Wasomi wa Mashariki ya Kati ya kisasa mara nyingi hujishughulisha na historia na siasa za tabaka tawala za mijini, pamoja na utaifa na itikadi za kisasa zilizoingizwa kutoka Ulaya katika karne ya 19. Mkabala huu huelekea kulenga vituo vya mijini na kuzaa tena masimulizi ya tabaka tawala, huku ukipuuza jamii za wakulima na "jamii za mipakani", pamoja na watu wa chini na waliotengwa. Mkabala huu pia unachangia katika kunyamazisha sehemu kubwa ya historia ya Wapalestina na kuwanyang'anya utambulisho wao wenyewe na uwezo wao wa kutenda kwa pamoja. Edward Said alisema kuwa Palestina na watu wa Palestina mara chache huruhusiwa kujisemea wenyewe; badala yake wanapaswa kuwakilishwa na wasomi wenye mamlaka kutoka Magharibi au Israeli – wanaoitwa Waorientalist, wanaakiolojia wa Biblia, wanajiografia wa maandiko (Said 1980) – au kutazamwa kupitia mtazamo wa miundo ya kifalme na mifumo ya kimjini ya walinzi na wateja (Mamluk, Ottoman, Uingereza).

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).