Of Palestinian Citizenship: Discourses and Practices, 1918‐1937
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Banko, Lauren Elizabeth (2013) The 'invention' of Palestinian citizenship: discourses and practices, 1918‐1937. PhD Thesis. SOAS, University of London http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/18058 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. THE ‘INVENTION’ OF PALESTINIAN CITIZENSHIP: DISCOURSES AND PRACTICES, 1918-1937 Lauren Elizabeth Banko Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD in History 2013 Department of History SOAS, University of London 1 Declaration for PhD thesis I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of SOAS, University of London concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: ________________________________ Date: _____________________ 2 Abstract The dissertation contextualizes the unique creation of citizenship during the first two decades of the British-administered Palestine Mandate. It emphasises the mandate’s quasi- colonial regime in order to understand how the British officials and the Palestinian Arabs understood and actively practiced citizenship and the rights associated with that status. The aim of the dissertation is to offer a historical analysis of the legislation, discourses, practices and expressions of Palestinian nationality and citizenship. In doing so, it finds that nationality and citizenship became less like abstract concepts and more like statuses integrated into political, social and civil life and as markers of civic identity in a changing society. British officials in London and in Jerusalem crafted Palestinian nationality and citizenship in order to ensure that these statuses reflected the policy of support for a Jewish national home in Palestine. The thesis examines the topic by analysing both the British colonial perceptions and subsequent legislation of citizenship in Palestine and the reactions by the Arab population to the transition from Ottoman subjecthood to the new status of Palestinian citizens within the larger British colonial empire. I argue that the native population relied heavily on their pre- war experience as nationals of the Ottoman Empire, a status granted by both jus sanguinis and jus soli provisions, as a basis for their contestation over mandate citizenship. Meanwhile, British officials crafted citizenship to be separate from nationality based on prior colonial legislation elsewhere, a view of the territory as divided communally, and the need to offer Jewish immigrants the easiest path to acquisition of Palestinian citizenship in order to uphold the mandate’s policy. From 1918 throughout the Palestine Revolt that began in 1936, the institutionalisation of citizenship effectively distinguished between Jewish and Arab citizens and allowed for the administration to treat the citizenship status each group differently. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgments..............................................................................................................7 Abbreviations......................................................................................................................8 Note on Transliteration........................................................................................................9 Chapter One: Introduction.............................................................................................10 I. Background: the Palestinians, the mandate and the construction of citizenship II. Research themes III. Citizenship, national identity and nationalism a. General developments in the Ottoman Empire and the Arab provinces b. General developments in the colonial world c. General developments in western Europe d. The nation-state, nationality and self-determination in the aftermath of the First World War IV. The Palestine Mandate, citizenship and the colonial citizen in secondary literature a. Citizenship in Palestine and the Middle East b. Citizenship, colonialism and the modern nation-state c. Regionally-specific studies on citizenship and Palestinian popular nationalism V. Primary sources Chapter Two: Inventing the National and the Citizen: The British Legislative Context, 1918-1925...........................................................................................................50 I. Introduction II. Great Britain, Palestine and the League of Nations: questions of nationality, 1919-1922 III. Norman Bentwich and discourses of nationality, citizenship and imperial protection in the early 1920s IV. Mandate legislation, 1921-1922 V. The draft ‘nationality’ order: definitions, concepts and the status of Palestine, 1922-1924 VI. Implementing citizenship legislation in Palestine, 1923-1925 VII. Conclusion Chapter Three: Nationality, Citizenship and Rights: Discourses and Practices from the Palestinian Perspective, 1918-1925..........................................................................79 I. Introduction 4 II. Ottoman foundations of nationality and the discourse of ‘rights’ III. Post-war Palestine and the development of a political community, 1918-1921 a. Nationalist organisations and the concept of rights b. Political nationality IV. The national movement and the meaning of Palestinian nationality a. Civil and political rights b. Debating nationality V. The rights and duties of the citizen and the state, and the evolution of citizenship practices VI. The immediate reactions to the 1925 Palestine Citizenship Order-in-Council VII. Conclusion Chapter Four: The Diaspora and the Meaning of Palestinian Citizenship, 1925- 1931..................................................................................................................................115 I. Introduction a. Links between the diaspora and the homeland b. The history of the Palestinian diaspora II. The Palestinian Arab mahjar and civic identity, 1918-1925 a. The growth of civic awareness in the diaspora b. The emigrants and British policies III. Nationality as citizenship: discourses and practices in the diaspora and at home, 1925-1931 a. The diaspora and connections with civil society in Palestine b. The diaspora and the right to return IV. The Committee for the Defense of Arab Emigrant Rights to Palestinian Citizenship V. Consuls, emigrants and the British Government: miscommunication and divergent practices VI. Conclusion Chapter Five: Institutionalising Citizenship: Creating Distinctions between Arab and Jewish Palestinian Citizens, 1926-1934................................................................149 I. Introduction II. The politics of distinction: Palestinian Jewish and Arab citizenships III. Internationalising citizenship in the Palestinian context: enforcing passports and visas IV. Bureaucratising Palestinian nationality: naturalisation, revocation and amending citizenship a. Obtaining naturalised citizenship b. The removal of citizenship c. Amending citizenship and treaty nationality V. The amended order and the application of citizenship a. The removal of Jewish Palestinian citizenship b. Undesirable citizens 5 VI. Conclusion Chapter Six: From Peasants into Citizens: Expressions of Citizenship and the Mobilisation of Palestinian Arab Discourses of Rights, 1926-1935...........................184 I. Introduction II. The press and mandate legislation III. Palestinian popular politics and the representation of subaltern citizens a. Creating spaces for citizenship: students, peasants, workers and women b. Transitions in the political language of citizenship IV. The Palestine Istiqlal Party, pan-Arab citizenship and the defense of citizenship rights a. The political language and actions of the Istiqlalists b. Changing tactics and the defense of citizenship rights V. Conclusion Chapter Seven: Stalled Citizenship, the Possibility of Arab Civic Identity and the Palestine Revolt, 1936-1937...........................................................................................215 I. Introduction II. Palestinian Arab civic identity practices and the general strike a. Grassroots civic action b. The general strike and non-violence c. The Palestine Revolt and the notion of civic duties III. Stalled citizenship: from the citizenry to the ‘population of Palestine’ IV. Palestinian citizenship and the Royal Peel Commission a. Citizenship struggles: case studies, 1936-1937 b. Testimony to the Peel Commission c. Recommendations on the issue of citizenship d. Partition and citizenship V. Conclusion: proposed amendments to citizenship legislation Chapter Eight: Conclusion: The Future of Palestine Mandate Citizenship: Discourses and Practices, post-1937.............................................................................250 I. Introduction