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The Invention of Palestinian Citizenship, 1918–1947 55028_Banko.indd028_Banko.indd i 224/06/164/06/16 4:344:34 PPMM 55028_Banko.indd028_Banko.indd iiii 224/06/164/06/16 4:344:34 PPMM The Invention of Palestinian Citizenship, 1918–1947 Lauren Banko 55028_Banko.indd028_Banko.indd iiiiii 224/06/164/06/16 4:344:34 PPMM Edinburgh University Press is one of the leading university presses in the UK. We publish academic books and journals in our selected subject areas across the humanities and social sciences, combining cutting-edge scholarship with high editorial and production values to produce academic works of lasting importance. For more information visit our website: edinburghuniversitypress.com © Lauren Banko, 2016 Edinburgh University Press Ltd The Tun – Holyrood Road 12 (2f) Jackson’s Entry Edinburgh EH8 8PJ www.euppublishing.com Typeset in 11/13 Adobe Sabon by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd, and printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 4744 1550 7 (hardback) ISBN 978 1 4744 1551 4 (webready PDF) ISBN 978 1 4744 1552 1 (epub) The right of Lauren Banko to be identifi ed as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Copyright and Related RightsRegulations 2003 (SI No. 2498). 55028_Banko.indd028_Banko.indd iivv 224/06/164/06/16 4:344:34 PPMM Contents Acknowledgements vii 1. Introduction 1 2. Inventing the National and the Citizen in Palestine: Great Britain, Sovereignty and the Legislative Context, 1918–1925 23 3. The Notion of ‘Rights’ and the Practices of Nationality and Citizenship from the Palestinian Arab Perspective, 1918–1925 55 4. The Diaspora and the Meanings of Palestinian Citizenship, 1925–1931 84 5. Institutionalising Citizenship: Creating Distinctions between Arab and Jewish Palestinian Citizens, 1926–1934 113 6. Whose Rights to Citizenship? Expressions and Variations of Palestinian Mandate Citizenship, 1926–1935 147 7. The Palestine Revolt and Stalled Citizenship 169 8. Conclusion – The End of the Experiment: Discourses on Citizenship at the Close of the Mandate 196 Notes 215 Bibliography 256 Index 273 55028_Banko.indd028_Banko.indd v 224/06/164/06/16 4:344:34 PPMM 55028_Banko.indd028_Banko.indd vvii 224/06/164/06/16 4:344:34 PPMM Acknowledgements his book is the product of not only my own research and writing, Tbut it comes out of the encouragement and support through- out several years from supervisors, colleagues, friends and family members. My long-standing interest and research in the history of the Middle East has always been supported despite the fact that it has surely seemed strange to a number of family members and friends. An ample number of individuals and institutions have acted as guides along the way. This monograph came out of a PhD thesis, submitted to the History Department at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. The focus on citizen- ship and nationality came somewhat indirectly out of an academic and personal interest in the history of Palestine during the Mandate and the ideologies, political, social and civic forces that shaped this history. However, this focus is not entirely history – its implications loom large today in the nature of citizenship and nationality granted to, revoked from and manipulated by a number of actors in Israel, the Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem and European and American governments. In addition, the narrative of Palestinian Arab émigrés in the decades before 1948 has been crucial to the civic identity of Palestinian refugees post-1948. While I have attempted to shine light on these Ottoman and interwar Palestinian emigrants and their citizenship status, this remains a fi eld for further historical and political enquiry. Throughout the process of the PhD research, and the research and writing of the manuscript, my former colleagues at SOAS have provided an overwhelming amount of encouragement. I owe a big debt of gratitude to my doctoral supervisor, Nelida Fuccaro, whose ever-patient and critical advice, suggestions and corrections always left me feeling energised and inspired about the initial project and then the manscript. Thanks are also owed to Benjamin Fortna, Konrad Hirschler, Laleh Khalili, Michael Talbot, Fabian Stremmel, 55028_Banko.indd028_Banko.indd vviiii 224/06/164/06/16 4:344:34 PPMM viii | the invention of palestinian citizenship, 1918–1947 David Beamish, Jacques Rouyer Guillet, David Lunn, Aparajita Mukhopadhyay, Jared McDonald, Katie Natanel, Philipp Wirtz, Arash Sedighi, Jake Norris, Nadim Bawalsa, Engin Isin, Ilan Pappe, Mutaz Qafi sheh, Justin McCarthy, Julie Peteet and William Clar- ence Smith. A number of individuals, archives and institutions in Great Brit- ain, Palestine, Israel, and Beirut, Lebanon have graciously donated their time, archival materials and funds throughout the research and writing process. Although I will inadvertently leave some people out, thanks go to Penny Mitchell and Hadeel Qazzaz at the Palestinian American Research Centre (PARC), Salim Tamari and the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) (Ramallah), the Institute for Palestine Stud- ies Library in Beirut, the Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute of Interna- tional Studies, Roger Heacock, Assem Khalil, Musa Budeiri, Adnan Musallam, Butrus and Naila Abu-Manneh, Khader Salameh, Mudar Kassi, Haifa Khalidi, the lovely individuals of the Friday Shat-ha group and many others. The archivists at the National Archives in Kew, the British Library, the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, Cam- bridge, and the Kenyon Institute (KI) in Jerusalem were always helpful, as was Debbie Usher at the Middle East Centre Archive in St Anthony’s, Oxford. Despite the language barrier, I received a great deal of help from the archivists at the Israel State Archives and the Hebrew University Library. The funding from PARC, the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL), the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF) and SOAS during 2011 and 2012 made the bulk of the research that forms the manuscript possible. The Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies Department of the University of Manchester and Moshe Behar have been accommodating, provid- ing me with a base and a position from which I was able to fi nish the manuscript. The manuscript has benefi ted from the discussions, questions and engagement with its major and minor themes at a number of confer- ences and workshops, including those held by the Moise A. Khayral- lah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies and Akram Khater, Institut français du Proche-Orient (IFPO) and Claire Beaugrand, the Institute for Palestine Studies (Ramallah), Experts and Expertise in the League of Nations conference (Paris, Institut National des Lanques et Cul- tures Orientales (INALCO)) and the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) (London). The editorial staff at Edinburgh University Press (EUP), including Nicola Ramsey and Ellie Bush, have been patient and accommodating. I must also sincerely thank the two anonymous 55028_Banko.indd028_Banko.indd vviiiiii 224/06/164/06/16 4:344:34 PPMM acknowledgements | ix readers, whose critical, engaging and well-informed comments have shaped this manuscript. A huge expression of thanks goes to Nathan who read partial and full drafts of the chapters and whose non-specialist comments have been ever-helpful. Finally, my parents, Blaise and Dana Banko, receive the greatest amount of thanks for their love and encour- agement despite their often raised eyebrows at my excursions and research. None of this would be possible without them. Any omis- sions or mistakes are my own. 55028_Banko.indd028_Banko.indd iixx 224/06/164/06/16 4:344:34 PPMM For my mother, Dana Banko (1948–2015), who very much wanted to see this book, and for my father, Blaise Banko, who will see it published. 55028_Banko.indd028_Banko.indd x 224/06/164/06/16 4:344:34 PPMM 1 Introduction n August of 1929, shortly after the end of the outbreak of violence Ithat had fl ared up over access to the Wailing Wall (or Western Wall) in Jerusalem, one Arabic press editorial concluded that the riots stemmed from the Palestine Citizenship Order-in-Council issued four years prior, in 1925. That citizenship order-in-council, the author of the editorial wrote, supported not only Jewish immigration in large numbers into the territory but it did not foster any sense of loyalty between newly created Jewish Palestinian citizens and the Palestine Mandate Government. He described many of the Jewish immigrants to Palestine as English, Italian or French and argued that they remained English, Italian or French after their arrival. Not only did they fail to truly integrate into local society, they did not immedi- ately naturalise as Palestinian citizens. This, the writer claimed, was contrary to the post-war principle of nationality. Within Palestine, the journalist added, their lack of naturalisation created an impos- sible situation wherein Jewish residents would not be solely loyal to the Government of Palestine; rather, they were loyal to what the gov- ernment termed their ‘country of origin’ despite habitual residence within the territory of the mandate. In the journalist’s opinion, the problem with this was that such Jews who did not take Palestin- ian citizenship could individually and collectively infl uence the gov- ernments and other residents of their home countries with respect to policy towards Palestine.1 In the wake of the 1929 riots such an accusitive type