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Re-Networking Palestine: Disintegration and Integration of British Mandatory Palestinian Society
Abstract
The prevailing discourse on Palestinian society during the British Mandate period argues it experienced profound disintegration, especially during the traumatic years of the Arab Revolt (1936-1939). Prominent studies cite this process as one of the main reasons for Palestinian weakness in their fateful confrontation with the Jewish community in the war of 1948. The proposed paper takes issue with this argument. I will claim that while Palestinian society did experience disintegration, mostly in local arenas, this process was an essential phase in the sociopolitical integration that began in the mid-1920s. That being said, this integration had a salient regional character to it and was both a necessary stage in the path towards national integration as well as an obstacle on its course. Through examining case studies from the Mount Hebron and Jerusalem regions, I will illustrate how small, longstanding social networks based on local arenas collapsed as their roles and founding ethos became irrelevant. These local networks included old alliances established in keeping with qays and yaman identities, inter-familial coalitions based on Sufi ceremonial ties, and village clusters sharing a dense social, cultural, and economic web of ties. Since the 1920s, small networks of this kind were gradually replaced by new, large-scale and often regional networks. These emerging networks reflected improved rural-urban connections, and the rise of sociopolitical alliances based on new regional frames of identity. Other emerging networks reflected the rise of reformist Islamic movements, and additional raison d’etre firmly planted in contemporary regional, national and Islamic developments. The emergence of these larger networks mirrors the increasing sociopolitical integration of Palestinian society. Sources for this study include a wide range of documents, newspapers and oral testimonies. Methodologically, this historical study combines tools and concepts from the field of network analysis, a field gaining increasing traction in Humanities studies and research.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Palestine
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries