As part of the Ostour journal’s symposia series on historiography in Arab countries, including Iraq, Egypt, and Morocco, the journal held the symposium “Historical Writing in Palestine: Reclaiming Stolen History” alongside the Annual Palestine Forum, organized by the ACRPS and the Institute for Palestine Studies in Doha on 28-30 January 2023. The symposium took place on Sunday and Monday 29-30 January at the Sheraton Hotel.
The symposium addressed many topics related to Palestinian historiography, such as problems surrounding archive research, archival materials available to Palestinian researchers, Palestinian history during the Ottoman era, as well as the Palestinian city and its obscured history. There was a special session devoted to the architecture of Jerusalem and Palestinian historical writing.
On Sunday 29 January, the symposium began with a keynote by Abderrahim Benhadda, Editor-in-Chief of Ostour, followed by an opening lecture by Beshara Doumani, President of Birzeit University, who discussed the principles of Palestinian historical research in an attempt to problematize the concept of history and historiography, and how this concept can be a point of conflict. Doumani stressed the importance of Palestinian presence within the historiographical process instead of an exclusive focus on places and events.
Munir Faker Eldin, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Birzeit University and former Director of the MA Program in Israel Studies, opened the first session with a paper titled “The History of Land Records and the Struggle for Palestine: Taboo, Society, and State (1858-1948)”. Next, ACRPS Researcher Bilal Shalash presented a paper titled “Our Plundered Archives: Prospects and Limitations”, discussing the results of a Birzeit University project on depopulated villages and the Nakba Testimony Program. In her paper “Digging into the Coloniser’s Archive: Writing the History of Those who Remained in Palestinian Coastal Cities”, Palestinian scholar Himmat Zoubi argued that a critical reading of the colonizer’s archive constitutes an important intellectual resource for understanding the daily lives of Palestinians. Walid AlAreed, Yarmouk University Professor of Ottoman, Modern, and Contemporary History, concluded the panel with a paper titled “Historical Writing in Palestine in the Documents of the Ottoman Archives”.
Wajih Kawtharani, Doha Institute Professor of History, chaired the second day’s first session, which began with a paper titled “The History of Palestine or the History of Palestinians?” by Issam Nassar, Professor and Chair of the Doha Institute’s History Program. The second paper, “Roots of the Palestinians’ Erasure from their History during the Ottoman Period”, was presented by Adel Manna, a historian specialized in Palestine during the Ottoman period and Palestinians in the 20th century. Next, Jordanian researcher, photographer, and painter Hani Hourani presented a paper titled “Palestinians and Historiography through Photos: A Preliminary Reading”. The session wrapped up with the paper “The Maqam of Simeon the Just: Popular Religiosity and the Zionization of an Arab-Jewish Mawsim in Jerusalem” by Salim Tamari.
In the second session, Beshara Doumani discussed his paper “‘Look to the Stones!’: Towards a Modern History of the Palestinians”, followed by “The Political Contribution of Palestinian Women: Missing History” by Faiha Abdulhadi. Transitioning from feminist history to the history of student movements, Mjriam Abu Samra concluded the panel with “Palestine on the World Map: Written and Visual Production of the General Union of Palestinian Students in the 1960s and 70s”.
Leena Dallasheh explored the social history of Nazareth after the Nakba in her paper “Writing of Palestinians who Remained in Palestinian Historiography: Nazareth as an Example”. The final session featured two papers on Jerusalem, presented by Nazmi Al-Jubeh and Musa Sroor. Al-Jubeh discussed the holy city’s architectural development through a paper titled “Western Europe in Jerusalem in the Second Half of the 19th Century and Early 20th Century: Visual Control over the Identity of the City”. Sroor reviewed the causes of the interest in “East” versus “West” Jerusalem while presenting “West Jerusalem: The Forgotten and the Untold in Palestinian Historical Writing”. The first day’s two sessions were followed by commentary and questions. The symposium concluded on Monday 30 January 2023.
