American University of Beirut. Watha’iq al-‘Arabiyah [Arabic Documents].

€ 15,000.00

The complete run of the first two decades of the annual periodical on contemporary political affairs of the Arab world, published by the American University of Beirut. Combines the most important political documents of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, including government declarations, communiqués and decrees, speeches of leading figures, party manifestos, statements, conventions, and constitutions. Among the most notable documents appear the founding statement of the United Arab Emirates ("The Supreme Council will bring this happy news to the people"), speeches of the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, King Faisal Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, Al-Sabah, ruler of the state of Kuwait, King Hussein of Jordan, President Hafez al-Assad of Syria, Sheikh Khalid Al-Qasimi, ruler of Sharjah, and Iraqi President Sadam Hussein. Naturally, many documents address matters of political unrest across the Middle East, mentioning the Palestine question and the Arab-Israeli War, guerilla warfare in South Yemen, and civil wars in Jordan and Lebanon.

"This collection was not intended, of course, to include all important documents, even for the countries to which it was restricted. For example, it deliberately excluded from its scope purely administrative and technical legislation, decrees, and laws as well as bilateral and multilateral treaties between Arab countries on the one hand and non-Arab countries on the other. The goal is for this collection to reflect, more than anything else, the internal political developments in the various Arab countries and the developments in relations between these countries themselves. Therefore, the supervisors did not adhere to the traditional legal concept of the document and considered statements, speeches, interviews, party programs, and other things, to be important documents included in this regard" (foreword).

Complete sets are obviously rare: OCLC lists 12 libraries holding copies worldwide, yet only Princeton University holds the entire set as present here.