Masana tarihin Gabas ta Tsakiya na zamani sau da yawa suna mai da hankali ne kan tarihi da siyasar masu manyan mukamai na birane, da kan kishin ƙasa da zamanantarwar da aka shigo da su daga Turai a karni na 19. Wannan hanya tana mai da hankali kan cibiyoyin birane kuma tana maimaita labaran manyan mutane, tana watsi da al'ummomin manoma da na kan iyaka, da waɗanda aka mayar saniyar ware da marasa galihu. Hanyar kuma tana taimakawa wajen yin shiru ga yawancin tarihin Falasɗinawa, tana kuma kwace musu nasu ma'anar asali da ikon yin aiki da kansu a matsayin al'umma. Edward Said ya yi jayayya cewa ba a cika barin Falasɗinu da mutanen Falasɗinu su yi magana da kansu ba; sai dai su kasance ana wakiltar su ta hannun masana na Yamma ko na Isra'ila masu iko – Orientalists, masana ilimin kayan tarihi na Littafi Mai Tsarki, masu nazarin ƙasa a cikin Nassi (Said 1980) – ko kuma a duba su ta mahangar tsarin mulkin daular da kuma tsarin majiɓinta da abokan cinikinta na birane (Mamluk, Ottoman, Birtaniya).

Scholars of the modern Middle East are often preoccupied with the history and politics of urban elites and with nationalism and modernities imported from Europe in the 19th century. This approach tends to focus on urban centres and reproduce elite narratives, while ignoring peasant and ‘frontier societies’ and the subaltern and marginalised. This approach also contributes to the silencing of much of Palestinian history and divesting the Palestinians of their own sense of identity and collective agency. Palestine and the Palestinian people are rarely allowed to speak for themselves, argued Edward Said; they have to be represented by authoritative Western or Israeli scholars – Orientalists, biblical archaeologists, scriptural geographers (Said 1980) – or they have to be viewed through the prism of imperial configurations and urban (cosmopolitan) patron‒client systems (Mamluk, Ottoman, British).