Hamidian Palestine

Johann Büssow, PhD (2008) in Middle Eastern Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, is a research associate at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. His fields of research include the social and political history of the modern Middle East and modern Islamic thought.

All those interested in the social and political history of modern Palestine and the Ottoman Empire.

CONTENTS

List of Figures ..................................................................................... ix
List of Maps ........................................................................................ xiii
List of Text Boxes .............................................................................. xv
List of Abbreviations ......................................................................... xvii
Months of the Islamic Hijrī Calendar, in Ottoman Turkish and Arabic ............ xix
Note on Transliteration .................................................................... xxi
Acknowledgements ............................................................................ xxiii

Introduction ........................................................................................ 1
Temporal and Geographic Scope of the Study ........................ 5
Concepts ......................................................................................... 6
Historiography ............................................................................... 13
Sources ............................................................................................ 16
Structure of the Study ................................................................... 36

PART I
IMPERIAL POLITICS
Chapter One The Making of a Province .................................... 41
Drawing Boundaries: The Creation of the District of Jerusalem ...................... 41
Building Institutions: Translating the Tanzimat Reforms in Local Contexts ... 59
Formalised Avenues of Local Participation .............................. 71
The District Government’s Budget ............................................. 81
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 95

PART II
EVERYDAY POLITICS
Chapter Two Making Spaces: Regionalisation through Everyday Practices ............. 103
Chapter Three The Highlands ...................................................... 106
Jerusalem and Jabal al-Quds ....................................................... 107
Case Study
The Memoirs of ʿUmar al-Ṣāliḥ al-Barghūthī: The Banī Zayd Region and its Political Leadership between Autonomy and Integration ................................... 111
The City of Jerusalem ................................................................... 133
Local Political Life ......................................................................... 134
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 165
Case Study
The Memoirs of Wāṣif al-Jawhariyya: Communities, Hierarchies and Networks in Late Ottoman Jerusalem .... 168
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 192
Hebron and Jabal al-Khalīl ......................................................... 194
Case Study
The Family History of the Āl al-ʿAmla: Memories of Socio-Political Change in the Hebron Region .......... 203
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 209
Chapter Four The Coastal Plains ................................................. 211
The Jaffa Region ............................................................................. 216
Case Study
The Memoirs of Yosef Eliyahu Chelouche: Between Old and New Worlds ............................................ 238
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 256
The Gaza Region ............................................................................ 258
Case Study
Success Stories from the Frontier Region of Gaza: The Ḥusaynī, Shawwā and Abū Khaḍra Families as Portrayed by ʿUthmān al-Ṭabbāʿ ........................................ 285
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 301

PART III
ELITE POLITICS
Chapter Five Central and Local Elites: A Conceptual Framework ........ 309
Chapter Six Local Elites ................................................................. 316
Continuity and Change in Local Elite-Formation ................... 316
Resources ........................................................................................ 324
Case Study
The Education of ʿUmar al-Ṣāliḥ al-Barghūthī ..................... 342
Political Roles and Functions of the aʿyān ............................... 356
Being Noble: Representation and Distinction .......................... 375
The Oligarchs and the Ottoman Government ......................... 392
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 395
Chapter Seven Central Elites ........................................................ 398
Ottoman Officials: Families, Households, and Careers .......... 400
Hamidian Governors and Their Perceptions of Palestine and the Palestinians ....... 405
Conclusion ...................................................................................... 426

PART IV
WIDENING THE SCOPE OF POLITICS
Chapter Eight The Infrastructure of the Public Sphere ........... 435
New Possibilities for Long-Distance Communication ............ 437
Education ........................................................................................ 454
Print Culture .................................................................................. 461
Old and New Forms of Sociability ............................................. 470
Chapter Nine Palestine as a Social Space ................................... 476
Chapter Ten Repercussions of Empire-Wide Developments and the Politicisation of Everyday Concerns .... 484
Chapter Eleven Government and Opposition in the Public Sphere ................................................. 496
Conclusion .......................................................................................... 510

Appendices .......................................................................................... 517
1. Chronology of Palestinian History, 1872–1908 .................. 517
2. Ottoman Administrators ........................................................ 543
3. Budgets and Tax Revenue ...................................................... 557
4. Currencies, Prices and Salaries .............................................. 563
Glossary ............................................................................................... 565
Bibliography ........................................................................................ 569
Index .................................................................................................... 597