Translating Late Ottoman Modernity In Palestine

Die Studie untersucht für die Jahre vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg anhand der arabisch-palästinensischen Zeitung Filas?in lokale Debatten um politische Ordnung, kollektive Identität und Beziehungen zwischen ethnischen und konfessionellen Gruppen; dies vor dem Hintergrund transregionaler und transosmansicher Zusammenhänge. Dies ist deshalb relevant, weil Gruppenbeziehungen in Palästina für diese Phase der osmanischen Moderne wenig erforscht sind und sich in einer tiefen Umbruchphase, einer sog. ›Sattelzeit‹, befanden. Filastin, veröffentlicht ab 1911 in Jaffa von Isa al-Isa und Yusuf al-Isa, lokalen griechisch-orthodoxen Christen, diente als Medium, in dem ein vielfältiges Spektrum an palästinensischen Autoren verschiedener Konfession folgende Fragen kontrovers verhandelte: 1. Regeln des Zusammenlebens im multiethnisch und multikulturell geprägten Jaffa; 2. Die Integrierbarkeit der jüdisch-zionistischen Einwanderer in die Region, und 3. die Partizipation arabisch-palästinensischer Christen im von Griechen dominierten griechisch-orthodoxen Patriarchat von Jerusalem. Exploring Filas?in in the context of Arab Palestinian press development, its specific environment and networks, and the political culture after the Young Turk Revolution, this study analyzes the main concepts and terminological features that are conveyed through ist coverage. Further, it studies Palestinian group relations in the light of three selected case studies: the press debate on 1. the social cohabitation of groups in the Jaffa region, 2. the socio-economic integration of Zionist immigrants into the Jerusalem District, and 3. the political participation of Arab Palestinian Orthodox Christians in the administration of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and their opposition against the clerical establishment. Filastin was published from 1911 onwards in the coastal town of Jaffa by the cousins Yusuf and Isa al-Isa, Arab Palestinians of Greek Orthodox confession. Soon, it had established itself as a 'forum of debate' in late Ottoman Palestine, serving a pool of authors from different ethnic and confessional but similar educational backgrounds and moral values as a public medium to which they contributed through publishing articles, protest letters, petitions, etc. On its pages, these authors controversially discussed concepts of collective identity, society-building, political order and all kinds of reforms that they perceived progressive and as fitting the 'spirit of the age', as they called it: the age of Ottoman Constitutionalism and modernity. This study explores local debates on Palestinian group relations through Filastin during the years 1911 until 1914 which is relevant since, during this period of time, the Arab Middle East in general and Palestine in specific underwent a so-called 'saddle period'; a deep and fundamental change with regard to social relations and political concepts that is still rather unexplored in today's scholarship.

***Angaben zur beteiligten Person Dierauff: Dr. Evelin Dierauff studierte Arabistik, Islamwissenschaft und Judaistik an der Universität Halle/Saale und der Universität Birzeit, Westjordanland. Aktuell ist sie Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im DFG-Schwerpunktprogramm »Transottomanica«: Osteuropäisch-Osmanisch-Persische Mobilitätsdynamiken (SPP 1981).

Introduction : the case study of Palestine during the Young Turk era / Yuval Ben-Bassat and Eyal Ginio -- Part 1, Citizenship, election and social change: Making citizens, contesting citizenship in Late Ottoman Palestine / Michelle U. Campos. Elections in Late Ottoman Palestine : early exercises in political representation / Mahmoud Yazbak. Children of the Revolution : youth in Palestinian public life, 1908-14 / Johann Büssow -- Part 2, The "civilizing mission" and center-periphery relationships: Jerusalem and Jaffa in the Late Ottoman Period : the concession-hunting struggle for public works projects / Yasemin Avci. Understanding the 1911 Ottoman Parliament debate on Zionism in light of the emergence of a "Jewish question" / Louis Fishman. Jerusalem under the Young Turks : a study based on local sources / Issam Nassar -- Part 3, Intellectual responses: Arab-Ottomanists' reactions to the Young Turk Revolution / Butrus Abu-Manneh. Jews writing in Arabic : Shimon Moyal, Nissim Malul and the mixed Palestinian/Eretz Israeli locale / Abigail Jacobson. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 as reflected in the media of the Jewish community in Palestine / Ruth Kark and Nadav Solomonovich -- Part 4, Inter- and intra-communal relationships: Administrating the non-Muslims and the "question of Jerusalem" after the Young Turk Revolution / Bedross Der Matossian. The Zionist struggle as reflected in the Jewish press in Istanbul in the aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution, 1908-18 / Yaron Ben Naeh. The Young Turks and the Bahaʼis in Palestine / Necati Alkan.

"Palestine, of all countries on earth, is one of the most densely saturated places of cultural and religious significance. But its remarkable history of scholarship and education has been overlooked and replaced by the perception - often advocated by Zionist narratives - that for centuries the country was a 'black hole' of nothingness, devoid of literacy and education. In this magisterial cultural history of the Palestinians, Nur Masalha illuminates the entire history of Palestinian learning with specific reference to writing, education, literary production and the intellectual revolutions in the country. The book introduces this long cultural heritage to demonstrate that Palestine was not just a 'holy land' for the four monotheistic religions ? Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Samaritanism ? rather, the country evolved to become a major international site of classical education and knowledge production in multiple languages including Sumerian, Proto-Canaanite, Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin. The cultural saturation of the country is found then, not solely in landmark mosques, churches and synagogues, but in scholarship, historic schools, colleges, famous international libraries and archival centres. This unique book unites these renowned institutions, movements and multiple historical periods together for the first time, presenting them as part of a cumulative and incremental intellectual advancement and not disconnected periods of educational excellence. In doing so, this multifaceted intellectual history transforms the orientations of scholarly research on Palestine and propels current historical knowledge on education and literacy in Palestine to new heights."--

The practice of petitioning the Ottoman Sultan was a well-known institution which existed in one form or another throughout Ottoman history and enabled Ottoman subjects, far from the capital of Istanbul, to convey their grievances directly to the supreme ruler. Here, Yuval Ben-Bassat examines the petitions, including many previously unpublished ones, sent during the last decades of the Empire to the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II. The petitions enable Ben-Bassat to explore Palestine's history in this formative period from a unique perspective, providing first-hand accounts of the dilemmas, struggles, acts, concerns, schisms and transformations Palestinian society experienced. Petitioning the Sultan will be of great interest to a broad audience of specialists studying the history of the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire, and Palestine's late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century world--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Acknowledgements -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Attempts to Reform -- 3. Tulkarm: The Early History and the Old Local Establishments -- 4. The Second Wave of the Tanzimat : The 1858 Land Code and the New Social Order in the Tulkarm Region -- 5. The Wilaya Law of 1864 -- 6. Education and Intellectual Life -- 7. Taxes and Finances -- 8. Public Health, Agriculture, and Trade -- 9. Communications and Transportation -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

The volume investigates flows of knowledge that transcended social, cultural, linguistic and political boundaries. Dealing with different sources such as dictionaries, early printed books, political advice literature, and modern periodicals, the case studies in this anthology cover a time frame from the 15th to the early 20th century. Being concerned with a wide variety of geographical areas, including the Ottoman capital Istanbul, provincial settings like Ottoman Palestine, and also Egypt, Bosnia, Crimea, the Persian realm and Poland-Lithuania, this volume gives transepochal and transregional insights in the production, transmission, and translation of knowledge. In so doing it contributes to current debates in transcultural studies, global history, and the history of knowledge.