The Israel-Palestine Conflict A History

This chapter traces the emergence of Palestinian nationalism from its beginning through the Great Revolt (1936––39), when it becomes a mass movement. Unlike the Zionists, Palestinians under the Ottomans had never been compelled to define themselves, and thus Palestinian nationalism emerged later than Zionism. Nationalism in Palestine went through a number of incarnations. First, the Ottomans attempted to promote their own brand of nationalism, osmanlilik. After the empire was dismantled, a number of nationalists in Palestine embraced a Greater Syrian nationalism. Over time, a Syrian identity for Palestinians became untenable: the mandates system had divided French-controlled Syria from British-controlled Palestine, the two territories evolved in different ways, and Palestinians faced the wholesale settlement of Europeans in their midst. The mobilization of townsmen and farmers during the Great Revolt ensured Palestinian nationalism would remain the dominant nationalist strain in Palestine.