Defining Neighbors (ebook)

Argumento de Defining Neighbors (ebook)

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2015

"[A] field-changing new book. . . . Indeed, such a sensitive treatment of historical texts, in light of multiple political contexts, geographic frames, and religious and cultural discourses should serve as a model for many historians working to interpret, categorize, and contextualize the texts they encounter--and for all those who study how changing circumstances change the terms of discourse and lead to mutual understanding or misunderstanding."--Jewish History

"This book is a truly extraordinary scholarly accomplishment. From this point forward, anybody who wants to understand the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict will not be able to do so without consulting Gribetz’s work."--Israel Gershoni, coeditor of Rethinking Nationalism in the Arab Middle East

"Drawing on prodigious research in a range of sources in Arabic, Hebrew, and other languages, Gribetz examines two groups--Jews and Arabs--whose national identities were developing simultaneously in Palestine around the turn of the twentieth century. He provides a broad and sympathetic portrait of the multiple ways both groups understood and fashioned these identities, which are rarely studied in tandem."--Rashid Khalidi, author of Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East

"In this meticulously researched book, Gribetz offers a fresh look at early relations between Zionists and Arabs in Palestine. Examining what he terms their 'textual conversation,' he highlights the role of religion and race in the development of mutual perceptions. The British used religion to separate the communities; race could have served to break down barriers of identity. Gribetz reminds us that the way people understand each other is not fixed or immutable."--Ambassador (Ret.) Daniel Kurtzer, Princeton University

"In this erudite and engaging work, Jonathan Gribetz shows how racial and religious categories could unite as well as divide Jews and Arabs in early-twentieth-century Palestine. Gribetz offers close, insightful readings of Jewish and Arab intellectuals who imagined themselves as neighbors as well as adversaries, and who, while producing apologetic depictions of their own cultures, communicated in a shared cultural language. This book is a fascinating recovery of neglected voices that are strikingly relevant for our own time."--Derek J. Penslar, author of Jews and the Military: A History

"Gribetz has written a compelling narrative that will undoubtedly become the authoritative account of Zionist-Arab interactions during the final decades of the Ottoman Empire. He offers not only original interpretations but also a deep engagement with an era essential for understanding the reasons why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has long endured. What Gribetz accomplishes as a historian is quite remarkable."--Donna Robinson Divine, author of Exiled in the Homeland: Zionism and the Return to Mandate Palestine

"The encounter between Jewish and Arab thinkers in Ottoman Palestine was subtler than we know. Jonathan Gribetz cannot redo the past, but his brilliant study of their mutual understanding gives us new language to use in this conversation going forward. An indispensable work."--Ruth R. Wisse, Harvard University

"An essential contribution to the growing conversation."--Noah Haiduc-Dale, H-Net Reviews

"In the ever-growing and highly saturated field of Arab-Israeli conflict studies, it is rare for a book to break new ground and challenge long-held and well-entrenched perceptions. This is one of those rare exceptions."--Choice

"Gribetz’s fascinating book makes a major contribution to the literature on early Zionist-Arab encounters, in particular, and to the intellectual history of late Ottoman Palestine and the Levant, more generally."--AJS Review

"[F]ortuitously for readers, Gribertz's work contextualize(s) a present-day shift toward religious rhetoric, symbols, and organizations in the conflict. He shows that religion was once central for Jews and Arabs seeking to understand each other, and that nationality is in fact a latecomer to that encounter. But more importantly, he shows that a religious encounter need not mean a holy war."--Raphael Magarik, Haaretz0Acknowledgments ix
Note on Transliterations xiii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Locating the Zionist-Arab Encounter: Local, Regional, Imperial, and Global Spheres 15
Chapter 2 Muhammad Ruhi al-Khalidi's "as-Saynzm": An Islamic Theory of Jewish History in Late Ottoman Palestine 39
Chapter 3 "Concerning Our Arab Question"? Competing Zionist Conceptions of Palestine's Natives 93
Chapter 4 Imagining the "Israelites": Fin de Siècle Arab Intellectuals and the Jews 131
Chapter 5 Translation and Conquest: Transforming Perceptions through the Press and Apologetics 185
Conclusion 235
Bibliography 249
Index 269