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Following Napoleon's invasion of Palestine in 1799, up to Mehemet Ali's conquest in 1831, an increasing number of Western Europeans went to explore this long-neglected Holy Land. Many published their travels, but none described the planning needed for such an expedition, nor the outward or homeward journeys. Moses and Judith Montefiore seem to have been the first and only prominent Anglo-Jews to travel to Jerusalem in this period. Using material [much of it unpublished] relating to their journey of 1827/28 together with the accounts of the other travellers, this thesis describes the complexities and practicalities of such an adventurous journey at that time in a period before improvements in transport and changes in political climate made such tours increasingly easy. It looks at the information available for planning such a journey, the route, letters of introduction etc. and its actual costs. It examines the dangers faced due to disease and war, and mundane aspects like finding accommodation and food and their religious observance whilst travelling. The motives for their journey were a mixture of the touristic and religious, yet the Montefiores spent only three full days in Jerusalem on a journey lasting ten months. However, this first visit had profound effects on the Montefiores: it led to a more Orthodox Jewish life-style, to six subsequent visits to Jerusalem and it led him to identify closely with Jewish causes in England and worldwide. It also resulted in Moses becoming the main conduit for world-wide charity for the Holy Land, and his being seen as a leading figure in the regeneration of the land and its people in the pre-Zionist era.

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This thesis presents a study of urban defence from a social or symbolic as well as a military perspective. For the past 150 years, Crusader castle research has provided many excellent studies. However, the field has been dominated by military historians, focussed on the evolution of architecture and debating stylistic origins. Urban fortifications are overshadowed by the imperious keeps standing within their walls unless they contribute to the discussion of military advancements. The study of these fortifications is further biased by their Frankish-centric material, rarely considering the biography of the site, thus downplaying Muslim elements. Other castle research, like that from Britain, has moved past this military focus, turning towards social or symbolic interpretations. Instead of incorporating both lines of interpretation, a divide was created leading to the interpretative straightjacket known as the ‘war or status’ rut. In order to rectify these biases and escape the straightjacket this PhD project seeks to answer the question: what are the military and social or symbolic functions of city walls? This thesis aims to: address the field’s bias by evaluating the full biography of the city walls during the Frankish era (1099–1291); take into account both Frankish and Muslim occupations of the sites; incorporate evidence of city wall use from multiple disciplines, such as history, architecture, sigillography, and art; and analyze the data using the theoretical concepts of biography, monumentality and memory. These aims are met through the case studies of Ascalon and Caesarea. By taking into account evidence from multiple fields, this thesis effectively unravels the functions of these cities’ city walls so that they are no longer limited by their military treatments. These case studies demonstrate that the city walls did not stand idly throughout the course of the Crusader era. They were used as monumental demonstrations of élite power as well as objects of civic pride and community achievement. They provided apotropaic as well as military protection against their enemies and were used to display domination and victory, demonstrating one group’s oppression and conquest over the other.

With the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 and the subsequent establishment of four Frankish states in the Middle East, individuals of European descent came to control and administer areas of the Levant. Frankish regional authority persisted until 1291, when their diminished coastal territories fell to the Mamluks. Yet, despite a Frankish assumption of power in the Eastern Mediterranean, what e↵ect this had on communities in the countryside is still unknown. The purpose of this thesis is to resolve some of this uncertainty, by examining the Frankish impact on rural settlements in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. Frankish impact on communities was investigated through an exploration of the medieval landscape and seigneurial obligations, two attributes that affected all rural sites in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, regardless of other settlement characteristics. Investigating physical qualities of the countryside through palaeoenvironmental information, medieval views of landscape, and the connection between natural attributes and settlement sites, suggested that despite a favourable climate, Frankish impact on rural communities was limited and regional. Likewise, exploration of seigneurial obligations imposed on settlements similarly implied that Frankish impact was localised to specific areas; however it also suggested that the Franks maintained a sound understanding of indigenous agricultural customs outside of areas they significantly a↵ected. It showed Frankish disinterest in intervening with local traditions when established conventions benefited landlords. This thesis contributes to the field of Crusader Studies by nuancing the current view of the e↵ect the Franks had on communities in the countryside. Frankish impact in rural environments is presented as localised and restricted, but consciously imposed in the settlements that were a↵ected.

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This thesis offers a consideration of how the ideological foundations of Zionism determine the movement’s exclusive relationship with an outside world that is posited at large and the native Palestinian population specifically. Contesting Israel’s exceptionalist security narrative, it identifies, through an extensive examination of the writings of Theodor Herzl, the overlapping settler colonialist and ethno-nationalist roots of Zionism. In doing so, it contextualises Herzl’s movement as a hegemonic political force that embraced the dominant European discourses of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including anti-Semitism. The thesis is also concerned with the ways in which these ideological foundations came to bear on the Palestinian and broader Ottoman contexts. A closer consideration of Ottoman Palestine reveals a hidden history of imperial inclusivity that stands in stark contrast to the Zionist settler colonial model. The thesis explores the effects of the Zionist project on Palestine’s native population, highlighting early reactions to the marginalisation and exclusion suffered, as well as emerging strategies of resistance that locate an alternative, non-nationalist vision for the future of the region in the collective reappropriation of a pre-colonial past. The question is broached about the role that Palestinian literature can play within the context of such reclaiming efforts. More precisely, it debates whether Palestinian life writing emanating from the occupied territories contributes, in its recording of personal history, to the project of re-writing national history in opposition to the attempted Israeli erasure. Finally, by drawing a direct line from original Zionist thought to the politics and policies of the state of Israel today, the thesis suggests an on-going settler colonial structure that has become increasingly visible through the state’s use of spatially restrictive measures in order to finally conclude its settlement project. Israel’s obsessive ‘walling’ is discussed in that context as the physical escalation of Zionism’s founding ideological tenets.

This submission for PhD by Publication includes three studies designed to reflect the popular view of ordinary Palestinians regarding events and politics in Palestine throughout modern history. They aim to primarily provide a ‘history from below’ political discourse of the Palestinian people. While the studies do not purport to determine with certainty the exact dynamics that propel Palestinian politics and society - as in where political power ultimately lies - they attempt to present a long-dormant argument that sees ‘history from below’ as an indispensable platform providing essential insight into Palestinian history to explain present political currents. Over the course of 11 years, I conducted three studies which resulted in the publication of the following volumes: The first work, Searching Jenin: Eyewitness Accounts of the Israeli Invasion (2003) is centered on the events that surrounded the Israeli siege, invasion and subsequent violence in and around the Palestinian West Bank refugee camp of Jenin in April 2002. The study includes forty two eyewitness accounts, collected from people who witnessed the violence and were affected by it, were recorded and positioned to create a clear and unified narrative. The reality that the refugees portrayed in these accounts was mostly inconsistent with the official Israeli narrative of the violent events that occurred in the refugee camp, on one hand, and that were provided by the Palestinian Authority (PA) or factions, on the other. The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s Struggle (2006) shows the impact of the Israeli military policies used against revolting Palestinians in the Occupied Territories, and the popular response to these policies during the first five years of the Second Palestinian Intifada (2000-2005). The results of the study also demonstrate the inconsistencies between the views and practices held by the official political representation of Palestinians, and the popular view, as demonstrated in the discernible collective behavior of ordinary Palestinians throughout the Occupied Territories. In My Father was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story (2010) my research pursues the roots of the current situation in the Gaza Strip – that of siege, political deadlock and violence. The study traces the lives of selected refugees before the Nakba - the Catastrophe of 1947-48 - back in Palestine during the British Mandate in the 1920s and just before the Zionist colonial project went into full swing. In the three studies, the central argument is that historical and political events are best explained through non-elitist actors, who although at times lack political representation and platform, are capable of influencing, if not shaping the course of history, thus the present situation on the ground. The studies also indicate that such notions as popular resistance, collective memory and steadfastness (sumud in Arabic) are not mere idealistic and sentimental values, but notions with tangible and decipherable impact on past events and present realities. The central argument endeavors to demonstrate that although the Palestinian people are divided into various collectives, they are united by a common sense of identity and an undeclared political discourse, and they have historically proven to be a viable political actor that has influenced, affected, or, in some instances, deeply altered political realities. To examine my thesis, my paper will be reviewing several theoretical notions of historiography including the Great Man Theory, which uses an elitist approach to understanding the formation and conversion of history. The Great Man Theory argues that single individuals of importance have made decisions that drive the outcomes of history. This notion is challenged by Group Theories which argue that history is shaped by the outcome of competing interest groups belonging to socio-economic elites, and that multidimensional forces often shape political realities. Furthermore, I examine a third theoretical approach that of ‘history from below’, which argues that history is scarcely shaped by ‘great men’ or socio-economic elites. Such historiography rarely contends with how history is formed; instead, it is mostly concerned with attempting to reconstruct the flow of history. It does so through deconstructing largely collective phenomena that are believed to be responsible for shaping current political movements. I attempt, through these volumes, to present a flow of Palestinian history based on the ‘history from below’ approach. The following paper will attempt to explain the logic behind my choice.

A travers une lecture de l’histoire des politiques interarabes, notamment la question palestinienne, des pays maghrébins, nous nous sommes posé des questions afin de comprendre sur quelle base les pays maghrébins ont réagi d’une telle ou telle manière. Ont-ils favorisé leurs appartenance au monde arabe, en considérant la question palestinienne la leur, ou bien c’est l’intérêt national, qui explique tel ou tel comportement ? Le traitement de cette question centrale de notre recherche nous a mené à constater deux types de politique : une essaye de coupler entre l’intérêt d’un côté, tout en préservant des relations avec Israël, parce que nous savons que pour être bien vu aux regards des occidentaux en général et les Américains en particulier il faut normaliser avec l’Etat hébreu, ou au pire, ne pas être acharné contre lui, et la solidarité avec les Palestiniens de l’autre côté. Cependant, ce genre de comportement est ingérable vu que les deux parti en question sont opposés, ce qui pousse les partisans de cette politique de dissimuler leurs contacts avec les Israéliens, et c’est pour ça nous avons du mal à comprendre certaines politiques et comportements. La deuxième politique se base sur la solidarité sans donner importance à l’intérêt. Enfin, la solidarité interarabe entre les maghrébins et le reste du Monde arabe en général, et la question palestinienne en particulier, les vingt dernières années a été marquée par la crise permanente du système politique interarabe. Au sein du Maghreb, la question politique du conflit saharien, est devenue un principal obstacle à la mise en marche d'un projet unitaire et d’une politique extérieure commune. Le réalisme politique et le pragmatisme économique sont devenus le refrain des nouveaux discours des responsables du Maghreb. / Through a reading of the history of inter-Arab policies, including the Palestinian question, of the Maghreb countries, we are asked to understand on what basis the Maghreb countries have reacted in a certain way. Have they promoted their affiliation to the Arab world, considering the Palestinian question to them, or is the national interest, which explains why this or that behavior? The treatment of this central question of our research led us to see two kind of policies: one tries to couple between the interest on one side, while maintaining relations with Israel, because we know that to be clearly seen to eyes of Westerners in general and Americans in particular need to be normalized with the Jewish state, or at worst, do not be bitter against him, and solidarity with the Palestinians on the other side. However, this kind of behavior is unsustainable as both party in question are opposed, leading the partisans of this policy to cover up their contacts with the Israelis. That’s why we have difficulty to understanding certain policies and behaviors. The second policy is based on solidarity, without giving importance to the interest. Finally, inter-Arab solidarity between the Maghreb and the rest of the Arab world in general and the Palestinian question in particular, in the last twenty years has been marked by the permanent crisis of inter-Arab political system. In the Maghreb, the political question of the Saharan conflict has become a major obstacle to starting a project unit and a common foreign policy. Political realism and economic pragmatism became the refrain of the new discourse of leaders of the Maghreb.