood before him. And though he did not realize it at the time, these were angels sent from God.
“Abraham,” said one of the angels, “God wants you to know what is going to happen to your descendants over the next three or four thousand years. So we are here to tell you. Are you sitting down?” Abraham was used to the flamboyance of this One God, so he made sure he stayed close to the ground.
“First of all,” said another angel, “your wife Sarah is going to have a son. I know she is a hundred years old and will probably think this is some kind of joke, but let me tell you that God doesn’t fool around when it comes to sex. You have to call this son “Isaac” and then just when you think things are going alright, God is going to ask you to take Isaac up on a mountain and kill him as a sacrifice.”
Abraham decided to keep quiet. Maybe there was more.
The second angel continued, “Now God doesn’t really want you to kill Isaac, he just wants to test you, so don’t worry, the boy will grow up and have two sons who will fight like hell over their inheritance. The younger son, whose name is going to be Jacob, will trick his brother and go on and give you great and not-so-great grandsons who will become the twelve tribes of Israel, which people will start calling Jews. They will be slaves in Egypt for awhile and then wander around in the wilderness for forty years. But eventually they will come back here to Canaan, blow their horns and slaughter the locals with my blessing. Are you with me?”
Abraham nodded, but was not sure what to say yet.
“Alright, let’s get on with it then. There will be a few good years with a couple of kings named David and Solomon. These guys will be household names for years afterward. But because most of your your children will be stubborn and rebellious, God will send several prophets to tell them to shape up. When they worship other gods, then he has no coice but to have barbaric hordes of Assyrians and Babylonians destroy the whole kingdom of Israel. People will be trying to figure out what happened to some of the twelve tribes until the end of time. A few of the exiled Jews will come back and rebuild the temple — God has plans to settle down in a real house sometime you know — but basically things will go from bad to worse. After a few centuries, the Romans will knock down the temple again. Before this one of your descendants named Jesus will say he is God’s only son and start a whole new religion called Christianity. The Jews will hate the Christians and try to kill them for awhile, and then the Christians will get the upper hand and get back at the Jews for killing Jesus. Some half-crazed actor named Mel Gibson will even make a film about it.
Abraham stared straight ahead, afraid to say what he was thinking.
The third angel now took over. “But that’s not all. About 600 years after Jesus a desert prophet called Muhammad will come along and start another religion in your name. Only this time he will say that Ishmael is your true heir and not Isaac, who of course isn’t born yet, but will be soon. The followers of this new religion will call themselves Muslims. Sometimes they will get along with the Jews and Christians, sometimes they won’t. At some point there will be a big war with lots of people killed crusading to gain control over this land we sit on right now. Historically speaking, this real estate you were promised is going to skyrocket in value. More blood will be spilled over this land than any other piece of the earth. Just think of it.”
It was hard to tell exactly what Abraham was thinking at this point.
“But there’s more. The descendants that are related to you through Isaac will have a tough time of it wherever they go. Everyone will persecute them. In another three thousand years or so a nasty Nazi called Hitler will come along and try to exterminate all the Jews. After a big-time world war, Israel will once again become a state. The only problem is that the people living there and all around won’t get along very well. Muslims will kill Jews. Jews will kill Muslims. Christians will kill Druze. Turks will kill Kurds. Everyone will basically try to kill everybody else until they pretty much forget why they wanted to kill each other in the first place. You know, the whole world will be tuned in as bombs go off in crowded market places, airplanes strafe villages, tourist busses are blown up, prisoners are tortured, women are raped and children are shot dead in cold blood. And then, believe it or not, on one day in February of 1994 a guy from Brooklyn will walk into a mosque built over the site of your tomb and shoot over 40 men and boys as they pray and then…”
“Enough! Enough! ” shouted the old patriarch, rising unsteadily to his feet. I’ve heard enough to know you can’t be angels. You certainly don’t come from the God I worship. This is a pack of lies from the Devil himself. If I thought for one split second that even a part of what you three just said could ever happen, I would kill myself and all my family on the spot. Get out of my sight, damn you!”
The angels disappeared and suddenly Abraham awoke under the harsh afternoon sun streaming in through the tent flap. “Sarah,” he cried, “please come. I’ve just had the worst dream, a nightmare so awful I can’t bear to repeat it. It was something so terrible. It just couldn’t be true.”
“Abe,” said Sarah calmly, you can tell me about your dream later, because I have exciting news for you. Abe, it’s finally happened. I don’t know how, but I’m pregnant, Abe. I’m going to have my own son. It has to be a miracle. God has finally answered our prayers. Abe? Abe? Abe, speak to me? Abe, what’s the matter?”
The patriarch lay motionless on the ground, no longer breathing. The family assumed he had died peacefully in his sleep. And he was laid to rest in a cave near Hebron. History, of course, would never be the same.
Persia Once More
“The world is very troubled, and while peace is supposed to have been secured, active and murderous warfare is going on in at least a quarter of the recent areas of struggle. And, if this is the case in Europe, the situation in Asia is worse, and will not subside for a generation.”
This comment could be from a current political figure about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, but it was actually written by the British diplomat Lord Curzon in September, 1919, only a few months after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles which officially ended World War I. His reference to Asia was really about the future of Persia, where he had traveled extensively in 1889-1890.
His two-volume Persia and the Persian Question (1892) reveals his fascination for Persia, ruled at that time by the Qajar Shah Nasir al-Din. Britain held imperial control over India, then Persia’s neighbor, but Curzon thought strategically about a future alliance with the Shah. As he wrote near the end of his first volume:
“Persia can never become a rich, or a producing, or a manufacturing country: but it will doubtless be turned to great account some day or another as a nursery for soldiers. The Persian, considered as a mere animal, is so very superior to any other Asiatic, to an Indian, or Turk, or even Russian, that it is impossible tom avoid foreseeing that, as any European war becomes developed in the East. the military resources of Persia must be called into action.”
I doubt that any of the war planners in Israel or the U.S. read anything by Lord Curzon, who died a century ago, before launching the war/non-war on Iran four weeks ago. Some may not have been aware that Persia is in fact Iran. Curzon was Orientalist to the core, admiring the quaint cultural aspects he saw from his carriage ride, but disdainful of the people he actually met. He can be forgiven for not realizing a future in which oil overturned the fate of the entire region, but at least he warned about the ability of Persian soldiers.
In 1919 Curzon was advocating for British involvement in Persia, although the Persian tribes would not have appreciated British soldiers on their soil even though the Shah welcomed British money to fill his empty coffers. Curzon’s desire to woo Persia was not kosher to a number of the British diplomats who advised on the Eastern issue; some argued to “leave Persia to go to the devil in her own way.” Curzon persevered and reached a treaty with Persia, which had been rebuffed at a peace conference in Paris. The treaty would send British expert advisors for the government, British officers, munitions and equipment to create a national army and a loan of 2 million pounds. Here is how Curzon described the treaty…
“What they mean in practice is this: not that we have received or are about to receive a Mandate for Persia; not that Persia has handed over to us any part of her liberties; not that we are assuming fresh and costly obligations which will place a great strain on us in the future; but that the Persian Government, realizing that we are the only neighboring great Power closely interested in the fate of Persia, able and willing to help her and likely to be distinterested in that object, have decided of their own free will to ask us to assist Persia in the rehabilitation of her fortunes.”
At the dinner in London celebrating the treaty, Curzon added his praise:
“I have always been a sincere and outspoken friend of Persian nationality. I regard Persia as a country with a great history and a romantic past, one of the few surviving independent Muhammaden Stares of the world, which it is of vital interest not only to ourselves, but to Asia to keep alive. I know that country and the people to be possessed of marked individuality and national spirit, too ardent to be suppressed, too valuable to be submerged. Was it not natural that Persia, seeking to establish and stabilize her future, should turn to us?”
The treaty did not last long, in part because the Persian Cossacks that maintained the Shah had Russian officers. In 2021 the Shah, out of fear of Russia, made an agreement with the new Soviet Communist government. Curzon bemoaned the fact that Persia was now “marching of its own accord.”
There is a much used, and often abused, notion that history repeats itself. Given the incessant wars in the area now called the Middle East and previously hoped to be a Holy Land, war has followed war after war after war. Today it is indeed Persia once more. And Persia, with a resilient array of armed forces, is marching of its own accord.
[Quotations from Lawrence John Dundas Zetland, The Life of Lord Curzon. London: Ernest Benn Ltd, 1928.
New Middle East, Same Old Story
There are far too many wars, not-wars and rumors of wars today. My commentary on the war-torn-apart Middle East was published today on Juan Cole’s Informed Comment site:
https://www.juancole.com/2026/03/mideast-promises-through.html
Pigeons over Damacus
The Undimmed Passion of Damascus’ Pigeon Fanciers
The centuries-old tradition survived wartime’s rooftop snipers, but is struggling to inspire the young
Alex Martin AstleyAlex Martin Astley is a freelance journalist based in Beirut, covering conflict, foreign policy and social justice issues
Palestine in 2019
Over the years many popular magazines have published articles by visitors to Palestine. In a 1919 issue of the periodical The Century there was an article by Joseph Koven, an American Jewish author who visited Palestine. His article is very Orientalist, describing the local Arabs as dressed in rags and primitive. I cannot recommend reading the actual article, but there are several photographs and I attach two of those here.
Queers for Palestine
Since Israel’s invasion of Gaza on October 27th, launched in response to an attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7th, there have been thousands of demonstrations held worldwide. Some of these demonstrations have included LGBTQ+ groups, voicing their support for a free Palestine, calling for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation. Pundits and laymen alike have reacted to this, often portraying queer solidarity with Palestine as a contradiction, calling it “bizarre” or jokingly comparing it to “chickens for KFC.”
These reactions prompted a group of more than 300 Swedish LGBTQ people to write a response, published in the Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan, explaining that their support for Palestine may only appear bizarre to those who view human rights as conditional. The article is published in Swedish, but what follows here is a summary in English.
The group highlights the strategic rhetorical manoeuvre of equating support for Palestine with support for Hamas, similarly to how critique of Israel is equated with antisemitism. In fact, many LGBTQ groups have criticised Hamas and brought attention to the marginalisation of LGBTQ people in Gaza. Meanwhile, those pundits who ridicule Queers for Palestine have rarely showed any interest in LGBTQ rights in the past, and only do so now in order to defend Israel against its critics rather than to defend queer Palestinians.
Furthermore, the argument that queer Palestinians can find refuge in Israel is at best a half-truth. Israel has long banned any Palestinian – regardless of sexuality or gender identity – from working or settling permanently in Israel. Only in 2022 they decided to permit LGBTQ Palestinians from the West Bank temporary work permits. These, however, are short term and need to be renewed every other month, with the intention that Palestinian LGBTQ migrants eventually move to a third country. Israel does not recognise Palestinians’ right to asylum, although a court order in January 2024 ruled that LGBTQ Palestinians may request asylum. This decision is something that the current Interior Minister wants to see reversed.
The article also responds to the claim that Israel supports LGBTQ rights. This is part of what is called “pink washing,” meaning that Israels actions are justified with reference to their LGBTQ politics. This claim does not account for how the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) has been blackmailing queer Palestinians, forcing them to act as informants under threat of being “outed” (that the person’s sexuality or identity is revealed to others without their consent). In other words, Israel has been using LGBTQ people as pawns, constituting a direct threat against their lives but also contributing to a distrust against the queer community in Palestine, worsening their situation.
Notably, same-sex relations were decriminalised on the West Bank some 37 years before Israel (1951 compared to 1988), and it was due to Israeli occupation and application of Israeli law that same-sex relations were criminalised again on the West Bank. Of course, today it is easier to live openly as a gay person in Tel Aviv than it is in Gaza or the West Bank, but it is not on equal grounds. There are also several Palestinian organisations working to improve LGBTQ rights in Palestine whose works are impeded and made immensely more difficult by Israels continued and intensified occupation.
Lastly, the article affirms that queer support for Palestinians’ right to live in peace and free from occupation is not conditional on Palestinians’ views on LGBTQ rights. It is irrelevant whether or not those suffering under Israel’s invasion and blockade of Gaza and occupation of the West Bank believe homosexuality is immoral and should be banned. Neither Israel nor any outsider may dictate which party should rule in Palestine. However, the war, blockade and occupation constitutes the biggest obstacle to the liberation of LGBTQ Palestinians. The signatories of the article say that no liberation can be achieved under war and occupation.
The full text, in Swedish, can be read here.
The full list of signatories can be read here.