A Voice Out of the Chorus Tunisia’s Position of the Middle East Question (1965-1985)


Abstract


On the Arab scene, from 1956, independent Tunisia represented an important partner for the West, thanks also to its moderate political stance on the Middle East question. While this choice had placed Tunis on the fringes of the Arab League until the death of Nasser, it had also favored and strengthened its alliance with the West, first with the United States and then with the Western European countries that wished to open a dialogue with the Arab League. During the 1960s, Tunisia's political role remained secondary to Nasser; it was with the Kippur War that the Palestinian question repositioned Tunisia in the Arab world. The signing of the Camp David Accords and the removal of Egypt from the Arab organization allowed Tunisia to take on a leading role in the Middle East question also thanks to the relocation of the PLO to the Maghreb country in 1982. Tunisia's diplomatic and political success, however, was not painless. The presence of the Palestinian leadership on the outskirts of Tunis added an element of insecurity to an economic and social framework that was far from stable, with important repercussions on the end of Habib Bourguiba's regime.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i20398573v11n1p221

Keywords: TUNISIA, PLO, MIDDLE EAST, ARAB LEAGUE, BOURGUIBA

References


Abadi, J. (2017). Tunisia and Israel: relations under stress. Middle Eastern Studies, 53(4), 507–532. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48543689

Ait-Chaalal, A. (2004). Habib Bourguiba et les Etats-Unis (1956-1987): une relation pragmatique, constante et indépendante. In M. Camau, V. Geisser (dir.), Habib Bourguiba. La trace et l’héritage (pp. 445-454). Karthala Science politique comparative.

Allen, D., & Hauri, A. (2010). The Euro-arab dialogue, the Venice declaration and the beyond. The limits of a distinct EC policy, 1974-1989. In D. Moëckli, V. Mauer (eds.), European-American relations and the Middle East, (pp. 93-107). Routledge.

Andersson, M.S., & Waage, H.H. (2020). Stew in Their Own Juice: Reagan, Syria and Lebanon, 1981—1984. Diplomatic History, 44(4), 664–691. https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhaa036

Aruri, N.H., & Moughrabi, F.M. (1983). The Reagan Middle East Initiative. Journal of Palestine Studies, 12 (2), 10–30.

M. Bahri (1966), Le conflit israélo-arabe vu du Maghreb. Revue française de science politique, 16 (4), 774-785

Ben-Ephraim, S. (2021). Neither vertical nor horizontal: Kissinger and Israeli-Jordanian disengagement mediation. The International History Review, 43(5), 931–950. https://doi.org/10.1080/0707532.2020.1824929

Bessis, S., & Belhassen, S. (2012). Bourguiba. Elyzad.

Bilinsky, Y. (1973). Moderate realism in an extremist environment, Tunisia and the Palestine question (1965-1970). Revue de l’Occident musulman et de la Méditerranée, 8(13-14), 109-123.

Bozo, F. (2019). La politique étrangère de la France depuis 1945. Flammarion.

Calandri, E., Caviglia, D., Varsori, A. (2020). Détente in cold war Europe: politics and diplomacy in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Chneguir A. (2004). La politique extérieure de la Tunisie 1956-1987. L’Harmattan.

Citino, N. J. (2019). The Middle East and the Cold War. Cold War History, 19(3), 441–456. https://doi.org/10.1080/14682745.2019.1576677

Cohen, M.J. (1995). The Superpowers in the Middle East. The International History Review, 17(2), 339–347.

Colard, D. (1978). La politique méditerranéenne et proche orientale de G. Pompidou. Politique étrangère, 43 (3), 283-306.

De Leo, N. (2024). Da Djerba a Gafsa. La sfida di Gheddafi alla democrazia araba di Habib Bourguiba in Tunisia. In Bottaro, G. (a cura di), Democrazia tra crisi e nuove sfide (pp. 175-182). Messina University Press.

De Leo, N. (2023). Choisir l’Europe. Le relazioni tra la Tunisia e la Cee (1969-1987). Franco Angeli.

Dine, Th.A. (2004). Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1967. Journal of Cold War Studies, 6(2), 89–92.

Di Peri, R. (2021). Il Libano contemporaneo. Storia, politica, società. Carocci.

Eisenman, J. (2018). Comrades in arms: the Chinese Communist Party’s relations with African political organisations in the Mao Era 1949-76. Cold War History, 18 (4), 1-16.

Filiu, J.P. (2005). Mitterrand et la Palestine: L'ami d'Israël qui sauva par trois fois Yasser Arafat. Fayard.

Fraser, T.G. (2015). Il conflitto arabo-israeliano. il Mulino.

Ghiles-Meilhac, S. (2014). Tunisia’s relations with Israel in a comparative approach. Bulletin du Centre de recherche français à Jérusalem, http://journals.openedition.org/bcrfj/7352.

Guasconi, M.E. (2020). Prove di politica estera. La cooperazione politica europea, l’Atto Unico Europeo e la fine della guerra fredda. Mondadori.

Hachemi Abbès, M. (2014). Bourguiba et Nouira: Souvenirs et mémoires (Volume 2). L’Harmattan.

Haouat, M.L. (2020). Habib Bourguiba. Le Combattant suprême 1903-2000. Centre culturel du Livre.

Jackson, G. (2020). The Johnson Administration and Arab-Israeli Peacemaking after June 1967. Middle East Journal, 74 (2), 202–219.

Jensehaugen, J. (2014). Blueprint for Arab–Israeli Peace? President Carter and the Brookings Report. Diplomacy & Statecraft, 25 (3), 492–508.

Jobert, M. (1974). Mémoires d’avenir. Grasset.

Joffe, G. (1987). Tunisia and the PLO. Journal of Palestine Studies, 16(2), 181-182.

Kasar, M.(2005). Souvenirs de Tunis. Outre terre, 4 (13), 201-206.

Khalidi, R.I. (1999). The United States and the Middle East at the End of the Cold War. Diplomatic History, 23(3), 553–558.

Khalil, O.F. (2016). The Radical Crescent: The United States, the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and the Lebanese Civil War, 1973–1978. Diplomacy & Statecraft, 27 (3), 496–522. https://doi.org/10.1080/09592296.2016.1196071

Labbate, S. (2022). L’Italia e la missione di pace in Libano 1982-1984. Alla ricerca di una nuova centralità nel Mediterraneo. Franco Angeli.

Labbate, S. (2016). Illusioni mediterranee: il dialogo euro-arabo. Le Monnier.

Laron, G. (2018). The Six-Day War. The Breaking of the Middle East. Yale University Press.

Laschi, G. (2016). L’Europa e gli altri. Le relazioni esterne della Comunità dalle origini al dialogo Nord-Sud. il Mulino.

Laskier, M. (2004). Israel and the Maghreb: from statehood to Oslo. University of Florida.

Lazarowitz, A. (2008). Different Approaches to a Regional Search for Balance: The Johnson Administration, the State Department, and the Middle East, 1964–1967. Diplomatic History, 32(1), 25–54. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7709.2007.00676.x

Leish, D.W. (2003). The Middle East And The United States: A Historical And Political Reassessment. Westview Press.

le Pere, G.L. (2015). The China Africa connections an ambiguous legacy. In Freeman, C. P., Handbook on China and developing countries (pp. 359-385). Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Lerner, M. (2011). Climbing off the Back Burner: Lyndon Johnson’s Soft Power Approach to Africa. Diplomacy & Statecraft, 22(4), 578–607.https://doi.org/10.1080/09592296.2011.625809

Little, D. (2012). To the Shores of Tripoli: America, Qaddafi, and Libyan Revolution 1969–89. The International History Review, 35(1), 70–99 https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2012.742448

Logevall, F., & Preston, A. (2008). Nixon in the world: American foreign relations, 1969–1977. Oxford University Press.

Masmoudi, M. (1977). Les arabes dans la tempête. Jean Claude Simoen.

Melfa, D. (2010). Les problèmes de là-bas qui se font répercutés chez nous: Burguiba e la frattura del ’67. In Tonini, A., & Simoni, M. (a cura di), Realtà e memoria di una disfatta: il Medio Oriente dopo la guerra dei sei giorni (pp. 15-33). Firenze University Press.

Merlin, S. (1968). The search for Peace in the Middle East. The Story of the President Bourguiba’s Campaign for a negotiated Peace between Israel and the Arab States. A.S. Barnes &Co.

Mӧckli, D., & Mauer, V. (eds.). (2010). European-American relations and the Middle East. Routledge.

Nemchenok, V.V. (2009). “These People Have an Irrevocable Right to Self-Government”: United States Policy and the Palestinian Question, 1977–1979. Diplomacy & Statecraft, 20(4), 595–618.

Olimat, M.S. (2014). China and North Africa since II world war a bilateral approach. Lexington Books.

Oren, M. (2002). Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. Oxford University Press.

Petrucci, F., & Fois, M. (2016). Attitudes towards Israel in Tunisian political debate: from Bourguiba to the new constitution. The Journal of North African Studies, 21(3), 392–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2016.1152188

Quandt, W.B. (2001). Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict since 1967. Brookings Institution Press.

Ravenel, B. (1985). Etats-Unis/Israël: Le contrôle militaire de la Méditerranée. Revue d’études palestiniennes, 18(4), 11-37.

Riccardi, L. (2013). L’internazionalismo difficile: la «diplomazia» del Pci e il Medio Oriente dalla crisi petrolifera alla caduta del muro di Berlino. Rubbettino.

Sangmuah, E. N. (1990). Eisenhower and Containment in North Africa (1956-1960). Middle East Journal, 44(1), 76-91.

Scarano, F. (2023). La Repubblica federale di Germania, Israele e il Medio Oriente (1949-1965). Giannini editore.

Segev, T. (2008). 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East. Abacus.

She, G. (2020). The Cold War and Chinese Policy toward the Arab Israeli Conflict 1963-1975. Journal of Cold War studies, 22(1), 125-174. https://doi.org/10.1162/jcws_a_00928

Soave, P. (2017). Fra Reagan e Gheddafi. La politica estera italiana e l’escalation libico-americana degli anni ’80. Rubbettino.

Stocker, J.R. (2016). A Historical Inevitability?: Kissinger and US Contacts with the Palestinians (1973–76). The International History Review, 39(2), 316–337.

Tal, D. (2023). Ronald Reagan and Menachem Begin: Bridge across Stormy Waters. The International History Review, 45(4), 681–697. https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2023.2187430

Tosone, L. (2018). Outside the main arenas of US attention: the Johnson administration African policy. Rivista di Studi politici internazionali, 85(4), 575-588.

US Department of State (2007). (1970, August 24). “Straws in the Wind” – Changes in Tunisian foreign policy, Memorandum from the Executive Secretary (Eliot) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), Washington [Government document]. Foreign Relations of the

United States, 1969–1976, Volume E-5, Part 2, Documents on North Africa, 1969–1972 (doc. 145). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2007). (1971, October 2). Telegram Secto 7/3076, Memorandum of conversation, from Secretary of State Rogers to the Department of State, New York, 2231Z [Government document]. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume E-5, Part 2, Documents on North Africa, 1969–1972 (doc. 155). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2017). (1977, April 15). Visit by Under Secretary Habib to Tunisia [Telegram]. Foreign relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XVII, Part 3, North Africa (doc. 188). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2017). (1978, November 29). President’s meeting with the Prime Minister Nouira of Tunisia: Memorandum of conversation [Government document]. Foreign relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XVII, Part 3 (doc. 198). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2017). (1979, May 4). Letter to Tunisian Prime Minister Nouira [Telegram]. Foreign relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XVII, Part 3 (doc. 202). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2017). (1979, June 19). Under Secretary Newsom’s meeting with Tunisian Prime Minister [Telegram from the Embassy in Italy to the Department of State]. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Vol. XVII, Part 3, (doc. 203). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2017). (1979, May 4). Letter to Tunisian Prime Minister Nouira [Telegram]. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XVII, Part 3, (doc. 202). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2017). (1979, June 19). Meeting with Tunisian Prime Minister: Libya, Arab League, Peace Process [Telegram]. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977–1980, Volume XVII, Part 3, (doc. 203). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2024). (1982, March 30). Objectives for the working visit of Tunisian Prime Minister Mzali Memorandum from the Executive Secretary of the Department of State (Bremer) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Clark). Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XXIV, North Africa (doc. 293). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2024). (1982, August 24). Tunisia’s security needs: Ref (A) Tunis 6247, (B) Tunis 6202 [Telegram]. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XXIV, North Africa (doc. 302). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2024). (1982, September 18). Tunisian démarche re Beirut massacre [Telegram]. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XXIV, North Africa (doc. 304). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2024). (1985, October 2). Ambassador’s meeting with President Bourguiba: Israeli raid and the American position [Telegram]. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XXIV, North Africa (doc. 332). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

US Department of State (2024). (1986, July 22). Conversation with Min. In.

Zin El Abidine Ben Ali [Telegram]. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume XXIV, North Africa (doc. 343). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.

Vaïsse, M. (1998). La Grandeur: Politique étrangère du général de Gaulle (1958-1969). Fayard.

Valdevit, G. (1992). Gli Stati Uniti e il Mediterraneo. Da Truman a Reagan. Franco Angeli.

Vedrine, H. (1996). Les mondes de François Mitterrand à l’Elysée (1981-1995). Fayard.

Zoubir, Y. (1987). Soviet Policy in the Maghreb. Arab Studies Quarterly, 9(4), 399-421.


Full Text: pdf

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.
کاغذ a4 ویزای استارتاپ

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.