“American citizens of Arabic-speaking stock”: The Institute of Arab American Affairs and Questions of Identity in the Debate over Palestine The issue of identity permeates numerous aspects of the debate over Palestine, particularly in the 1940s. For recent Arab immigrants to the United States, identity was a core component in their work to obtain U.S. support for an independent Arab Palestine. This paper will investigate this struggle through the lens of the Institute of Arab American Affairs and its efforts to influence the debate over Palestine from 1944-1948. The Institute, established in 1944, was an Arab American group dedicated to introducing Americans to the Middle East. During the Palestinian debate, the Institute published prolifically, using rhetoric intended to resonate with an American audience, which reflects the competing views of Arab identity. From the beginning, the members of the Institute understood the importance of labels and self-identification. Were they Arabs, Arab Americans, or “American citizens of Arabic-speaking stock?” How could they most effectively argue their case and critique U.S. policy without being dismissed as foreign agitators? Just as importantly, what kind of identity did Americans generally ascribe to Arabs and how did that conception hurt the Arab case? How could the Institute best combat those stereotypes and preconceptions? What Arab identity should they present to Americans? This paper will show how the Institute grappled with its own sense of identity while challenging American perceptions of Arabs. By examining the publications of the Institute (pamphlets, ads, editorials, its monthly Bulletin, and so forth), one can see the common stereotypes it combated. The most prominent of these is the image of Arabs as “exotic” and “backward.” This image fit with the Zionist claim that only Jewish settlers could rehabilitate and develop Palestine and thus they should have control of the territory, a claim that was widely accepted and circulated in other American publications. The Institute spent a great deal of time countering this argument by promoting the view that Arabs were in fact on the road to modernization. Under the leadership of Executive Director Dr. Khalil Totah, the Institute also made sure to represent its critiques and suggestions as those of concerned American citizens, encouraging their chosen country to abide by its ideals and virtues in defense of the land of their birth.