Search

From 1948 to 1967, most Arab stamp depictions of Palestine showed its borders as it existed during the British Mandate (1922-1948), from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. These borders convey Arab support for the Palestine cause, the right for Palestinians to return to what became Israel in 1948 and strengthen the Arab propaganda war against Israel by rejecting its right to exist. Occasionally Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia deviate from these portrayals by delineating the Gaza Strip and excluding the West Bank from Palestine. This study will argue that Arab stamp fluctuations of Palestine's borders from 1948 to 1967 occurred because the territories became social constructs by the Arab regimes; Nasser's Egypt depicted Gaza as part of the imagined 'Arab nation', Jordan recognized the West Bank as integral to the Hashemite Kingdom and a temporary deposit until the liberation of Palestine, and all Arab states recognized that Gaza and the West Bank had once comprised part of British Mandatory Palestine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the political background of the formation of the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) as a corollary of the Arab League’s inability to adopt a unified response to the November 1947 UN Partition Resolution. From its inception, ALA was never intended to help the Palestinian Arabs but to serve the goals of the Arab leaders, especially those of Syrian President Shukri Quwatli who sought to thwart Transjordan’s King Abdullah’s ‘Greater Syria’ scheme. This was the reason why the Arab leaders failed to involve the Palestinian Arabs in ALA’s formation and war operations, or to consult their leader, the former Jerusalem Mufti Hajj Amin Husseini, when deciding upon the appointment of ALA commander. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay draws attention to Yehuda Benari, a forgotten figure in the Revisionist Zionist movement who, in addition to serving as the movement’s attorney general (1938–46) and the head of the London office (1947–48), was a leading Zionist lawyer, activist, historian, and journalist. My thesis is that Benari modeled his life, both actively and intellectually, on the leading principles and ideals of Vladimir Jabotinsky. However, his unwavering commitment to Jabotinsky’s interpretation of Revisionist Zionism impeded Benari’s chances of adapting to change and prevented a political career in independent Israel. Nonetheless, his work in the 1940s on behalf of political prisoners sheds light on the way Revisionists used British law as part of their overall struggle. This piece also helps us interpret the political fate of a generation of Revisionist Zionists between Jabotinsky’s death (1940) and the establishment of the State of Israel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research article analyses the complex interplay between international law and Islamic law in shaping the possibilities for Palestinian (armed) resistance against Israeli occupation. It uses "interaction" (between two legal systems with much epistemological overlap) as a lens with which to ground this meta-analysis, understanding international law and Islamic law as necessarily co-constitutive. Following a historical and macro-scale examination of this relationship, the research article then applies the analysis to Mandate Palestine, identifying a Palestinian "state of exception" that excludes Palestinians from international law's 'protective jurisdiction'. As such, the article situates Palestinian (armed) resistance within the gap that emerges between international law's colonial reverberations and Islamic law's emancipatory potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the integration of the Mount Hebron area into a distinct social and political region during the time of British Mandate in Palestine and the emergence of a regional "Hebronite" identity encompassing both the city of Hebron and the villages of the area. The study demonstrates that, while in many areas of the country such regional integration, or regionalization, developed through the gradual growth of economic, administrative, and political networks in the nineteenth century, the regionalization of Mount Hebron took place much later. It was not an outcome of the same dynamics as in other regions, but mainly a reaction born of chronic insecurity, as well as the social and even environmental hardships experienced in the region. In the 1940s, the determination to overcome these challenges was translated into the construction of a stable regional system that had significant intra-Palestinian and even geopolitical consequences. The study also shows that, while the Hebronite identity was a sub-national one, it had strong symbiotic, sometimes ambivalent, relations with the Palestinian and Arab national identities. Moreover, it was in no way a primordial but clearly a modern phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article follows the footsteps of the American Jewish newspaperwoman Dorothy Kahn Bar-Adon, who immigrated to Palestine in 1933 and became a central field reporter of the most important English-language newspaper in the country, The Palestine Post, owned by pro-Zionist proprietors. It explores how she transformed the newspaper over the years as a site of dialogue between the Jewish and the Arab societies, especially by her narrative journalism and her human-interest story angle, and how her writing in English – the language of the international power (Britain) designated by the League of Nations to administer the country, rather than in local languages – enabled her to propose a somehow distanced perspective on Palestine, while still promoting Zionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When reading texts mentioning past currencies, especially those that were in use in Ottoman and British Palestine and the first decade of the State of Israel, historians often remain puzzled as to the relative value of former legal tenders in particular historical periods (i.e. what a specific sum of money could buy), and more so how to interpret the value of specific currencies between these and later periods. Such an interpretation is not only the interest of historians, because there is a practical need to verify sums in obsolete currencies, such as in agreements and laws, in today's money. Few experts are able to make even an inexact linkage from the Mandate period to present day Israel, while linkage from the Ottoman period remains too vague. The main aim of this article is to improve this situation by using applied history, to propose some rules of thumb for understanding the magnitude of such currencies, according to market values and/or laws, and to provide a provisional tool for linkage of former legal tenders – Ottoman Liras, Egyptian Pounds, British Pounds, Palestinian Pounds, Israeli Liras and old Shekels – to present monetary values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the First World War drew to a close, the head of the American Red Cross’s Commission to Palestine, John Huston Finley, stepped into ongoing debates over the future of the Holy Land when he called for an international trusteeship in Palestine. Supporters and opponents of the Zionist movement – as well as the few scholars that have since engaged with Finley’s views – primarily understood Finley’s proposal as anti-Zionist. While Finley certainly presented his plan as an alternative to a Jewish state in Palestine, this article demonstrates that Finley’s proposal was much more directly a case for a British mandate that was rooted in Finley’s experiences working with the British – as well as his personal fascination with General Edmund Allenby. Finley believed and argued that Allenby’s person, character, and conduct demonstrated that the interests of ‘civilization’ could best be secured in Palestine by a British trusteeship. In his 1919 A Pilgrim in Palestine, published amidst the post-war debates over mandate assignments, Finley presented Allenby as a symbol of trusteeship’s possibilities in making an American case for British rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for a common memory creates a link between personal stories and the shared values of the nation's citizens. Flamm's story reflects an attempt to create such a link. In 1943, a group of hikers in the Galilee came upon an Arab who attempted to rob them at gunpoint. Joseph Flamm, the group's guide and an amateur wrestler, fought the Arab, subdued him and killed him. A different version of the story of this incident came up every few years. Joseph Flamm, the story's hero, played a major role in the attempt to paint the incident in nationalistic colours. His own involvement in publicizing and shaping the story enables us to examine the encounter between a personal attempt to enter the national collective memory and the political use that was made of the story. This article discusses the attempt to turn this criminal event into a national heroic event in the context of the Arab Israeli conflict. The later versions presented it as a tangible expression of national myths, among them scouting and knowledge of Israel's geography, physical heroism and defending the homeland. The last version of the story was published in the 1970s, a period that signalled a change in the Zionist ethos. The Israeli public no longer showed interest in heroic stories such as Flamm's. Therefore, despite attempts to revive the story and efforts to affix it in the collective memory, it eventually disappeared from the public eye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to examine how the Palestinian national ethos was formed based on both primordialism and territorial perceptions. It is based on primary sources—memoirs, public statements, and Palestinian media releases—dating back to the British Mandate for Palestine and examines the use of the basic elements of the ethos: victimhood, victory at all costs, and universal justice. The paper discerns two stages in the process of ethos formation: the first started in the 1910s and ended when the British Mandate was over. The second began after the civil war of 1947–1949 in Palestine. The loss of the Arab-Palestinian side and the consequences of the Nakba has not terminated yet. While the first stage focuses on injustice, the second phase includes all three features of the national ethos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the criminal prohibition against bigamy during the British colonial rule of Palestine, drawing particular attention to the exemptions it afforded to Muslims. Through archival research, the article analyses the debates that led to the legislation of the 1936 Criminal Code Ordinance through three distinct lenses – political, religious, and gendered to circumspectly explore the inconsistencies of the British approach toward Bigamy. I reveal how mandatory legislators prohibited it as a matter of public and criminal law while creating a broad exemption of its stipulations by essentially relegating the matter to the less heavily regulated 'private' sphere. I argue that the exemption provided for Muslims on the bigamy prohibition demonstrates the complexity of colonial law and its intrinsic paradox manifested in outlawing bigamy while accommodating it. This paradox and inconsistencies in colonial legislation are in line with colonial policies toward native populations, reflecting British colonial perception and anxiety towards colonial subjects and themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Milk and Honey: Technologies of Plenty in the Making of a Holy Land" by Tamar Novick explores the history of agricultural settlement in Ottoman Palestine. The book examines how biblical visions of abundance influenced European settlers and their efforts to control and manipulate local ecosystems. Novick discusses the use of technologies, legal decrees, and environmental policies to reshape the production and reproduction cycles of animals such as bees, goats, sheep, and cows. The book also highlights resistance to the colonial project and its ongoing impact on local communities and ecological systems. Overall, "Milk and Honey" provides a comprehensive analysis of the intersection of science, technology, and colonialism in the region. [Extracted from the article]

This article examines Arab art music, or tarab, during the British Mandate for Palestine as the sonic harbinger of Palestinian modernism. It shows how the production, consumption, and dissemination of professionalized Arab art music in early twentieth-century Palestine was linked to the emergence of a Palestinian elite at a time when Palestine was undergoing rapid developments and becoming an important node of cultural exchange in the region. Arab art music thus provided a site for the construction of a cosmopolitanized urban identity across Palestinian cities, one that operated on two political registers: local Palestinian nationalism and regional pan-Arabism. The article concludes with a discussion on how Palestine's political elite negotiated the inherent contradictions of colonized modernity through Arab art music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how age became racialized in the context of British Mandate Palestine (1917–48). Specifically, it charts European Zionist discourses about how Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews aged in different ways. These discourses, which I call "age talk," played an important role in the court case of Rachel Habshush Ohevet-Ami. In June 1939, Ohevet-Ami, a young Jewish woman of Yemeni and Moroccan descent, disguised herself as an "Arab" and attempted to execute an attack targeting Palestinians in Jerusalem. In her ensuing trial, two questions would decide Ohevet-Ami's fate: How old was she? And who had the power to decide? As this article searches for an answer, it addresses questions along the way that lie at the heart of the history of British Mandate Palestine about what it meant to be an Arab or a Jew, an "oriental" or a "European," a terrorist or a freedom fighter, and a child or an adult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the Palestinian rural notables' class, comprised of rural sheikhs, village or clan headmen with similar life trajectories in late Ottoman and British Mandate Palestine. The paper uses the Palestinian Hannun family of Tulkarm to demonstrate how these notables exploited changing legal, administrative and political conditions, and global economic realities, to attain socio-economic and political ascendency in the Palestinian countryside and its emergent towns. The article analyses their actions in structuralist terms of clans, households, marriage alliances and networks of patronage, and historically contextualises their rational decision-making process about selling land to Jews and cooperation with the British authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How did an Arab Jew read the Quran against the backdrop of contradictory ideologies and the rise of key movements, including nationalism, colonialism, and Zionism, in Mandate Palestine? Approaching Isaac Yahuda as an Arab Jew challenges the binary opposition between Arabs and Jews in Zionist discourse, a linkage perceived as inconceivable, and on the other hand, that linkage is asserted, contested, and tested in the context of nationalism. This article also challenges the advancement of Jewish singularity and superiority by exploring how Jewish writers interacted with the Islamic scripture in Mandatory Palestine rather than dismissing it. This article examines Hebrew interpretation of various passages from the Quran that produced an understanding of the Quran that advanced Zionist ideals, including the nationalization of contested religious sites and the consolidation of the indigeneity of Jews in the East. Isaac Yahuda's Hebrew commentary on the Quran challenged his Arab Jewishness in such a divisive nationalist atmosphere in Mandate Palestine. His hybrid background and dynamic connections with both Jews and Arabs enabled him to navigate these turbulent times by invoking the Quran, demonstrating respect for it, and at the same time challenging the understanding of his contemporary Muslims while utilizing German Jewish scholarship on the origins of Islam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the importance of collaboration and art-making in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It highlights the West-East Divan Orchestra, which brings together Arab and Israeli musicians, as an example of collaboration and finding common ground. The article also explores the concept of collaboration in academic writing and theater production. It features various articles that examine the political impact of storytelling, the representation of non-European Jews in Hebrew theater, the use of scenography to explore trauma, and the politics of performance in public spaces. The article concludes by emphasizing that spaces of collaboration are complex and ambivalent, but they offer hope and the potential to find common humanity. [Extracted from the article]

The article traces the production and reception of Love as Strong as Death, a dramatization of the Song of Songs that was performed in Mandatory Palestine in the years 1940–42 by a group of Yemenite Jewish actors. We argue that the tensions between the actors' amateur status and their image as embodying a long-lost Biblical heritage were emblematic of the inherent contradictions within the hegemonic Ashkenazi Zionist discourse and the Orientalist perception of the role of Yemenite Jews in it. By exploring both Yemenite and Ashkenazi voices in and around the production, we analyse how the stage, the theatre hall and the written press all served as contested sites regarding the participation of non-European Jews in Hebrew theatre and culture. In the paper's conclusion, we demonstrate how Love as Strong as Death anticipated later debates in Israeli theatre about the place of Mizrahi Jews on stage and in the auditorium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palestinian filmmakers are largely dependent on foreign funding for production and on foreign festivals for publicity. Making a Palestinian film can seem as "impossible" as remaining Palestinian amid fragmenting effects of occupation/war and peace accords. Against such pressures, Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir tells stories with protagonists, who, for foreign funders, can seem like "unruly subjects" for remaining Palestinian. As a consequence, her films themselves can seem like "unruly subjects" to industry film critics. Her films like twenty impossibles (ka'inana ashrun mustaheel, 2003), Salt of This Sea (Milh Hadha al-Bahr, 2008), When I Saw You (Lamma Shoftak, 2012), and Wajib (2017) tell stories about Palestinians debating each other (rather than Israelis via US negotiators) during key moments in Palestinian history, including the Nakba (1948), the Naksa (1967), the Oslo Accords (1993), and Al-Aqsa or second Intifada (2000–05). Jacir's protagonists refuse the limiting choices on offer. They demand to be recognized as Palestinian, as does Jacir as a Palestinian filmmaker against the efforts of Western industry critics, festivals, and funders to label her as an "Arab woman filmmaker," often carrying colonial assumptions of "oppressed" or "exceptional" women throughout Southwest Asia ("the Middle East"). Her films do more than offer a glimpse of everyday life to "humanize" Palestinians; they are "unruly subjects" that unsettle assumptions to reframe the debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the discovery of three boxes containing the photographic work of the author's grandfather, Kegham, who was a photographer in Gaza from the 1940s to the 1970s. The author describes their process of unboxing and exploring the contents of the boxes, which included negatives, photos, documents, and letters. Rather than attempting to create a comprehensive archive, the author focuses on constructing meaning and discourse from the material, emphasizing the disrupted histories of Kegham, the Armenian community, and Gaza itself. The author also expresses a desire to create a collective archive of visual and oral histories to preserve Gaza's memory. [Extracted from the article]

The existence, or lack thereof, of a distinguishable Israeli style remains a central question in the historiography of Israeli art and design. This a examines tensions produced by this debate between the 1940s and 1960s—a formative period of Israeli nation-building—as manifested in the design and pedagogical ideology of handweaver Julia Keiner (1900–1992), who immigrated to Mandatory Palestine from Germany in 1936 and founded the textile department at the New Bezalel School of Art and Craft. I argue that, for Keiner, good design was based on objective, universal principles stemming from the interrelation of process and material, as well as the objective laws of nature. However, her work was ineluctably entangled with this search for a distinctly Hebrew or Israeli style. This essay shows how each of the textile department's two fields of training—weaving and embroidery—reflected tensions between Keiner's universalist approach and local efforts to establish such a national style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report focuses on the contributions of three Palestinian archaeologists: Yusra Al-Ḥaifaweyeh, Naṣr Dwekat, and Ibrahim Al-Fanni. Despite limited information available, these individuals played significant roles in the development of Palestinian archaeology and sought scientific accuracy in their work. They faced challenges under British and Israeli control, which imposed Western concepts on indigenous material. The article emphasizes their efforts to preserve Palestinian cultural identity and their involvement in negotiations over disputed archaeological sites. The author plans to publish a comprehensive record of Palestinian archaeologists to further document their contributions. [Extracted from the article]

The staff members from the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago who oversaw the excavations at Megiddo relied upon skilled Egyptian workmen (Quftis) as well as local labourers during their excavations from 1925–1939. However, although there were more than fifty of these Egyptian workmen in all, only a few are mentioned in the preliminary and final publications produced by the project. They are what Stephen Quirke has called 'hidden hands' on excavations; an example of 'invisible labor', as discussed by anthropologists and sociologists. In any effort to reconstruct the lives and labours of these men, we are now at the mercy of what can be found in various archival sources. Data must be gleaned from, for example, requests for half-price railway vouchers for travel between Kantara and Haifa for specific workmen each season; field diary entries; black and white photographs; and occasional mentions in budgets or in passing within letters sent back and forth between Megiddo and Chicago. Still, from this fragmentary information, we can piece together a picture of these unsung members of the expedition, some of whom were present at Megiddo for more seasons than the ever-rotating members of the Chicago staff themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the partition of India and Palestine and its impact on culture, nationalism, ethnicity, identity, and security in South Asia and the Middle East. It examines the religious divisions that contributed to these partitions and the role of British colonial policies. The book analyzes the historical context, key actors, and consequences of the partitions, including the rise of majoritarian nationalism and its impact on minority rights. The article praises the book for its comprehensive and balanced analysis, providing valuable insight into the partition processes and their ongoing effects. [Extracted from the article]

This study aims to study the legal nature of the British mandate over Palestine after World War I, in addition to studying the claims of the Zionist movement regarding its connection to the land of Palestine, thus determining the correct legal concept of the Question of Palestine in accordance with international law. The methodology of the study is the legal analytical and critical method and the Statute approach. In it, the author used Zionist, Jewish, Arab and foreign references. The results showed that the Zionist movement was established to unite the efforts of the Jews in Europe with the aim of establishing a national home for them in Palestine with the help of the colonial European countries under historical and religious arguments that completely contradict the facts and discoveries in Palestine. On the other hand, Britain's goal from the Balfour Declaration was to support the Zionist project in Palestine, thus helping to dismantle the Ottoman Empire and colonize the Arabian Peninsula with the participation of France. In addition, the British Mandate Deed for Palestine was only ratified by the Principal Allied Powers in World War I. Therefore, it did not reflect a real international will and thus was a violation of the provisions of international law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the creation of the digital archive of the Detroit Jewish News and the Detroit Jewish Chronicle, which has become an important resource for studying the history of Detroit's Jewish community and Jewish America. The archive was created after a fire destroyed the offices of the Detroit Jewish News in 2002. Despite the loss, the staff worked with community support to publish the next issue. The Detroit Jewish News Foundation was established in 2011 to preserve and make accessible the back issues of the newspaper. The archive now holds over 344,000 word-searchable PDF images of both newspapers, providing a valuable resource for studying the history of the Detroit Jewish community. [Extracted from the article]

Chaim Frenkel, a renowned plant physiologist from Rutgers University, passed away in 2022 at the age of 88. Throughout his career, he made significant contributions to the study of plant physiology, particularly in areas such as fruit ripening, cold acclimation, and vanilla production. Frenkel's dedication to teaching and mentoring students was highly valued, and his impact on the scientific community is evident in his numerous publications and collaborations. His colleagues remember him fondly for his intellectual integrity, generosity, and passion for scientific inquiry. [Extracted from the article]

This document is a book review of two works: "Re-Excavating Jerusalem: Archival Archaeology" by Kay Prag and "Revealing the History of Ancient Palestine" by Keith W. Whitelam. The review discusses the different approaches taken by the authors in studying Palestine, archaeology, and biblical studies, and their engagement with the wider historical and political context. The reviewer praises Prag's work for its comprehensive examination of the archives and its application to the study of Jerusalem, but criticizes its lack of engagement with broader historical and political issues. In contrast, Whitelam's work is commended for its integration into a wider body of scholarly work and its focus on the political implications of biblical studies. The review concludes by highlighting the importance of considering the wider context in historical and archaeological research. [Extracted from the article]

Abraham Sutzkever was a renowned Yiddish poet who was deeply connected to Vilna, also known as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania." Despite the decline of Yiddish in other areas, it thrived in Vilna. During World War II, Sutzkever and his wife were forced back into the city after attempting to escape the Nazis. He clung to poetry throughout the war, even writing about his own experiences of hiding and the murder of his child. Sutzkever played a significant role in the cultural life of the Vilna ghetto, participating in public poetry readings and working with youths. He was a member of the FPO, the main armed resistance group in the ghetto, but left when it became clear that most of Vilna's Jews did not support active resistance. Sutzkever and his wife were eventually flown out of the partisan zone to Moscow, where his poetry gained attention. He was asked to be a witness at the Nuremberg trials in 1946. However, he was disillusioned by the Soviet authorities' refusal to allow a Jewish Museum and the destruction of Jewish books, leading him to smuggle valuable manuscripts to YIVO in New York. Sutzkever settled in Mandatory Palestine and continued to promote Yiddish literature through his journal, Di Goldene Keyt. Justin Cammy's translation of Sutzkever's memoir provides valuable insights into the poet's life and experiences in the Vilna ghetto, shedding light [Extracted from the article]

Land has always been of great importance in the Palestinian cause, especially since the Zionist occupation adopted land confiscation policies to bring about demographic change. The British Mandate era over Palestine is considered one of the most dangerous historical stages for the Palestinian territories, as Britain pledged to create a national home for the Jews in Palestine. Accordingly, Britain enacted and manipulated laws to serve Zionist goals in Palestine. This era’s importance is highlighted by the emergence of laws and legislations to organize lands in Palestine, which gave the High Commissioner the right to dispose of Palestinian lands, which later gave way to Israeli settler colonialism, a policy that remains the same till this day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article delves into the analysis of a marble head believed to be a Roman portrait of Alexander the Great, originating from Tel Beth Shean, an archeological site in Israel and currently housed in the Israel Museum. While initially considered a Hellenistic statue of Dionysos by some scholars, subsequent analyses proposed it as a portrait of Alexander, with debates continuing into the post-World War II era.

The article discusses the discovery of a Hellenistic inscription and a Roman marble portrait head of Alexander the Great by the Palestine Expedition of the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania in 1925 during excavations at Beth Shean, known as Scythopolis during Hellenistic and Roman times. Both the inscription and the portrait offer valuable insights into the Hellenistic and Roman history of Scythopolis.

This article explores the interplay between autobiography and psychoanalysis through the writings and personal experiences of Yakov Vladimirovich Veynshal, a prominent Zionist Revisionist journalist and Hebrew writer in Mandate Palestine. Veynshal’s memoirs and journalistic work provide insights into the connection between these two fields by using personal experiences, literary analysis, creative expression, and cultural and political commentaries. They also demonstrate how literature and psychoanalysis intersect through creative and symbolic expression. The article explores first Veynshal’s journey, from a non-traditional ‘bar mitzvah’ trip to Palestine to his experiences in Russia and his complex relationship with Russian culture. Secondly, it demonstrates how his writings reflect the formation of his Zionist sentiments and unique identity. Additionally, Veynshal’s experiences in Palestine during the 1920s are analysed, highlighting the historical and political context of British Mandate Palestine and the development of Jewish and Arab relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dr. Rawia Aburabia's book, "Within the Law, Outside of Justice: Polygamy, Gendered Citizenship, and Colonialism in Israeli Law," examines the historical and legal context of polygamy in Israel and mandatory Palestine. The book argues that polygamy perpetuates patriarchal structures and marginalizes women, particularly Bedouin women. It also explores the connection between polygamy and settler colonialism in Israel. The author's methodology combines quantitative and archival research, comparative legal history, and feminist theory. The book serves as a critique of the factors that perpetuate polygamy and calls for action from activists, jurists, and the Israeli government. The article discusses the book's exploration of settler colonialism in relation to marginalized communities in Israel and invites further exploration of this framework. [Extracted from the article]

When the British Mandate of Palestine ended in 1948, the fledgling State of Israel was immediately in need of circulation coins and banknotes. Attempts to strike coins in makeshift factories in Israel failed: the production rate was low, and the coin quality was poor. Coin production was therefore outsourced to the ICI Mint in Birmingham, U.K. Years later, a few pruta-series coins were found with the inscription SPECIMEN in raised letters. This brings the questions of how and why these coins came to be, how many exist, and how some of them ended up in the hands of collectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the jurisdiction flaw in the Mavrommatis Palestine Concessions case and its relevance to current territorial claims in historic Palestine. The case involved a dispute between Greece and Britain over the Mandate for Palestine, with Greece arguing that it was a treaty. The article questions the classification of the Mandate as a treaty and explores Britain's legal capacity to enter into such a treaty. It suggests that a thorough analysis of the Mandate and Britain's status in Palestine could help resolve contemporary claims to territory in the region. The article also discusses the legal status of the Mandate, Britain's authority in Palestine, and the sovereignty of the territory. It concludes that a proper understanding of the Mandate is crucial for addressing the Palestine-Israel conflict. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Dirassat in Humanities & Social Sciences is the property of Research & Development of Human Recourses Center (REMAH) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Palestinian peasant families had to adapt and survive under political and economic conditions dictated by European occupation and Zionist settler colonialism. Women had a major role in contributing to the efforts for survival and acquiring their status in the rural economy and the wider national struggle against British policies. Rural Arab families constituted the vast majority of the Palestinian population before the Nakba, or those displaced from their villages during the war on Palestine in 1948, and the formation of the State of Israel. The agricultural knowledge Palestinian women had and passed from one generation to the other was an important element for the survival of the peasant families under the different periods in which colonial countries and Zionist settlement shook the base of their economic existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Global Forensic Cultures: Making Fact and Justice in the Modern Era" is a book edited by Ian Burney and Christopher Hamlin that emerged from a conference on forensic science and medicine. The book explores the interactions between forensic science and various local factors such as social, cultural, religious, political, and colonial influences in different locations around the world. Divided into three sections, the book covers topics such as the relationships between forensic practices and institutions, the role of forensic sciences in nation-building and policing, and the professionalization of forensic science. While the book primarily focuses on Anglo-American and colonial narratives, it provides a valuable resource for historians interested in the connections between science, power, and law. [Extracted from the article]

The Haj Amin al-Husayni, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and leader of the Palestinian Arab cause, accepted help from Nazi Germany during the Second World War. This article looks at the orders he provided to SS-trained commandos who parachuted into Palestine and Iraq in 1944. The agents' task was to organize an insurgency against the Jewish community in Palestine and to attack Iraqi Jews, although the latter were not necessarily sympathetic to Zionism. The infiltrators also had poisons that were likely intended for the Tel Aviv water system, although this is not clear evidence that Husayni was extending the Shoah into Palestine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]