Islamic Art in the West Bank and Gaza explores a period during the reigns of the Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman dynasties, when numerous pilgrims and scholars from all quarters of the Muslim world came to Palestine. The great dynasties commissioned architectural and artistic masterpieces in the most important religious centres. Attracting the most learned scholars, many centres enjoyed considerable prestige and encouraged the spread of a rarefied art that still fascinates today. The Islamic monuments and architecture of this Exhibition Trail clearly reflect the connections between dynastic patronage, intellectual activity and the rich expression of people's devotion, rooted in this land for centuries. Nine itineraries invite you to discover 70 museums, monuments and sites in Jerusalem, Jericho, Nablus, Bethlehem, Hebron and Gaza (among others.)

Sous le règne des dynasties ayyoubide, mamelouke et ottomane, d'innombrables pèlerins affluent en Palestine, donnant un essor décisif au développement de la pensée soufie dans le pays. Ce guide propose une dizaine de circuits à travers les monuments et l'architecture islamiques, qui reflètent les dimensions majeures du pèlerinage, de la science et du soufisme.

An Architecture of Light / Islamic Art in Algeria is the most recent title to be published in our series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. This illustrated book is a thorough guide to Algeria’s Islamic artistic heritage, from the earliest trading routes in the Sahara to the cosmopolitan port of Algiers. It can be enjoyed as an armchair guide to Algeria’s museum collections and architecture, which are described in exquisite detail, or to inform travellers as they follow one or more of five different itineraries. The guide begins with an overview of the expansive cultural influence of Islam around the Mediterranean, beginning in the seventh century, and its transformation of art and architecture. The development of Islamic art through successive dynasties, from Damascus to Lisbon, is summarised through an examination of religious and secular architecture. A separate historical introduction revisits centuries of local religious and political strife in the region we now call Algeria, and their enduring legacies. Competing sects, rulers, tribes, militias, and profiteers all left their marks on diverse populations and indigenous cultures. The itineraries include excursions to mosques, museums, fortresses, tombs, and palaces in cities and rural areas. Regional customs, crafts and musical traditions are described in essays by local authors. On almost every page, vivid photographs of minarets, arches, carvings, tiles, jewellery, and landscapes accompany the text. Diagrams and building plans show both great and humble structures of daily life in cities and villages. From a sumptuous palace in Algiers to a hand-built dam in the highlands, from an adobe house in a remote valley to a whitewashed minaret in the plains, this guide takes the reader to places that document diverse cultural movements and their enduring monuments. Each site is described and illustrated, and side trips and scenic detours are suggested. Museum With No Frontiers is pleased to present this wide-ranging work. We hope that people around the world might use it to discover the Central Maghreb’s rich past. 192 colour illustrations | 17 black and white illustrations | 26 plans of monuments | 250 pages

As the Palestinian Liberation Organization engages in negotiations with Israel toward an interim period of limited Palestinian self-rule, this timely book provides an insider's view of how the growing hold of Islamic fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza challenges the peace process. Working from interviews with leaders of the movement and from primary documents, Ziad Abu-Amr traces the origin and evolution of the fundamentalist organizations Muslim Brotherhood (Hamas) and Islamic Jihad and analyzes their ideologies, their political programs, their sources of support, and their impact on Palestinian society. With a solid grasp of the dynamics of these movements, Abu-Amr charts the struggle between the fundamentalists and the PLO to define the identity of Palestinian society, its direction, and its leadership.

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 for the first time, presenting them as part of a cumulative and incremental intellectual advancement rather than 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.