An yarda da cewa tunanin siyasa-da-yanki game da Falasdinu ya sauya sosai tun daga zamanin ƙarshen mulkin Daular Usmaniyya zuwa zamanin Mandate na Birtaniya, ko kuma daga ra'ayin 'daga teku zuwa hamada' zuwa iyakokin zamani na 'daga teku zuwa kogi'. Haka kuma, tsayin daka ga shigowar Yahudawan Sihiyoniya da ayyukan mamaya tun daga ƙarshen zamanin Usmaniyya ya taka babbar rawa wajen fahimtar ƙasa ta zamani ta Falasdinu.

It is widely recognised that the geo-political conception of Palestine evolved significantly from the experiences of late Ottoman Palestine to those of the British Mandatory period, or from the notion of the ‘sea to the desert’ to the modern boundaries of the ‘sea to the river’. In addition, resistance to Zionist immigration and settler projects from the late Ottoman period onwards played a large part in the national conceptualisation of modern Palestine.

Adawar kishin kasa ta Falasdinawa ga Sahyoniyanci ta fara samuwa a fili game da ayyukan mazauna Yahudawa masu goyon bayan Sahyoniyanci a Falasdinu a shekarun da suka gabaci Yakin Duniya na Farko.

Palestinian national opposition to Zionism began to crystallise around Zionist-settler activities in Palestine in the years before the First World War.

Hausa translation: Ana yarda sosai cewa ilimi, buga littattafai na kasuwanci da jaridun zamani sun taka babbar rawa wajen samuwar kishin kasa na zamani (Anderson 1991). Haka lamarin yake ma a batun bunkasar ilimin Falasdinawa da fitowar jaridun Falasdinu a birane na karshen zamanin Daular Usmaniyya (Beška 2016b). A watan Janairu na shekarar 1911, 'yan jarida Larabawa Falasdinawa na Cocin Orthodox, 'Issa al-'Issa da dan uwansa Yousef al-'Issa, suka kafa a birnin Jaffa (a cikin Mutasarrifiyyar Kudus ta karshen zamanin Daular Usmaniyya a Falasdinu) jaridar yau da kullum mai suna Falastin. Me ya sa daya daga cikin jaridun kasa na Larabci na zamani mafi farko a Falasdinu za a sanya mata sunan Falastin, wato sunan kasar da ake amfani da shi a yau da kullum (a magana), ba sunan kasar na harshen adabi ko na Larabci na tsakiya ba, wato Filastin ko Filistin?

It is widely recognised that education, print capitalism and the modern press played a major role in the formation of modern national identities (Anderson 1991). This was also true in the case of the growth of Palestinian education and the emergence of the Palestinian press in late Ottoman urban Palestine (Beška 2016b). In January 1911 Palestinian Arab Orthodox journalists ‘Issa al-ʿIssa and his cousin Yousef al-ʿIssa set up in Jaffa (in the Mutasarrifiyyah of Jerusalem of late Ottoman Palestine) the daily newspaper Falastin. Why would one of the earliest modern Arabic national newspapers in Palestine be called Falastin, the colloquial (used daily) name for the country, not the standard or literary medieval Arabic names for the country: Filastin or Filistin.

Me yasa Falastin, babban jaridar kishin ƙasa, ta yi amfani da sigar harshen yau da kullum ta Larabci don sunan Palasdinu, maimakon Filastin ko Filistin, sunayen Larabcin gargajiya na ƙasar – sunayen da suka samo asali tun farkon Musulunci? Ba wai kawai waɗannan sigogin Larabcin adabi, Filastin ko Filistin, an tuna da su a ƙarni na 19 ba; a zahiri an yi amfani da su a rubuce-rubucen Palasdinawa da na Larabawa, kuma suna nufin raka'a ɗaya ta gudanarwa ta yanki (Abd al-Hadi 1923: 32). Haka kuma, Khair al-Din al-Ramli ya yi amfani da daidaitaccen sigar Filastin a ƙarni na 17, Kotun Shari'a ta Musulunci ta Kudus ta yi amfani da ita a ƙarni na 18, sannan Khalil Beidas ya yi amfani da ita a shekarun 1890. Idan masu kafa jaridar ba su bayar da bayani da kansu ba, to amsar dalilin karɓar sigar yau da kullum ta Falastin tana iya zama mai ɓangarori da dama kuma mai dogara da yanayi: (a) a zamani, yaɗuwar harshen yau da kullum, "kasancewa al'umma" da buƙatar kafa keɓaɓɓiyar alamar ƙasa, ana iya gani sau da sau a Turai ta farko ta zamani, a Rasha ta zamani, Turkiyya, Japan da kuma ƙasashe da dama a Asiya; (b) an ga yaɗuwar harshen yau da kullum a Palasdinu ta ƙarshen zamanin Usmaniyya a matsayin muhimmiyar alamar keɓaɓɓiyar (ma'ana ma har rabe) al'ummar Palasdinawa; (c) ta hanyar sanya wa jaridar ƙasa suna "daga ƙasa", masu gyara sun karɓi sigar Falastin a matsayin kalmar da ake amfani da ita sosai kuma ta fi yaɗuwa a wajen Palasdinawan gida da kan titunan Palasdinu, ba kamar Filastin ba, wadda ta fi kasancewa a rubuce-rubucen Larabci na masu ilimi da manyan al'adun ƙasar. A fili yake cewa masu gyara da 'yan jarida na Falastin sun himmatu wajen yaɗa kishin ƙasar Palasdinu "daga ƙasa" da tsakanin talakawa, ba wai kawai su takaita shi ga masu ilimi na gida ba.

Why vernacularise and use the vernacular Arabic form for Palestine for a leading nationalist newspaper, Falastin, rather than using Filastin or Filistin, the traditional standard Arabic names for the country – names which go all the way back to early Islam? Not only were these literary Arabic forms, Filastin or Filistin, remembered in the 19th century; in fact they were used in Palestinian and Arab writings and were synonymous with an administrative geographic unit (Abd al-Hadi 1923: 32). Moreover, the standard form of Filastin was used by Khair al-Din al-Ramli in the 17th century, the Islamic Sharia Court of Jerusalem in the 18th century and Khalil Beidas in the 1890s. In the absence of an explanation by the founding editors themselves, the answer to the adoption of the vernacular form of Falastin is likely to be multi-faceted and contextual: (a) in modern times, vernacularisation, ‘nation-ness’ and the need to establish a distinctive national identity can be seen again and again in early modern Europe, in modern Russia, Turkey, Japan and a whole range of countries across Asia; (b) vernacularisation was seen in late Ottoman Palestine as key to a distinct (and even separate) national identity marker; (c) naming a national newspaper ‘from below’, the editors adopted the form Falastin as the common, most widely spoken and most popularly used term by local Palestinians and on the streets of Palestine, as opposed to Filastin, which was largely confined to the writings in Arabic of the educated and cultural elites of the country. Clearly, the editors and journalists of Falastin were intent on popularising Palestinian nationalism ‘from below’ and among ordinary people and not just confining it to educated local elites.

An kuma kafa Falastin a Yafa, nesa da idanun hukumomin Daular Usmaniyya a Urushalima, wadanda masu kishin kasar Falasdinu na farko suka nuna musu zargi sosai. Dukkan Yafa da Haifa – wadanda ke da alaka mai karfi da Layin Dogo na Hijaz na Daular Usmaniyya da kuma karuwar masu matsakaicin hali na Falasdinawa, suka fara rufe tashar jiragen ruwa mai karfi ta Akka tun daga karshen karni na 19 – sun zama manyan cibiyoyin tattalin arziki da al'adu a Falasdinu ta karshen zamanin Usmaniyya, suna gogayya da cibiyar al'adu mafi karfi a kasar tun fil azal: al-Quds al-Sharif (Urushalima). Wannan gogayya mai bangare uku da farkawar al'adu mai karfi ta karshen zamanin Usmaniyya a Falasdinu a karshe sun tabbatar da bayyanar wata kasa mai arziki sosai kuma mai bambancin al'adu amma mai hadin kai sosai, yawancinta Larabawa, kafin Yakin Duniya na Farko.

Falastin was also founded in Jaffa, away from the prying eyes of the Ottoman authorities in Jerusalem, of which early Palestinian nationalists were deeply suspicious. Both Jaffa and Haifa – which were closely linked to the Ottoman Hejaz Railway and the rising Palestinian middle classes, and began to eclipse the historically powerful port city of Acre from the late 19th century onwards – emerged as major economic and cultural centres in late Ottoman Palestine, competing with the traditionally most powerful cultural centre in the country: al-Quds al-Sharif (Jerusalem). This three-way competition and the dynamic cultural awakening of late Ottoman Palestine would ultimately ensure the emergence of an amazingly rich and culturally diverse but fairly unified predominantly Arab country by the First World War.

A cikin Haifa a watan Disamba na 1908, shekara uku kafin kafuwar Falastin a Jaffa, ɗan jaridar Falasɗinawa Najib Nassar (1865‒1947) – wanda ya yi aiki a matsayin mai magani a Asibitin Scotland da ke Tiberias, a Galili – ya kafa kuma ya gyara al-Karmel (wanda aka sanya masa suna bisa Dutsen Karmel a gundumar Haifa), jaridar mako-mako ta farko ta Falasɗinawa mai adawa da mulkin mallaka a harshen Larabci (Beška 2011).19

In Haifa in December 1908, three years before the founding of Falastin in Jaffa, Palestinian journalist Najib Nassar (1865‒1947) – who had worked as a pharmacist for the Scottish Hospital in Tiberias, Galilee – founded and edited al-Karmel (named for Mount Carmel in the Haifa district), the first Palestinian anti-colonial weekly newspaper in Arabic (Beška 2011).19

Waɗannan jaridu na farko na Falasdinu a biranen bakin teku na Yafa da Haifa sun taka muhimmiyar rawa wajen bayyanawa da sake gina ainihin Falasdinawa na zamani ta fuskar rubutu a ƙarshen zamanin Daular Usmaniyya (Beška 2011, 2016b). Duk da haka, ya kamata a koyaushe a tuna cewa a tsarin ainihin Balarabe Bafalasdine na zamani, bunƙasar kishin ƙasar Falasdinu da kuma jin kishin ƙasa na yankin Falasdinawa koyaushe suna haɗe da zurfin danganta kai da yanayin siyasa da al'adu na Larabawa da ke kewaye (Bracy 2005, 2011).20

These early Palestinian newspapers of the coastal cities of Jaffa and Haifa played an important role in the visualisation and textual reconstruction of modern Palestinian identity in the late Ottoman period (Beška 2011, 2016b). However, it should always be kept in mind that in the conception of modern Palestinian Arab identity the growth of Palestinian nationalism and the growing sense of local Palestinian territorial patriotism were always intertwined with deep-rooted identification with the surrounding Arab political and cultural environment (Bracy 2005, 2011).20

Kamar yadda muka riga muka nuna, ƙwaƙwalwar zamantakewar asali ta ƴan ƙasa (‘ƙwaƙwalwar ƙwaƙwalwa’) ta tarihin Falasɗin an adana ta a rubuce-rubucen marubutan Musulmi irin su Khair al-Din al-Ramli (1585–1671), da kuma a cikin rumbunan adana bayanai na Kotun Shari'ar Musulunci ta Kudus a karni na 18 (Rood 2004), haka kuma a cikin sunan yankin a yaren gida, ‘Falastin’. Bugu da ƙari, bisa ga ƙwaƙwalwar zamantakewar asali da yaren gida na Falasɗinawa, zaɓin sunan Falastin na harshen gida da ƴan jaridu biyu Larabawan Falasɗinawa na Cocin Orthodox na Girka, al-ʿIssas, suka yi wa jaridarsu ta Jaffa, ya sake maimaita sunan da Musulmin Larabawa na zamanin tsakiya suka yi wa ƙasar, Falastin da Filastin.

As we have already shown, indigenous social memory (‘memory of memories’) of historic Palestine was preserved in the writings of Muslim authors such as Khair al-Din al-Ramli (1585–1671) and in the archives of the Islamic Sharia Court of Jerusalem in the 18th century (Rood 2004), as well as in the local form of the name, ‘Falastin’. Furthermore, based on indigenous social memory and Palestinian colloquialism, the choice of the vernacular Palestinian name Falastin for the Jaffa newspaper by the two Palestinian Arab Greek Orthodox journalists, the al-ʿIssas, reproduced the medieval Arab Muslim designation for the country, Falastin and Filastin.

A cikin wani makala na musamman da aka rubuta a matsayin babban rubutu, Yousef Hanna al-ʿIssa ya sake tuna abubuwan tunawa da al'ummar yankin suka yi game da Filastin ta dā.

In an extraordinary leading article, Yousef Hanna al-ʿIssa echoes local social memories of historic Filastin.

Jaridar Falastin mai adawa da Sahyoniyanci (1911–1967) ta ba da gudummawa sosai wajen samar da sabuwar fahimtar kasancewar Falasɗinawa (mai banbanci da rabuwa) (Tamari 2014). Manufar gyara ta Falastin ta kasance mai ci gaba, domin ta kare manomin Falasɗinawa (fallah) game da batun filaye, kuma ta yi yaki da tsattsauran ra'ayin addini, rarrabuwar kawuna na mazhaba da jahilci (Tamari 2014; Beška 2016b: 3).

The combative anti-Zionist newspaper Falastin (1911–1967) contributed significantly to the forging of a new (distinct and separate) Palestinian identity (Tamari 2014). Falastin’s editorial policy was also ‘progressive’ as it defended the Palestinian fallah on the land question and fought against religious fanaticism, sectarianism and ignorance (Tamari 2014; Beška 2016b: 3).

Yankin ilimin ƙasa na al'adu na editocin Falastin sun goyi bayan 'yancin zama ɗan ƙasar Usmaniyya tare da daidaito, tare da kishin ƙasar Falasɗinawa na gida. Haka kuma sun inganta ƙishin ƙasa na al'adu da harshe mai cin gashin kansa, wanda ya rungumi addinin Larabawa da al'adun Musulunci. Dangane da ilimin ƙasa na siyasa na Falasɗin, al-ʿIssa ya rubuta a watan Janairu 1912 cewa iyakokin ƙasarsa (watan) sun miƙe "daga iyakokin Masar zuwa Balqa21 da kuma daga tsaunukan Mowab [a gabar gabashin Tekun Matattu] zuwa Bahar Rum".22 Ka kwatanta wannan fahimtar kishin ƙasar Falasɗinawa ta ƙarshen zamanin Usmaniyya game da Falasɗin, wadda a fili ta samo wahayi daga tunanin Falasɗin ta tarihi, ciki har da Palaestina mafi girma a zamanin Byzantine da lardin Larabawa na Jund Filastin, da kuma wakilcin kishin ƙasar Falasɗinawa bayan Yaƙin Duniya na Farko na ƙasar, wanda tun daga lokacin ya tsaya a alamance kan iyakokin Falasɗin ƙarƙashin Mandate na Birtaniya (1917–1948).

The cultural geography of the editors of Falastin espoused secular Ottoman citizenship and equality combined with local Palestinian patriotism. They also promoted autonomous cultural-linguistic nationalism which embraced the Arab religious and cultural heritage of Islam. As for the political geography of Palestine, al-ʿIssa wrote in January 1912 that the boundaries of his ‘homeland’ (watan) extends ‘from the borders of Egypt to the Balqa21 and from the mountains of Moab [on the eastern shores of the Dead Sea] to the Mediterranean’.22 Contrast this late Ottoman Palestinian nationalist perception of Palestine, which clearly draws inspiration from the memories of historic Palestine, including greater Palaestina under the Byzantines and the Arab province of Jund Filastin, with post-First World War Palestinian nationalist representations of the country which have since then stuck symbolically to the boundaries of British Mandatory Palestine (1917‒1948).

Ma'ana, ba a fito fili sosai ba ko wakilcin yanki da ƙasashen Falastin na tarihi da Orthodox Yousef al-ʿIssa ya yi a 1912 ya dogara ne kan abubuwan tunawa na zamantakewa da al'adu na Orthodox Kiristocin Larabawan Falasdinu, waɗanda ke da alaƙa da Cocin Orthodox na All Palestine na Urushalima mai cin gashin kansa, wanda ikon cocinsa ya samu karɓuwa sosai kuma an yi amfani da shi a kan Falastin baki ɗaya ("Falastin Uku", ƙarni na 4 zuwa na 7 AD) tun tsakiyar ƙarni na 5 AD. Wannan ikon cocin, wanda da duk Kiristocin Orthodox na Falasdinu masu ilimi suka sani a farkon ƙarni na 20, ya ci gaba har zuwa yau, kuma ya haɗa da duk yankin Falasdinu/Isra'ila da Jordan na yanzu. A cikin wannan yanayin na coci, gano Taswirar Madaba ta Bene-bene ta Byzantine a 1884 (wanda aka tattauna a babi na huɗu), wadda ta rufe yankin daga Masar zuwa Lebanon da kuma tsakanin Tekun Bahar Rum da Hamadar Gabashin Larabawa, kuma tana da sunan Palaestina a rubutun Helenanci, da kuma ƙara shigar Fadar Patriarchate ta Girka Orthodox a Urushalima wajen nazari, da kuma tallata gida da waje game da gano taswirar a tsakanin farkon 1890 zuwa 1906, na iya zama da wata muhimmanci ga yadda Yousef al-ʿIssa ya bayyana iyakokin Falastin a 1912. Dangane da Taswirar Madaba kanta, an fara yin wakilcinta da aka sani a Madatsar Bugawa ta Franciscan a Urushalima a 1897, tare da taimakon Fadar Patriarchate ta Girka Orthodox a Urushalima. Bugu da ƙari, tun ƙarshen ƙarni na 19 al'ummar Orthodox ta Larabawan Falasdinu sun kasance cikin gwagwarmaya kan ayyana Larabci a Cocin Orthodox na Falasdinu da kuma haɓaka bishop-bishop Larabawa da manyan shugabannin coci a Fadar Patriarchate ta Orthodox ta Urushalima da Helenawa ke mamaye da ita. A haka dai, na tsawon shekaru da dama karkashin editocin 'yan uwan juna na al-ʿIssa, Falastin ta ci gaba da sadaukar da kai ba kawai ga kishin kasa na yankin Falasdinu cikin hadin kan Larabawa baki daya ba, har ma ga al'ummar Krista 'yan Orthodox Larabawan Falasdinu a gwagwarmayarta da Patriarchate na Orthodox na Urushalima, wanda Helenawa ke mulki. Saboda haka, ba za a iya kawar da abubuwan tarihi na coci na Orthodox game da Falasdinu mai girma karkashin Byzantine ba, domin sun ci gaba da kasancewa a cikin zantukan Patriarchate na Orthodox na Urushalima har zuwa yau. Ko da yake dai, abu daya a bayyane yake: a tarihi, bisa ga masana lissafin kasa da marubuta Musulmi na Falasdinu, yankin 'Balqa' – wanda al-ʿIssa ya ambata – wanda yake arewa maso yammacin 'Amman, babban birnin Jordan a yau, ba wani bangare ne na lardin Jund Filastin na zamanin tsakiya ba; a gaskiya, al-Balqa asali kuma a tarihi wani bangare ne na lardin Musulunci na Jund Dimashq (lardin Damascus), wani babban lardi da ya hada da sauran yankuna gabas da Kogin Jordan, kuma a mafi yawan zamanin Umayyawa yana karkashinsa (Le Strange 2010: 43‒48; Blankinship 1994: 47‒48, 292, note 7).

It is not entirely clear whether Orthodox Yousef al-ʿIssa’s geo-political representations of historic Falastin in 1912 was based on Palestinian Arab Orthodox Christian social and cultural memories which were linked to the independent All Palestine Orthodox Church of Jerusalem whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction had been widely recognised and exercised over greater Palestine (the ‘Three Palestines’, 4th‒7th centuries AD) since the mid-5th century AD. This ecclesiastical jurisdiction, which would have been known to all educated Orthodox Palestine Christians in the early 20th century, has continued until today and it includes the whole of present-day Palestine/ Israel and Jordan. In this ecclesiastical context, the remarkable discovery of the Byzantine Madaba Floor Mosaic Map in 1884 (discussed in chapter four), covering the area between Egypt to Lebanon and between the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern Arabia desert, and with the name Palaestina in its Greek inscriptions, and the growing involvement of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem in the study of, and local and international publicity surrounding the discovery of, the map in the period between the early 1890s and 1906,23 may be of some relevance to the way Yousef al-ʿIssa described the boundaries of Palestine in 1912. As for the Madaba Map itself, the first known representation of the map was, in fact, created at the Franciscan Printing Press in Jerusalem in 1897, with assistance from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem. Moreover, since the late 19th century the Palestine Arab Orthodox community had been involved in a struggle over the Arabisation of the Palestine Orthodox Church and the promotion of Arab bishops and senior hierarchs in the Greek-dominated Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. In fact for decades under the editorship of the al-ʿIssa cousins, Falastin would remain dedicated not only to Palestinian territorial nationalism within pan-Arab solidarity, but also to the Palestine Arab Orthodox community in its struggle with the Greek-dominated Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Therefore, the ecclesiastical Orthodox memories of greater Palestine under the Byzantines cannot be ruled out since it has survived in the rhetoric of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem until today. In any event, one thing is clear: historically, and according to Palestine Muslim geographers and writers, the ‘Balqa region’ – mentioned by al-ʿIssa – which is located north-west of ‘Amman, present-day Jordan’s capital, was not part of the province of Jund Filastin of the Middle Ages; in fact, al-Balqa was originally and historically part of, and throughout most of the Umayyad period subordinated to, the Islamic province Jund Dimashq (the Damascus province), a massive province which incorporated other territories east of the River Jordan (Le Strange 2010: 43‒48; Blankinship 1994: 47‒48, 292, note 7).

A cikin kowane hali, jaridar Falastin ta zama mafi yaɗuwa kuma, saboda haka, mafi tasiri a cikin jaridun Larabci na yau da kullum a Falasdinu a lokacin Mandate na Birtaniya, tana tsara jawabin ƙungiyar siyasa ta kishin ƙasar Falasdinu sosai yayin da take gwagwarmayar tsayayya da ƙarfi biyu na waje: mulkin mallaka na Birtaniya da mamayar ƴan mulkin mallaka na Zionist (Khalaf 2011; Jeferey 2015:

In any case, the newspaper Falastin became the most widely circulated and, consequently, most influential Arabic daily in Palestine during the British Mandate, powerfully shaping the discourse of the Palestine nationalist political movement as it struggled to resist two foreign forces: British imperialism and Zionist settler-colonisation (Khalaf 2011; Jeferey 2015:

173), yayin da jawabinsa bayan 1918 ya mayar da hankali kan yanayin ƙasa na Falasɗinu ƙarƙashin Mandate. Tun daga farkon zamaninsa a ƙarshen mulkin Ottoman a Falasɗinu, Falastin ta kasance kuma mafi tsananin suka kuma mafi daidaito ga ƙasar Larabawa ga ayyukan mulkin mallaka na Zionist na Turawan Yamma.

173), while its discourse after 1918 focused on the geography of Mandatory Palestine. From its beginnings in late Ottoman Palestine Falastin also was the Arab country’s fiercest and most consistent critic of European Zionist settler projects.