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).

Members of Palestine’s Muslim community have long honored al-Nabi Musa, or the Prophet Moses. Since the thirteenth century, they have celebrated at a shrine near Jericho believed to be the location of Moses’s tomb; in the mid-nineteenth century, they organized a civic festival in Jerusalem to honor this prophet. Considered one of the most important occasions for Muslim pilgrims in Palestine, the Prophet Moses festival yearly attracted thousands of people who assembled to pray, conduct mystical forms of worship, and hold folk celebrations. Palestinian Rituals of Identity takes an innovative approach to the study of Palestine’s modern history by focusing on the Prophet Moses festival from the late Ottoman period through the era of British rule. Halabi explores how the festival served as an arena of competing discourses, with various social groups attempting to control its symbols. Tackling questions about modernity, colonialism, gender relations, and identity, Halabi recounts how peasants, Bedouins, rural women, and Sufis sought to influence the festival even as Ottoman authorities, British colonists, Muslim clerics, and Palestinian national leaders did the same. Drawing on extensive research in Arabic newspapers and Islamic and colonial archives, Halabi reveals how the festival has encapsulated Palestinians’ responses to modernity, colonialism, and the nation’s growing national identity.

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.

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.

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.

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.