Ahmad Amara, Diyār Biʾr al-Sabaʿ, Janūb Filasṭīn al-ʿUthmānī: al-Arḍ wa-l-Mujtamaʿ wa-l-Dawla
[Beersheba Region, Southern Ottoman Palestine: Land, Society, and State] (Doha/Beirut: ACRPS, 2024), pp. 344.
Although the history of the people of southern Palestine constitutes an essential part of the region’s broader history, and despite that the south comprises more than half of historic Palestine, it has received scant attention in the historiography on Palestine, amounting to an “epistemological catastrophe”. This neglect spans the Ottoman era, through the British Mandate, under Israeli military rule, and up to the May 2021 uprising (Habbat Ayyār). With the exception of works such Ghazi Falah’s 1989 The Forgotten Palestinians, and Aref al-Aref’s writings on Bir al-Sabaʿ and its people, available studies on southern Palestine, especially of Bir al-Sabaʿ (Beersheba) and its surroundings, often exhibit a notable lack of in-depth, critical analysis, and limited use of documents and oral narratives that capture the experiences of the people of the land, who have remained steadfast in their homeland despite ongoing catastrophes.
Recent studies have changed that trend, most notably Ahmed Amara’s book Beersheba Region, Southern Ottoman Palestine: Land, Society, and State. Amara’s work poses a number of important questions: Where does the Palestinian south (the Naqab) stand in studies of Palestine, and why was it ignored for decades? Why have studies by English and French travellers, Israeli sociologists, Orientalists, and others focused particularly on southern Palestine? What are the roots of the ongoing conflict over land ownership in southern Palestine within the colonial court system? These questions remain relevant to researchers today.
* This study was published in the 19th issue of AlMuntaqa, a peer-reviewed academic journal for the social sciences and humanities. You can read the full paper here.
