When did the Arab-Israeli conflict begin? Some discussions focus on the 1967 war, some go back to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, and others look to the beginning of the British Mandate in 1922. Alan Dowty, however, traces the earliest roots of the conflict to the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, arguing that this historical approach highlights constant clashes between religious and ethnic groups in Palestine. He demonstrates that existing Arab residents viewed new Jewish settlers as European and shares evidence of overwhelming hostility to foreigners from European lands. He shows that Jewish settlers had tremendous incentive to minimize all obstacles to settlement, including the inconvenient hostility of the existing population. Dowty's thorough research reveals how events that occurred over 125 years ago shaped the implacable conflict that dominates the Middle East today.

Like other regions within the Ottoman Empire, Palestine at the turn of the nineteenth century underwent extensive economic and social changes. These encompassed the demography, society and economics of the various ecological groups of the population. The articles in this volume present different aspects of this long and complex process. They fall thematically into four groups. The first, which includes articles by U.O. Schmelz and Ruth Kark, focuses on demographic and urban developments. the second, with articles by Ya'akov Firestone and Yossi Ben-Artzi, offers various views of changes in the village and in agriculture in Palestine. The third part, containing articles by Shmuel Avitsur, Walter Pinhas Pick, Nachum T. Gross and Alex Carmel, covers several areas in the historical development of the industrial and services branches. Finally, the articles in the fourth section, by Oded Peri, Gabriel Baer and Clinton Bailey, examine questions in the sphere of fiscal developments. Included are studies on Arab and Jewish as well as nomadic, rural and urban societies. The consequences of economic activity in the private and public sectors and of local and foreign entrepreneurs are examined. In several articles the authros trace the changes that occurred in traditional insitutions such as the Muslim waqf, while others focus on the introduction of the new economic institutions such as the modern bank and railway.

The decisive consequences of the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 had ramifications over the entire Ottoman Empire - and the Ottoman territory of Palestine was no exception. "Late Ottoman Palestine" examines the impact of Young Turk policies and reforms on local societies and administration, using Palestine as a prism through which to explore the impact of the Revolution in the provincial arena far from the administrative and political centre of the capital. It thus sheds light upon the last decade of Ottoman rule in Palestine, crucially dealing with the roots of Jewish-Arab conflict in the area and the early crystallization of Arab, Palestinian and Zionist identities, along with that of an Ottoman imperial identity. It will be a vital resource for students and researchers interested in the modern history of the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire and Palestine.

Krämer focuses on patterns of interaction amongst Jews and Arabs (Muslim as well as Christian) in Palestine, an interaction that deeply affected the economic, political, social, and cultural evolution of both communities under Ottoman and British rule.