Secara meluas diakui bahawa konsep geopolitik Palestin telah berkembang dengan ketara daripada pengalaman Palestin Uthmaniyyah lewat dahulu kepada pengalaman zaman Mandat British, atau daripada tanggapan 'dari laut ke gurun' kepada sempadan moden 'dari laut ke sungai'. Selain itu, penentangan terhadap imigresen Zionis dan projek penempatan peneroka sejak zaman Uthmaniyyah lewat memainkan peranan besar dalam pembentukan konsep kebangsaan Palestin moden.

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.

Penentangan nasional Palestin terhadap Zionisme mula terbentuk dengan jelas di sekitar aktiviti penempatan Zionis di Palestin pada tahun-tahun sebelum Perang Dunia Pertama.

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

Dikenali secara meluas bahawa pendidikan, kapitalisme cetak dan akhbar moden memainkan peranan besar dalam pembentukan identiti kebangsaan moden (Anderson 1991). Perkara ini juga berlaku dalam kes perkembangan pendidikan Palestin dan kemunculan akhbar Palestin di bandar-bandar Palestin pada akhir zaman Uthmaniyyah (Beška 2016b). Pada Januari 1911, wartawan Arab Palestin beragama Kristian Ortodoks, ʿIssa al-ʿIssa dan sepupunya Yousef al-ʿIssa, menubuhkan di Jaffa (di Mutasarrifiyyah Baitulmaqdis di Palestin Uthmaniyyah akhir) akhbar harian Falastin. Mengapa salah satu akhbar kebangsaan Arab moden terawal di Palestin dinamakan Falastin, iaitu nama kolokial (yang digunakan setiap hari) bagi negara itu, dan bukannya nama standard atau sastera Arab zaman pertengahan bagi negara itu, iaitu Filastin atau 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.

Mengapa menerbitkan bentuk vernakular dan menggunakan bentuk Arab vernakular untuk Palestin bagi akhbar nasionalis terkemuka, Falastin, dan bukannya menggunakan Filastin atau Filistin, nama standard Arab tradisional bagi negara itu – nama-nama yang berakar sejak awal Islam? Bentuk Arab klasik, Filastin atau Filistin, bukan sahaja diingati pada abad ke-19; bentuk itu juga digunakan dalam tulisan Palestin dan Arab serta sinonim dengan satu unit geografi pentadbiran (Abd al-Hadi 1923: 32). Lebih-lebih lagi, bentuk standard Filastin digunakan oleh Khair al-Din al-Ramli pada abad ke-17, Mahkamah Syariah Islam Jerusalem pada abad ke-18 dan Khalil Beidas pada 1890-an. Oleh kerana para editor pengasas sendiri tidak memberikan penjelasan, jawapan kepada penerimaan bentuk vernakular Falastin berkemungkinan berbilang aspek dan bergantung pada konteks: (a) dalam zaman moden, pemvernakularan, ‘kebangsaan’ dan keperluan untuk mewujudkan identiti nasional yang tersendiri dapat dilihat berulang kali di Eropah awal moden, di Rusia moden, Turki, Jepun dan pelbagai negara di seluruh Asia; (b) pemvernakularan dilihat di Palestin Uthmaniyyah lewat sebagai kunci kepada penanda identiti nasional yang tersendiri (malah yang terpisah); (c) dengan menamakan akhbar nasional ‘dari bawah’, para editor memilih bentuk Falastin sebagai istilah yang paling lazim dituturkan dan paling popular digunakan oleh rakyat Palestin tempatan dan di jalan-jalan Palestin, berbanding Filastin, yang sebahagian besarnya terhad kepada tulisan dalam bahasa Arab golongan terpelajar dan elit budaya negara itu. Jelasnya, editor dan wartawan Falastin bertekad untuk mempopularkan nasionalisme Palestin ‘dari bawah’ dan dalam kalangan rakyat biasa, dan bukan sekadar mengurungnya dalam kalangan elit tempatan yang berpendidikan.

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.

Falastin juga diasaskan di Jaffa, jauh dari pengawasan pihak berkuasa Uthmaniyyah di Baitul Maqdis, yang sangat dicurigai oleh nasionalis Palestin awal. Kedua-dua Jaffa dan Haifa – yang berkait rapat dengan Landasan Kereta Api Hejaz Uthmaniyyah dan golongan kelas menengah Palestin yang sedang meningkat, serta mula menenggelamkan bandar pelabuhan Acre yang berkuasa dari segi sejarah sejak akhir abad ke-19 – muncul sebagai pusat ekonomi dan budaya utama di Palestin akhir zaman Uthmaniyyah, bersaing dengan pusat budaya yang secara tradisinya paling berkuasa di negara itu: al-Quds al-Sharif (Baitul Maqdis). Persaingan tiga hala ini dan kebangkitan budaya yang dinamik di Palestin akhir zaman Uthmaniyyah akhirnya memastikan kemunculan sebuah negara yang kaya dan pelbagai dari segi budaya tetapi agak bersatu, yang majoritinya berbahasa Arab, menjelang Perang Dunia Pertama.

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.

Di Haifa pada Disember 1908, tiga tahun sebelum penubuhan Falastin di Jaffa, wartawan Palestin Najib Nassar (1865‒1947) – yang pernah bekerja sebagai ahli farmasi untuk Hospital Scotland di Tiberias, Galilee – telah menubuhkan dan menyunting al-Karmel (dinamakan sempena Gunung Karmel di daerah Haifa), akhbar mingguan anti-penjajah Palestin yang pertama dalam bahasa Arab (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

Surat-surat khabar Palestin awal dari bandar-bandar pesisir Jaffa dan Haifa ini memainkan peranan penting dalam penggambaran dan pembinaan semula tekstual identiti Palestin moden pada akhir zaman Uthmaniyyah (Beška 2011, 2016b). Walau bagaimanapun, perlu sentiasa diingat bahawa dalam konsep identiti Arab Palestin moden, perkembangan nasionalisme Palestin dan rasa patriotisme wilayah tempatan Palestin yang semakin meningkat sentiasa berkait rapat dengan identifikasi yang sangat mendalam terhadap persekitaran politik dan budaya Arab di sekelilingnya (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

Seperti yang telah kami tunjukkan, ingatan sosial pribumi ('ingatan tentang ingatan') mengenai Palestin bersejarah telah dipelihara dalam tulisan-tulisan pengarang Muslim seperti Khair al-Din al-Ramli (1585–1671) dan dalam arkib Mahkamah Syariah Islam Jerusalem pada abad ke-18 (Rood 2004), serta dalam bentuk tempatan nama 'Falastin'. Tambahan pula, berdasarkan ingatan sosial pribumi dan dialek Palestin, pemilihan nama Palestin tempatan Falastin untuk akhbar Jaffa oleh dua wartawan Arab Palestin beragama Kristian Ortodoks Yunani, al-ʿIssas, mengulangi nama peribadi negara dalam kalangan orang Arab Muslim zaman pertengahan, iaitu Falastin dan 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.

Dalam sebuah artikel pilihan yang luar biasa, Yousef Hanna al-ʿIssa mengemukakan kembali ingatan sosial setempat tentang Filastin bersejarah.

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

Akhbar Falastin yang anti-Zionis dan penuh semangat perlawanan (1911–1967) menyumbang secara ketara kepada pembentukan identiti Palestin yang baharu (berbeza dan berasingan) (Tamari 2014). Dasar editorial Falastin juga bersifat 'progresif', kerana ia mempertahankan fallah Palestin dalam isu tanah dan berjuang menentang fanatisme agama, sektarianisme dan kejahilan (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).

Geografi budaya para editor Falastin menganut kewarganegaraan Uthmaniyyah yang sekular serta kesaksamaan, yang digabungkan dengan patriotisme Palestin tempatan. Mereka juga mempromosikan nasionalisme budaya-linguistik yang autonomi, yang merangkumi warisan keagamaan dan budaya Arab dalam Islam. Adapun geografi politik Palestin, al-ʿIssa menulis pada Januari 1912 bahawa sempadan ‘tanah air’nya (watan) meliputi ‘dari sempadan Mesir hingga ke Balqa21 dan dari pergunungan Moab [di pantai timur Laut Mati] hingga ke Laut Mediterranean’.22 Bandingkanlah persepsi nasionalis Palestin akhir zaman Uthmaniyyah ini terhadap Palestin, yang jelas mengambil inspirasi daripada kenangan Palestin bersejarah, termasuk Palaestina yang lebih luas pada zaman Byzantine dan wilayah Arab Jund Filastin, dengan representasi nasionalis Palestin selepas Perang Dunia Pertama terhadap negara ini, yang sejak itu secara simbolik terus terikat pada sempadan Palestin di bawah Mandat British (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).

Không cần: the user's text is in English, and the translation must be into Malay. Ia tidak sepenuhnya jelas sama ada representasi geo-politik Orthodox Yousef al-ʿIssa mengenai Falastin bersejarah pada tahun 1912 berasaskan memori sosial dan budaya Kristian Orthodox Arab Palestin yang berkait dengan Gereja Orthodox Jerusalem All Palestine yang bebas, yang bidang kuasa ekklesiastiknya telah diiktiraf dan dilaksanakan secara meluas ke atas Palestin yang lebih besar (‘Tiga Palestin’, abad ke-4 hingga ke-7 Masihi) sejak pertengahan abad ke-5 Masihi. Bidang kuasa ekklesiastik ini, yang sudah tentu diketahui oleh semua penganut Kristian Orthodox Palestin yang berpelajaran pada awal abad ke-20, telah berterusan hingga hari ini dan merangkumi seluruh Palestin/Israel masa kini dan Jordan. Dalam konteks ekklesiastik ini, penemuan luar biasa Peta Mozek Lantai Madaba Byzantine pada tahun 1884 (dibincangkan dalam bab empat), yang meliputi kawasan dari Mesir hingga Lubnan dan antara Laut Mediterranean dan gurun Arab Timur, serta dengan nama Palaestina dalam inskripsi Greek-nya, dan penglibatan Patriarkat Greek Orthodox di Jerusalem yang semakin meningkat dalam kajian peta tersebut, serta publisiti tempatan dan antarabangsa mengenai penemuannya dalam tempoh antara awal 1890-an dan 1906,23 mungkin mempunyai kaitan tertentu dengan cara Yousef al-ʿIssa menggambarkan sempadan Palestin pada tahun 1912. Mengenai Peta Madaba itu sendiri, representasi pertama yang diketahui telah dihasilkan di Percetakan Franciscan di Jerusalem pada tahun 1897, dengan bantuan Patriarkat Greek Orthodox di Jerusalem. Tambahan pula, sejak akhir abad ke-19, komuniti Orthodox Arab Palestin telah terlibat dalam perjuangan mengenai pengarabaan Gereja Orthodox Palestin dan promosi uskup serta ketua hierarki Arab dalam Patriarkat Orthodox Jerusalem yang dikuasai oleh Greek. Malah selama berpuluh tahun di bawah penyuntingan sepupu al-ʿIssa, Falastin terus berdedikasi bukan sahaja kepada nasionalisme wilayah Palestin dalam kerangka perpaduan Arab pan-Arab, tetapi juga kepada komuniti Ortodoks Arab Palestin dalam perjuangannya menentang Patriarkat Ortodoks Jerusalem yang didominasi oleh Greek. Oleh itu, ingatan gerejawi Ortodoks tentang Palestin yang lebih luas di bawah Byzantine tidak boleh diketepikan, kerana ia kekal dalam retorik Patriarkat Ortodoks Jerusalem sehingga hari ini. Walau apa pun, satu perkara jelas: dari segi sejarah, dan menurut ahli geografi dan penulis Muslim Palestin, wilayah ‘Balqa’ – yang disebut oleh al-ʿIssa – terletak di barat laut ‘Amman, ibu negara Jordan masa kini, bukan sebahagian daripada wilayah Jund Filastin pada Zaman Pertengahan; malah, al-Balqa pada asalnya dan secara sejarah merupakan sebahagian daripada wilayah Islam Jund Dimashq (wilayah Damsyik), dan sebahagian besarnya di bawah pemerintahan Umayyah tunduk kepadanya, sebuah wilayah besar yang turut merangkumi wilayah-wilayah lain di timur Sungai Jordan (Le Strange 2010: 43‒48; Blankinship 1994: 47‒48, 292, nota 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).

Walau bagaimanapun, akhbar Falastin menjadi harian Arab yang paling meluas edarannya dan, oleh itu, paling berpengaruh di Palestin semasa Mandat British, dengan kuat membentuk wacana gerakan politik nasionalis Palestin ketika gerakan itu berjuang menentang dua kuasa asing: imperialisme British dan penjajahan peneroka Zionis (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), manakala wacananya selepas 1918 memberi tumpuan kepada geografi Mandat Palestin. Sejak permulaannya pada akhir zaman Uthmaniyyah di Palestin, Falastin juga merupakan pengkritik negara Arab yang paling lantang dan paling konsisten terhadap projek penempatan Zionis Eropah.

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.