Palestine and the Egyptian National Identity

In this examination of one of the world’s most ancient societies, Talhami describes Egypt’s quest for a sense of national identity and the factors that have affected the Egyptian identity. Generally polarized over the identity issue since the 19th century, Egyptians debated the significance of Sudanese bonds as a definer of Egypts’s historic and national development before they debated the significance of Arab, particularly Palestinian, involvement. Nasser’s rise to power, Talhami argues, amounted to an inevitable swing in the direction of pan-Arabism because of the strategic developments surrounding the rise of Israel. The author also examines Egypt’s foreign policy in light of the identity question.