RISE OF THE SECULAR MODERNISTS 313quickly developed a full-fledged (secular modernist) independence move-
ment, of course, which offended the British, because why would an inde-
pendent country need an independence movement? Didn't they get the
memo? Apparently not.
The French faced a bit of resistance too, in Syria. There, a Sorbonne-
educated Christian Arab writer named Michel Aflaq was elaborating a
pan-Arab nationalist ideology. He asserted the existence of a mystical Arab
soul forged by a common language and a shared historical experience that
gave a unified singleness to the vast body of Arabic-speaking people. Like
all the other twentieth century nationalists inspired by nineteenth century
European philosophers, Aflaq argued that the ''Arab nation" was entitled
to a single contiguous state ruled by Arabs.
Although he was Christian, Aflaq put Islam at the center of Arabism,
but only as a historical relic. Islam, he said, had awakened the Arab soul at
a certain moment in history and made it the spearhead of a global quest
for justice and progress, so Arabs of every religion should honor Islam as a
product of the Arab soul. What counted, however, was the Arab soul, and
Arabs should therefore seek a rebirth of their spirit, not in Islam, but in
"the Arab Nation." Aflaq was a hardcore secular modernist and in 1940 he
and a friend founded a political party to pursue their vision. They called it
the Ba'ath, or "rebirth" party.
Four new countries were carved out of the European mandates, a fifth
one emerged independently, and Egypt acquired pseudoindependence.
But one question remained unresolved: what should be done with Pales-
tine? The principle of self-rule dictated that it too should become a coun-
try ruled by itself, but who was its "self?" Was the natural "nation" here the
Arabs, who constituted nearly 90 percent of the population and had been
living here for centuries? Or was it the Jews, most of whom had come here
from Europe in the last two decades but whose ancestors had lived here
two thousand years ago? Hmm: tough question.
To the Arabs, the answer seemed obvious: this should be one more Arab
country. To the Jewish immigrants from Europe, the answer also seemed ob-
vious: whatever the exact legal arrangements, this patch of territory should
become a secure Jewish homeland, because Jews were endangered everywhere
else in the world and only Palestine made sense as a place they could call their
own. Besides Britain's Balfour had made them that memorable promise.