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“IMPOSSIBLE IS NOT OTTOMAN”: MENASHE MEIROVITCH, ʿISA AL-ʿISA, AND IMPERIAL CITIZENSHIP IN PALESTINE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2015

Samuel Dolbee  and
Shay Hazkani
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Abstract

This article explores a covert partnership between a prominent Zionist agronomist, Menashe Meirovitch, and the Christian Arab editor of the newspaper Filastin, ʿIsa al-ʿIsa, a founding father of Palestinian nationalism. Under the literary guise of an Arab Muslim peasant called Abu Ibrahim, the two men produced a series of Arabic-language columns in 1911–12 that exhibited imperial citizenship par excellence, demanding political and agrarian reforms in Palestine in the name of strengthening the Ottoman Empire. The article explores their short-lived political alliance to interrogate historiographical uses of the press as a source for social history. Moreover, it challenges the portrayal of cooperation between Jews and Arabs as “collaboration” in its pejorative sense. Far from a simple story of betrayal or corruption, the partnership between the two men demonstrates how a shared commitment to Ottoman modernism brought them together more than nationalism, language, or religion pulled them apart.

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International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , May 2015 , pp. 241 - 262
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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NOTES

Authors’ note: Our deepest gratitude to Ahmad Amara, Ali Adeeb, Beth Baron, Lauren Benton, Jane Burbank, Michele Campos, Frederick Cooper, Jeffrey Culang, Leena Dallasheh, Evelin Dierauff, Danielle Drori, David Engel, Gennady Estraikh, Nitzan Goldberger, Akram Khater, Zachary Lockman, Fredrik Meiton, the NYU Empires Seminar, Graham Pitts, Sara Pursley, Salim Tamari, Arianne Urus, Alex Winder, and four anonymous IJMES reviewers for patient archival, editorial, and translation support.

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3 Twenty columns were written but only seventeen were published in Filastin. Of these seventeen, we accessed twelve. The fifteenth column is missing or subsequent columns are misnumbered. We were unable to locate any copies of Filastin for the first six months of 1911, in which the first four columns appear.

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33 Ibid., 129.

34 Ibid., 130–31.

35 Ibid., 131.

36 Robson, Laura, Colonialism and Christianity in Mandate Palestine (Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 2011), 34Google Scholar; Salim Tamari, “The Vagabond Café and Jerusalem's Prince of Idleness,” in Mountain against the Sea, 176–90.

37 Al-ʿIsa, “Le texte: Min dhikrayat al-madi–souvenirs,” 134.

38 Ibid.

39 Ibid., 162.

40 Khalidi, Rashid, preface, Les mémoires de ‘Issa al-‘Issa, 5Google Scholar.

41 Al-ʿIsa, “Le texte: Min dhikrayat al-madi–souvenirs,” 227.

42 Tidhar, David, Entsiklopediyah le-Halutse ha-Yishuv u-Vonav (Tel Aviv: Sifriyat Rishonim, 1947), 823–25Google Scholar.

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44 Klier, John D., “The Pogrom Paradigm in Russian History,” in Pogroms: Anti-Jewish Violence in Modern Russian History, ed. Klier, John D. and Lambroza, Shlomo (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 22Google Scholar.

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46 Ibid.; Meirovitch, “Tsiyonim ve-Tsiyon,” in a Russian Zionist newspaper, 1902, reprinted in Hevley Tehiyah, ed. Avineri and Meirovitch, 36.

47 Yanovsḳi, Hilel I., “Menashe Meirovitch–mi Zikney ha-Yishuv: Netivot Hayav,” in Minhat ʿErev: Zikhronot, Mikhtavim u-Teʿudot le-Toldot Hibat Tsiyon ve-ha-Tsiyonut, Maʾamarim u-Reshimot be-Sheʾelot Kalkaliyot ve-Tarbutiyot shel ha-Yishuv, ed. Meirovitch, Menashe and Yanovski, Hillel I. (Rishon LeZion: Hotsaʾat Yedidim ṿe-Haverim, 1941), 4Google Scholar.

48 Meirovitch, “Dalim ve-Reikim Anahnu,” ha-Or, 1913, reprinted in Hevley Teḥiyah, ed. Avineri and Meirovitch, 111.

49 Yanovski, “Menashe Meirovitch,” 4–9.

50 Ibid., 9–12.

51 Meirovitch, “Maʿseh Yashan, aval Tamid Hadash,” ha-Or, 1912, reprinted in Hevley Tehiyah, ed. Avineri and Meirovitch, 104.

52 Ibid., 103–5.

53 Campos, Ottoman Brothers, 146–48; Kark, Ruth and Solomonovich, Nadav, “The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 as Reflected in the Media of the Jewish Community in Palestine,” in Late Ottoman Palestine: The Period of Young Turk Rule, ed. Ben-Bassat, Yuval and Ginio, Eyal (London: I. B. Tauris, 2011), 183–208Google Scholar. Meirovitch's articles in 1913–14 repeat much of the platform of the Society of Ottoman Jews. Menashe Meirovitch, “Veʿod ha-Paʿam: Histadru!” ha-Or, 1913, reprinted in Hevley Tehiyah, ed. Avineri and Meirovitch, 107–9; Meirovitch, “Dalim ve-Reikim Anahnu,” 112; Menashe Meirovitch, “ha-Zilzul be-Hovatenu ha-Ezrahit,” Ha-Or, 1914, reprinted in Hevley Tehiyah, ed. Avineri and Meirovitch, 116–19.

54 Qustandi Shumali lists only 5 articles under ʿIsa al-ʿIsa's name before 1927. Fihris al-Nusus al-Adabiyya fi Jaridat Filastin 1911–1967, vol. 1 (Jerusalem: Jamʿiyyat al-Dirasat al-ʿArabiyya, 1992), 338–39.

55 Al-ʿIsa, “Le texte: Min dhikrayat al-madi–souvenirs,” 132.

56 Tadros Khalaf, Les mémoires de ‘Issa al-‘Issa, 67.

57 Mandel, Neville, “Attempts at an Arab-Zionist Entente: 1913–1914,” Middle Eastern Studies 1 (1965): 243CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

58 Menashe Meirovitch, “ʿAd Matai Nahasheh,” ha-Tsvi, 1909, reprinted in Hevley Tehiyah, ed. Avineri and Meirovitch, 96–98. Laura Robson, Colonialism and Christianity in Mandate Palestine, 34–35.

59 Menashe Meirovitch, “Le-Harim Mikhshol mi-Derekh ᶜAmi,” Knesset Yisraʾel (Warsaw), 1887, reprinted in Hevley Tehiyah, ed. Avineri and Meirovitch, 10–16.

60 Filastin, 18 August 1912, no. 167.

61 Filastin, 25 August 1912, no. 169.

62 Mandel, “Attempts at an Arab-Zionist Entente: 1913–1914,” 243.

63 Tadros Khalaf, Les mémoires de ‘Issa al-‘Issa, 113.

64 al-Najjar, ʿAyida, Sihafat Filastin wa-l-Haraka al-Wataniyya fi Nisf Qarn, 1900–1948 (Beirut: al-Muʾassasa al-ʿArabiyya li-l-Dirasat wa-l-Nashr, 2005), 41–51Google Scholar.

65 Al-ʿIsa, “Le texte: Min dhikrayat al-madi–souvenirs,” 135.

66 Ibid.

67 The draft column is in the Central Zionist Archives (CZA) A32/31. The ninth column is in Filastin, 24 December 1911, no. 101.

68 Khalidi, Palestinian Identity, 89–93.

69 Menashe Meirovitch, “Hishtatfuti be-ʿItonim ʿArviyim,” Doar ha-Yom, 19 April 1935; Meirovitch, Me-ha-Shevil el ha-Derekh: Kovets Maʾamarim u-Mikhtavim bi-Sheʾelot ha-Yishuv ha-ʿIvri be-Erets Yisraʾel (Tel Aviv: be-Hotsaʾat Hevrat Shtibel ve-Hever Yedide ha-Mehaber, 1936), 61–63Google Scholar.

70 Menachem Kapeliouk and Menashe Meirovitch, “Biluyi ba-ʿItonut ha-ʿArvit lifney 30 Shanah” [unknown publication], clipped in CZA A32/28.

71 Shumali, Fihris al-Nusus, 55.

72 Menashe Meirovitch, “Michtavim me-Eretz Yisraʾel: Nituah ha-Gzar-Din shel Mar Meirson,” Voskhod, 1899, reprinted in Hevley Tehiyah, 22; Menashe Meirovitch, “ha-Toʿelet she-ba-Kriʾot le-ʿAm,” Speech Delivered in 1899, reprinted in Minhat ʿErev, ed. Meirovitch and Yanovski, 41–42.

73 Nissim Malul and Shimʿon Moyal contributed columns to Arabic newspapers (including Filastin) and also established their own Arabic newspaper. Jacobson, Abigail, From Empire to Empire: Jerusalem between Ottoman and British Rule (Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2011), 114–16Google Scholar.

74 Yaacov Roi, “Nisyonoteyhem shel ha-Mosadot ha-Tsioniyim le-ha-Shpiʿa ʿal ha-ʿItonut ha-ʿArvit be-Erets Yisraʾel ba-Shanim 1908–1914,” Zion (1967), 218–19.

75 Ibid., 214.

76 Minutes of the meeting of representatives of the Judea colonies and the Jaffa politicians from 6 February 1911, in CZA L2/44.

77 Al-ʿIsa, “Le texte: Min dhikrayat al-madi – souvenirs,”137.

78 Meirovitch to Ruppin, 16 October 1911, in CZA L2/167.

79 Meirovitch to Ruppin, 27 October 1911, in CZA L2/167.

80 Meirovitch to Ruppin, 14 November 1911, in CZA A32/31.

81 Meirovitch to Ruppin, 16 October 1911, in CZA L2/167.

82 Meirovitch to Ruppin, 27 October 1911, in CZA L2/167.

83 Meirovitch to Ruppin, 29 February 1912, in CZA L2/167.

84 Letter to Meirovitch, 25 February 1912, in CZA L2/167.

85 Meirovitch to Ruppin, 12 March 1912, in CZA L2/167

86 See numerous examples in Meirovitch, Hevley Tehiyah.

87 Filastin, 23 July 1911, no. 57.

88 Meirovitch used the exact same story, without mentioning names, when petitioning the Ottoman Commission for the Improvement of Agriculture in Palestine in 1911. Menashe Meirovitch, “ʾIgeret Ptuha,” ha-Tsvi, 1911, reprinted in Hevley Tehiyah, ed. Avineri and Meirovitch, 52–53.

89 Filastin, 1 October 1911, no. 77.

90 Ibid.

91 Filastin, 5 November 1911, no. 89.

92 There is no evidence to suggest that Meirovitch's son volunteered in the Ottoman army.

93 It is unclear what al-‘Isa thought about mushaʿ. Tadros Khalaf writes somewhat cryptically that al-ʿIsa “seems to have not missed an occasion to apply his gifts as an administrator, whether it was in the distribution of communal lands or familial lands.” Tadros Khalaf, Les mémoires de ‘Issa al-‘Issa, 116.

94 Khalidi, Palestinian Identity, 95–96; Pappé, Ilan, A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 24–25CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Shafir, Gershon, Land, Labor and the Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1882–1914 (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1996), 24, 40–41Google Scholar.

95 Munir Fakhr Eldin, “Communities of Owners: Land Law, Governance, and Politics in Palestine, 1858–1948” (PhD diss., New York University, 2008), 70.

96 Ibid., 71.

97 Filastin, 24 December 1911, no. 101.

98 Ibid.

99 Filastin, 21 January 1912, no. 108.

100 Chris Gratien, “From Bad Air to Bad Peasants: Changing Approaches to Malaria in the Ottoman Empire” (Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association, New Orleans, La., 12 October 2013); Sufian, Sandra, Healing the Land and the Nation: Malaria and the Zionist Project in Palestine, 1920–1947 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

101 In 1912 settlers from Rishon LeZion did receive permission to plant eucalyptus trees to stop the sand dunes, however the trees were uprooted during the night by Arabs. Shalmon, Avraham, Rishon le-Tsiyon Bat Shivʿim (Tel Aviv: N. Tverski, 1952), 98Google Scholar.

102 Khalidi, Palestinian Identity, 79.

103 Norris, Land of Progress, 46.

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105 Ibid., 33–34; Tidhar, Entsiklopediyah le-Halutse ha-Yishuv u-Vonav, 824.

106 Filastin, 25 January 1912, no. 109.

107 Ibid.

108 Filastin, 11 August 1912, no. 165.

109 In fact Meirovitch did speak with the governor personally, when the latter visited Rishon LeZion on 6 August 1912. They discussed issues very similar to those in the petition. Mandel, The Arabs and Zionism before World War I, 134; Haviv-Lubman, Avraham D. and Haviv, Zerubavel, Korot Rishon le-Tsiyon: Mi-Yom Yisudah ʿad Perots Milhemet Sheshet ha-Yamim (Rishon LeZion: s.n., 1971), 84–85Google Scholar.

110 Meirovitch sent a similar petition to the Ottoman Commission for the Improvement of Agriculture in Palestine in 1911. Meirovitch, “Igeret Ptuha,” 52–53.

111 In a letter to Ruppin from October 1911 Meirovitch explained that in Filastin “articles that speak energetically about the Jewish question are making some trouble so for Jewish questions I approached the editor of al-Nafir with an offer to work together.” Merovitch to Ruppin, 16 October 1911, in CZA L2/167.

112 Roi, “Nisyonoteyhem shel ha-Mosadot,” 224; Yehoshua, Jacob, Tarikh al-Sihafa al-ʿArabiyya fi Filastin (Jerusalem: J. Yehoshua, 1974), 52Google Scholar.

113 Khalidi, Palestinian Identity, 83, 162; Yehoshua, Tarikh al-Sihafa al-ʿArabiyya, 53.

114 Zakka thanked Meirovitch for sending over a column and promised to publish additional articles. Zakka to Meirovitch, [Date unclear], in CZA L2/167.

115 Meirovitch, “Likhvod ʿOrekh ʿIton ha-Nafir,” Letter from Abu Ibrahim to Zakka, circa 1912, reprinted in Minhat ʿErev, ed. Meirovitch and Yanovski, 26.

116 Ibid., 27.

117 Campos, Ottoman Brothers, 222, 228.

118 Menashe Meirovitch, “Nikmatenu ve-Nehamatenu!” ha-Or, 1913, clipped in CZA A32/28.

119 Campos, Ottoman Brothers, 161–62.

120 “Rassail-el-Felah” handwritten draft column, undated, in CZA A32/32.

121 Ibid.

122 Meirovitch, “Likhvod ha-Vaʿada ha-Malkhutit, Yerushalayim,” Meirovitch to the Royal Commission, 28 December 1936, reprinted in Minhat ʿErev, ed. Meirovitch and Yanovski, 57.

123 “Tshuvat ha-Vaʿada ha-Malkhutit,” Secretary of the Royal Commission to Meirovitch, undated, reprinted in Minhat ʿErev, ed. Meirovitch and Yanovski, 58.