Dr. Adnan Musallam Website

The beginning of Western intrusion and secularization in the Middle East around the turn of the nineteenth century is credited as the dawn of the modern era in Palestine[1]. Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Egypt (1789 A. D.) and Ottoman Palestine (1799 A. D.) was not limited to military operations. Napoleon’s entourage carried out, in addition, cultural and scientific exploration of the conquered lands and cultures. This brief encounter between East and West contributed to the furthering of Western cultural influence in the region.

In Palestine the French expeditionary force undertook the first modern cartographic survey of the area, a step considered by one authority as a turning point in the Western rediscovery of the Holy Land.[2] This survey, which resulted in the publication of the Jacotin’s Atlas, was the beginning of a spiral of scientific activity among Western researchers led by prominent secular scholars such as Ulrich Jasper Seetzen and Johann Ludwig Burckhardt who “rejected the imaginative and inaccurate theories of their predecessors and began to trace a correct topographic and physical description of the land.”[3]

Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha’s ambitions were not confined to building modern Egypt. In 1831, his son Ibrahim Pasha marched toward Palestine and Syria and occupied it without difficulty[4]. The nine years of Egyptian rule in Palestine witnessed improvements in public security and the introduction of reforms in many sectors of society[5]. These reforms, however, proved to be costly to the vested interests of the local feudal lords and the majority of the population. Within a few years, as one author points out, “the entire Muslim population… turned against Ibrahim, essentially because of his measures concerning centralization, conscription, taxation and equality of non-Muslims[6]. Faced with popular revolts throughout the occupied areas and an increased intervention by Britain on behalf of the Ottoman Sultan, Ibrahim and his forces retreated to Egypt.[7]

Egypt's rule over Palestine and Syria, however brief, left an important legacy. It provided the area with a raised standard of security and regular system of government after a long period of chaos. In addition, under Egyptian rule the doors were widely opened for the first time to Western activity and influence.[8]

The returning Ottoman regime in Palestine brought with it some measures of reform which were promulgated earlier in 1839 by the central authorities in order to improve the quality of life of the Ottoman subjects and to reform the decaying Ottoman institutions. The Ottoman government gradually strengthened its hold on the country and the power of the local feudal lords was step by step reduced. In this period of “tanzimat”, especially after the Crimean War (1856), a policy of equal rights to the non-Muslim subjects of the Empire was adopted. At the same time the doors of Palestine were widely opened to pilgrims, researchers and Christian missionaries. Thus the increase of Western interests led to the establishment of consulates and vice-consulates of the great powers in Jerusalem and in the ports. This helped to strengthen the semi-autonomous status of the non-Muslim subjects.[9]

By the close of the nineteenth century the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which represented the various Catholic denominations in Palestine, could boast of “thirty orders with twenty convents, 52 educational institutions, four industrial schools, five hospitals and sixteen orphanages.”[10] Christian Orthodox activities were carried out by Greeks and Russians. The latters, working to undermine Greek influence on behalf of the Moscow Patriarchate and the native Eastern Orthodox Arabs, undertook extensive programs in Jerusalem, Nazareth, ‘Ayn Karem and in Bayt Jala. By 1895, in the educational sphere alone, the Russians had established eighteen schools with a thousand pupils and fifty teachers.[11]

Likewise, the Lutherans and Anglicans, who worked jointly until 1886 and independently thereafter, created religious, medical and educational centers and services.[12] These and other Christian activities, coupled with the mounting interest by non-sectarian scholars such as those associated with the British- based Palestine Exploration Fund, studying the archaeology, geography and people of Palestine, resulted in making this area a center of world interest.[13] The Christian Arabs of Palestine, who constituted only ten per cent of the Arab population, were the main beneficiaries of Western and Eastern Christian activities in the Holy Land. The Muslim Arab majority were largely unaffected, in part because Muslin parents were under constant pressure from the state against sending their children to non-Muslim schools.[14]

The native Arab press in Palestine did not develop during the second half of the nineteenth century as it had in other Arab countries. The Palestinian Arab reading public depended on Syrian, Lebanese and Egyptian publications. These reflected nationalist aspirations and literary and societal interests common to all Arabs[15].

The various services enjoyed by the Christian Arabs, including modern and in many instances secular education, resulted, by the turn of the twentieth century, in Christian Arabs taking a major part in the intellectual, educational and literary revival of the Arabs of Palestine. This included involvement in the development of the press; and Christian Arabs were responsible for the publication of the majority of Arab papers and periodicals which appeared between 1908 and 1914.

The first known Arabic printing press in Palestine was established in Jerusalem in 1847 by the Franciscan Order. The equipment, including the Arabic fount, were brought from Austria. With the introduction of modern printing equipment in 1900, the Franciscan press was unmatched in Palestine, capable of printing in Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, Greek, Armenian, Italian and French.[16] Other religious presses of Jerusalem with Arabic services included the Creek Orthodox Convent press (founded 1851), the Anglican press (founded 1879), and the German Syrian Orphanage press, which at the turn of the century was highly regarded for its equipment and for its services to the local Arab inhabitants and other customers throughout Syria.[17]

Palestinian Arabs were employed in these religious establishments as laborers and manuscript editors. For example, Jurji Habib Hananiya, one of the first pioneers of the native press, worked for a religious establishment as a laborer and typesetter. In the Greek Orthodox Convent press the Arab press was under the supervision of Arab monks including Fathers Spiridun Sarruf, Wahb Allah Sarruf, and a native of Bethlehem, Yuhanna Hazbun (d. 1927).[18] However, the ownership of printing presses by Palestinians did not come about until late in the nineteenth century, probably in the 1890’s. Prior to 1908 two printing establishments, most likely with second hand presses bought from religious circles, were founded by two Christian Arabs of the Orthodox faith, namely Alfuns Antun Alunso and Jurji Habib Hananiya of Jerusalem. Little is known of Alunso, owner of al-Matba’ah al-Wataniyah, but details of Hananiya’s press activities have been emerging in recent years.[19] It appears that Hananiya began his printing career as a laborer in an American missionary printing establishment in Jerusalem. As soon as he acquired the skills of his trade, he set up his own shop in his own house and began printing, on a part-time basis in the evenings, in Arabic and other languages. In 1899, Hananiya submitted a request to the Ottoman officials to publish a newspaper but his request was turned down. Likewise, he encountered difficulties in the operation of his printing establishment until he acquired an official printing license in 1906.[20]

Hananiya explained the motives behind his press activities as follows: “...since all the printing presses of Jerusalem were purely religious, each working for its own religious community, it was necessary to establish a press which would plant the seeds of brotherhood and serve everyone on equal footing, its aim being the service of the Fatherland...”[21]

When asked to give the reason for her father’s difficulties in securing a press license prior to 1906, Hananiya’s daughter asserted that Ottoman officials were afraid that the printing machine could turn out to be a bomb machine (makinat bumbat).[22] While this explanation sounds far-fetched and somewhat naive, suggesting the inability of the Ottomans to differentiate between a printing machine and an ammunition factory, one could safely assume that officials in Palestine and elsewhere in the Empire viewed the printing press with contempt and as a serious threat to the status quo. Indeed, the late advent of the local press and journalism in Palestine was to a large degree caused by the authoritarian measures adopted during the era of despotism under Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1876-1908). During these years, as one author points out, intellectual circles in the Empire suffered immensely. “The censorship which was set up in 1877, and which was expanded in 1878, 1881 and 1895, censored books, the theatre and the press in particular. Administrative penalties, prison, and exile were enforced one after the other. All printing presses and newspaper offices were supervised. This oppression even extended to newspapers and books imported from abroad.”[23] Inspite of all these difficulties Hananiya was able to print 281 books, 83 of which were in Arabic, in the pre-1908 period.[24]

Stagnant conditions of the native Arab press as well as Arab intellectual life in general continued until July, 1908, when the Young Turks and the Committee of Union and Progress (C.U.P.) forced Sultan Abdul Hamid to restore the Constitution of 1876, abolish censorship, dismiss his spies and release political prisoners.[25] A sudden outburst of intellectual activity followed the Young Turks’ revolution. The unlimited freedom of the press which emerged in the Empire led to an unprecedented increase in the number of printing presses and in the news and periodical publications.

In Palestine, the modest shops of Alunso and Hananiya were now joined by a score of other native Arab printing establishments which were closely associated with the rising periodical and newspaper press. Thus, in 1908 and 1909 newly founded papers such as Jerusalem s al-Insaf, (Equity) al-Najah, (Success) and al-Nafir (Clarion), Jaffa’ s al-Akhbar (The News) and al-Tarraqi, (Progress) and Haifa’s al-Carmel each was printed in its own printing establishment. These were joined later by other establishments such as those of Filastin, Kalimat al-Sudg wa-‘l Huriyah (Word of Truth and Freedom) and Sawt a1-Uthmaniyah, all of Jaffa. By 1914 the printing industry had become firmly rooted among the native Palestinian Arabs through the efforts of these modest presses, other commercial presses such as those of Basila al-Jada‘ of Haifa (founded 1908) and Shihada Jiryis Zananiri of Jerusalem (founded 1908). In addition, press activities of the Christian missions in the Holy Land continued vigorously.[26]

The proliferation of printing and the press in Palestine in the wake of the 1908 anti-Hamidian revolt produced publications of different periodicity and orientation. In the literary field, the outstanding monthly, al-Nafa’ is al-‘Asriyyah (founded 1908) of Khalil Baydas was joined by al-Asma‘i (founded 1908) of Hanna ‘Abd Allah ‘Isa and al-Manhal (founded 1913) of Musa al-Maghribi.[27] Khalil Baydas, a writer and journalist, translated both novels and short stories into Arabic from world literature. In 1898 alone, he translated three Russian novels which were read by many educated Arabs. In his literary journal Baydas also published his own short stories and translations. He left his mark in education, translations, short stories, editorials and writings on language and history.[28]

Prior to the 1908 appearance of the various news-oriented papers among the Arabs of Palestine there existed an official gazette, al-Quds al-Sharif (Noble Jerusalem)(founded 1903 or 1904), which was published in both Arabic and Turkish. This paper, which was edited by Palestinian Arabs including ‘Abd al-Salam Kamal, who was in charge of the Turkish section, and al- Shaykh ‘Ali al-Rimawi, a local literary figure in Jerusalem who was in charge of the Arabic section, carried official announcement and on some occasions some controversial material. It appeared as a weekly publication in 1903 (or 1904), but had an irregular life-span and ceased publication in 1908 (or 1909) only to reappear in 1913.[29] It is doubtful whether al-Quds al-Sharif influenced to any extent trends in the development of the Arab press in Palestine.

Two publications dominated the news—oriented press in Palestine in the post-1908 era. These were al-Carmel (founded 1908) of Najib Nassar of Haifa and Filastin (founded 1911) of ‘Isa al-’Isa of Jaffa, two newspapers which played a leading role in the rising tide of Arab nationalism and Arab opposition to Jewish immigration and colonization in Ottoman Palestine. Palestinian Arab nationalists such as Najib Nassar and ‘Isa al-‘Isa became the vocal spokesmen of the Palestinian Arabs through their vigorous and effective press campaigns throughout the country. As a result, the Jewish community founded the newspaper Sawt al-Uthmaniyyah (Voice of Ottomanism) in 1914 to counteract the anti-Zionist activities of the leading Arab papers of Palestine.[30] Aside from his press agitation, Nassar of al-Carmel published the book al-Sihyuniyyah (Zionism) in 1911. In this work he examined the Zionist influx into Palestine and its impact on the future of the area, and concluded by warning his fellow Arabs that they would become a minority in due time if free Jewish immigration was permitted. Nassar’s nationalistic agitation led to the establishment of political societies in the major Arab urban areas including al-Muntada al-Adabi (The Literary Forum) of Haifa, the stated objective of which was the revival of the nationalist movement in the face of Zionist threat.[31]

Filastin, a bi-weekly newspaper and the longest-lived Palestinian paper (1911-68), developed into the most professional Arabic paper ever to appear in Palestine in Ottoman times, through its utilization of regular correspondents, wire and translation services and circulation-building techniques.[32] The paper became very critical of Ottoman policies toward Zionism, and as a result it was suppressed in 1914. This did not end the editors press agitation. Instead, Nassar utilized a different publication and continued his press campaigns.[33]

A number of Arab papers such as al-Insaf (founded 1908) and several underground papers, with humorous and sarcastic titles, such as al-Ahlam (Dreams) (founded 1908), al-Nasik (founded 1908), al-Bulbul al-Ta’ir (founded 1908), al-Dik al-Sayyah (founded 1908) and Munabbih al-Amwat (founded 1908) devoted considerable space to the articulation of the Christian Arab rights vis-à-vis the foreign religious hierarchies, especially the Greek Synod of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem.[34] It should be noted that the majority of the people associated with the rising tempo of press and literature in Palestine were Christian Orthodox Arabs and as such were also the leaders of Arab agitation against the foreign church hierarchy of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Besides the various publications in Palestine, the small circles of the reading public had at their disposal Arabic publications of the leading intellectual centers of the Arab World. These publications, aside from keeping the people informed of political and literary developments in the region, served as a model for local writers and future journalists. In addition, it put at the disposal of literate Arabs a highly developed form of Arabic prose style suited to the daily needs of the writers and the reading public. This was indeed a blessing to Palestinian Arabs since, as in many transitional societies, one of the foremost challenges to development of the press and literature centered on the question of how to transform the traditional language into a viable and simplified tool capable of absorbing modern ideas and innovations.[35]

The majority of individuals associated with Arab journalism in Ottoman Palestine, as is the case in the early stages of most transitional societies, were also the leading members of the small intellectual elite, active in education, politics, literature, and religious and social reform movements. They included Is‘af al-Nashashibi, Khalil Baydas, Khalil Sakakini, Ruhi al-Khalidi, ‘Isa al-‘Isa, Hanna ‘Abd Allah ‘Isa, Najib Nassar, ‘Adil Jabr, Musa al-Naghribi, to mention a few.[36] Palestinian Arab society at this stage could not afford the luxury of differentiation in the functions and tasks of the intellectual elite amidst a semi-feudal socio-economic system with a largely illiterate population.

The Arab press in Palestine was plagued with grave problems from its infancy. With a thin layer of readers and subscribers, a weak economic base, a lack of professional standards, and with progressively mounting suppression by the authorities, it was only natural that a high attrition rate among the publications became an integral part of the Arab press scene in Palestine. Originality was not a characteristic of the majority of the publications. With limited resources, a lack of expertise and lukewarm support from few readers, the Arab press had to depend on subsidies, translations from foreign sources, and news and features culled from the Arabic newspapers and periodicals of Cairo and Beirut. In spite of all these limitations, this first experiment in journalism served the needs of the educated Palestinian Arabs. It served as an outlet for local literary figures, educators and politicians, and acted as a training ground for young talent, including future Arab journalists and writers. Furthermore, these publications played an important role in furthering Arab cultural self-consciousness among the Arabs of Ottoman Palestine.

With the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 and the entrance of the Ottoman Empire in the war arena, publishing activities of the Palestinian Arabs came to a halt and suspected nationalists and separatists such as ‘Isa al-‘Isa and Najib Nassar, among others, were exiled or imprisoned.[37] Thus, Palestinian Arab journalism was dealt a near fatal blow in its infancy. However, the legacy of this early press did not disappear. Upon the resumption of press activities under the British in 1919, the leading Arab papers of Ottoman times reappeared.

Constitutional life under the regime of the Young Turks and the Committee of Union And Progress (C.U.P) lasted until mid-1909. The period which followed proved disastrous to Arab-Turkish relations. The first jolt followed the first constitutional elections and the resulting under-representation of the Arab elements in favor of the Turks, which was done by gerrymandering the electoral districts. In the appointive Senate, the Arabs fared worse. Protests against the unfair representation and unchecked centralization policy of the government only resulted in the suppression of the Arab leaders, including those of the Arab-Ottoman Fraternity.[38]

At first, Arab demands were centered on their desire for autonomy and decentralization within the Ottoman framework. Agitation in support of these policies was carried out through open and secret clubs and societies which sprang up between 1909 and 1914 with branches throughout the Ottoman Empire. These included al-Muntada al-Adabi (the Literary Club) of Constantinople (founded 1909) and Hizb al-Lamarkaziyah al-‘Uthmani (the Ottoman Decentralization Party), founded in Cairo in 1912, which, according to Antonius, became “the best-organised and most authoritative spokesman of Arab aspirations.”[39] Working closely with the latter was the Committee of Reform (founded in Beirut in 1912). Following its suppression by the authorities in 1913, a general congress was held in Paris to which representatives from the Arab provinces as well as members of these organizations were invited. The importance of this gathering was underlined when a Turkish emissary arrived to negotiate with its leaders about Arab grievances and demands. These included recognition of Arabic as an official language, administrative decentralization and autonomy in the Arab provinces, and a stronger voice for Arabs in the central machinery of the government. Turkish concession to these demands proved to be limited and superficial in scope, and in return Turkish-Arab relations continued at a stalemate, and those few who advocated complete Arab independence from the Ottoman Empire began to assume a greater role in the Arab communities.[40]

Arab national consciousness had its roots in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries’ Arab renaissance in Beirut and Cairo.[41] It was given an impetus by secret organizations including al-Qahtaniyah (founded in 1909 by a group of Arab military officers and civilians led by ‘Aziz ‘Ali al-Masri), which advocated a dual Arab-Turkish empire not unlike the Austro-Hungarian system; al-Jam‘iyah al-‘Arabiyah al-Fatat (the Young Arab Society, founded in Paris in 1911 by Muslim Arab students and moved to Beirut in 1913 and Damascus in 1914), which called for Arab independence from any foreign domination - termed by Antonius “the most effective of the Arab societies of the time...”; and al-‘Ahd (the Covenant); founded in 1914 following the dissolution of al-Qahtaniyah upon the discovery of an infiltrator , composed of Arab any officers and two civilians, and following a program similar to its predecessor.[42] The two societies, al-Fatat and al-‘Ahd, established contacts in Damascus in 1915 and collaborated with Faisal, the son of the Sharif Husayn of Mecca, who was working on his father’s behalf to instigate a general uprising of the Arabs against the Turks.[43]

A number of Palestinian Arabs took an active part, both public and secret, in the founding of these societies. These included Jamil Husayni of the Muntada al-Adabi, Salim ‘Abd al-Hadi, Hafiz al-Sa‘id and ‘Ali Nashashibi of Hizb al-Lamarkaziyah (Nashashibi, an army officer, also belonged to al-Qahtaniyah), and ‘Awni ‘Abd al-Hadi and Rafiq Tamimi of al-Fatat.[44]

Earlier, a Christian Arab of Palestinian background and one-time Ottoman official in Jerusalem, Najib Azuri, founded the League of the Arab Nation (1904), while in exile in Paris, France. In 1905 he published the book Le Reveil de la Nation Arabe... (Paris), and in 1907-08 published the monthly journal L’Independance Arabe. In his nationalist program, Azuri became the first to call for Arab secession from Ottoman rule and the setting up of an independent Arab empire extending from Mesopotamia to the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean. He warned the Arabs (the first Arab thinker to do so) of Zionist Jewish designs to recreate ancient Israel in Palestine which accordingly would inevitably lead to an irreconcilable confrontation between Arab and Jewish nationalisms.[45]

[1] Palestine throughout the Ottoman Era, 1516-1918, formed the southern part of geographical Syria. Administratively, it was composed, in the post-Tanzimat era, of the Sanjaq of Jerusalem and the districts of Acre and Nablus of the Vilayet of Beirut. For an overview of the Ottoman period, 1516 – 1918, see Emile Touma, Filastin fi al-‘ahd al-‘Uthmani, al-Quds/Jerusalem, 1983.

[2] Yeheshua BenArieh, “The Geographical Exploration of the Holy Land,” Palestine Exploration Quarterly, July-December 1972, p. 84.

[3] Ibid.

[4] See Asad J. Rustum, The Royal Archives of Egypt and the Origins of the Egyptian Expedition to Syria, 1831-1941, Beirut, 1936; see Touma, pp. 81-100; George Antonius, The Arab Awakening: The Story of the Arab national Movement, Philadelphia, New York, Toronto, 1939, pp. 21-34; and see Dhikoa al-batal al-fatih Ibrahim Pasha, 1848-1948, Cairo: al-Jam‘iyyah al-Malakiyyah lil-Dirasat al-Tarikhiyyah, 1948.

[5] Moshe Ma’oz, Ottoman Reform in Syria and Palestine, 1840-1861, Oxford, England, 1968, p. 12; and see Touma, pp. 103-112.

[6] Ibid., p. 19. See also Asad J. Rustum, The Royal Archives of Egypt and the Disturbances in Palestine in 1834, Beirut, 1936.

[7] Anthony Nutting, The Arabs, Mentor Books, New York, 1965, pp. 230-233.

[8] 8. Ma’oz, p. 12.

[9] Ben-Arieh, pp. 85-87.

[10] James Parks, A History of Palestine from 135 A.D. to Modern Times, New York, 1949, pp. 230, 236.

[11] Derek Hopwood, The Russian Presence in Syria and Palestine, 1834-1914, Oxford, England, 1969, p. 148; and Parks, pp. 239-242.

[12] See A.L. Tibawi, British Interests in Palestine, 1800-1901, London, 1961.

[13] Ben-Arieh, pp. 81-92; and Parks, pp. 232-234.

[14] Tibawi, p. 178.

[15] Aida Ali Najjar, The Arabic Press and Nationalism is Palestine, 1920-1948, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Syracuse University, 1975, p. 30; Jacob Yehoshua, Tarik al-sihafa al-‘Arabiyyah fi Filastin fi al-‘ahd al-‘Uthmani, al-Quds / Jerusalem, 1974; Yusuf Q. Khoury, al-Sihafah al-‘Arabiyyah fi Filastin (1876-1948), second printing, Beirut, 1986; and Ahmad Khalil al-‘Aqqad, al-Sihafah al-‘Arabiyyah fi Filastin (1876-1948), Amman, Jordan, 1966.

[16] Khalil Sabat, Tarikh al-Tiba’ah fi al-Sharq al-‘Arabi, Cairo, 1958, pp. 301, 303.

[17] Abd al-Rahman Yaghi, Hayat al-Adab al-Filastini, Beirut, 1968, pp. 78-79.

[18] Jacob Yehoshua, “al-Matabi‘ al-‘Arabiyyah fi a1-bilad...” ,al-Sharq (Jerusalem), Sana 2, no. 6 (November 1971), pp. 21-22 and 24, n. 1.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Ibid.

[21] Ibid., p. 21.

[22] Ibid., p. 25, n. 2.

[23] Server Iskit, “The History of the Turkish Press 1831-1931,” Gazette, vol. X (1964), no. 1, p. 20. For details on press regulations in Syria in0ttoman times see Shams al-Din al-Rifa‘i, Tarikh al-Sihafah al-Suriyyah, vol. 1, Cairo, 1969.

[24] Yehoshua, “al-Matabi‘ al-‘Arabiyyah fi a1-bilad,” p. 22

[25] This period in Ottoman history is covered very well in Bernard Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, London, 1961.

[26] See Yaghi, pp. 79-80; Yehoshua, Tarik al-Sihafa… and “al-Matabi‘ al-‘Arabiyyah fi a1-bilad...” p. 22; and see Qustandi Shomali, Jaridat al-Akhbar (1909-1947): Dirasah naqdiyyah wa-fahras tarikhi, al-Quds / Jerusalem, 1997.

[27] See Yehoshua’s articles in al-Sharq (Jerusalem), Sana 3, no. 3 (August 1972), pp. 31-32; and Sana 3, no. 4 (September 1972), pp. 36-38.

[28] Aida Ali Najjar, p. 31.

[29] See Yehoshua’s article in al-Sharq, Sana 2, no. 8 (January 1972), pp. 18-21; and by the same author, Tarikh al-Sihafah…

[30] Aharon Cohen, Israel and the Arab World, London, 1970, pp. 88-90; and Yehoshua, Tarikh al-Sihafah.., pp. 120-125.

[31] Naj jar, pp. 33-35; and Qustandi Shomali, Jaridat al-Carmel: Dirasah naqdiyyah wa-fahras tarikhi, Jerusalem, 1996.

[32] See Yehoshue’s article in al-Sharq, Sane 2, no. 6 (November 1971), p. 25; and see Qustandi Shomali bibliographic study of Jaridat Filastin (1911-1967), 3 volumes, al-Quds / Jerusalem, 1990-1992.

[33] Najjar, pp. 35-36.

[34] See Yehoshua’s articles in al-Sharq, Sana 2, no. 12 (May 1972), pp. 29-30.

[35] See Herbert Passin, “Writer and Journalist in the Traditional Society,” in Communication and Political Development, Lucien W. Pye, Ed., Princeton, New Jersey, 1967, pp. 82-123.

[36] For further details on these and other Palestinian leaders, see Nasir al-Din al-Asad, al-Ittijahat al-Adabiyah al-Hadithah fi Filastin wal-Urdun, Cairo, 1958.

[37] See, for example, al-Badawi, al-Mulaththam, “‘Isa al-‘Isa,” in al-Adib (Beirut), vol. 23, no. 7 (July 1964), pp. 28-29; and “Najib Nassar,” in al-Adib, vol. 23, no. 10 (October 1964), pp. 17-19.

[38] Detail on this period is provided by Antonius, pp. 101-125.

[39] Ibid., p. 109.

[40] Albert Hourani, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798-1939, London, 1962, pp. 284-285.

[41] Arabic nationalism had its origin in the renaissance (al-Nahdah) of literature and intellectual life of the Arabs. Excellent accounts are provided by Antonius, and Hourani. Legitimate criticism of Antonius and Hourani is provided in A.L. Tibawi, “Some Misconceptions about the Nahda,” Middle East Forum (Beirut), vol) XLVII,
nos. 3 and 4 (Autumn-Winter 1971), pp. 15-22.

[42] Antonius, pp.110-112 and 119.

[43] Ibid., pp. 152-159.

[44] Ibid., pp. 108, n. 2, 109, n. 2, 110, n. 2, and 111, n.2.

[45] Hourani, pp. 277-279; and Antonius, pp. 98-99.

Adnan A. Musallam, Ph.D.