Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness

PALESTINE AND PALESTINIANS Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness, by Rashid Khalidi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. xvi + 209 pages. Notes to p. 265. Bibl. to p. 285. Index to p. 309. $29.50. Reviewed by Niall O Murchu This book argues, using original research and secondary sources, that a Palestinian national identity developed prior to the British mandate. It also asserts that the origins of that identity are not reducible to the conflict with Zionism as recent works may suggest.' As outlined below, the principal thesis is sustained well, but requires more attention to the history of Ottoman state building. Data presented from the Arabic press, however, only emphasize the centrality of Zionism to the Palestinian narrative. The context for the initial development of modem notions of citizenship and national identity is a profound shift in the career paths of the Jerusalem elite occasioned by the Tanzimat, the Ottoman reforms of the mid-19th century. Those families which traditionally relied on their knowledge of Islamic law and reputation as judges found their monopoly on legal services threatened by the expansion of a more centrally controlled legal system. The Tanzimat was a qualitative shift in the co-optive bargain between Istanbul and the provinces-the success of the notables depended increasingly on positions they attained as Ottoman civil servants. The empire's need for a modern administrative and legal cadre also prompted the expansion of the educational system. In turn, the growth of education and administration helped to create a reading public for the Arabic press which blossomed following the Ottoman Revolution (1908). Such developments provided the foundations for a new conception of identity as nationality. The book's question is: Why did the primary locus of political identity come to be Palestinian, and not Ottoman or Arab? In answering, the author ingeniously traces the careers of two Jerusalem intellectuals whose qualifications took them to the heart of the Ottoman empire. The biographies of Yusuf Diya' al-Khalidi and Ruhi al-Khalidi are developed using materials catalogued during the restoration of the Khalidi Library in Jerusalem. Notably, both men wound up at odds with the Ottoman imperial authorities. Yusuf Diya' was effectively detained in Istanbul by Sultan `Abd al-Hamid II. Ruhi's opposition to Zionism was rebuffed by his colleagues in the Ottoman parliament in Istanbul. …