Jerusalem in Diplomatic History How to Transfer “Holy Russia” into the Holy Land Elena Astafieva The United States and the Struggle in the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem James R. Stocker Greece in the Holy Land during the British Mandate Konstantinos Papastathis Autumn 2017 “Our Country’s Prestige” . The Status of France’s Representation in Jerusalem Dominique Trimbur French Language Teaching in Palestine: A Diplomatic Stake Clementine Rubio The Disappointed Consul: Nageeb J. Arbeely Linda K. Jacobs Marginal Diplomacy: Alexander Knesevich and the Consular Agency in Gaza Autumn 2017 Dotan Halevy The Italian Consulate in Jerusalem: The History of a Forgotten Diplomatic Mission Roberto Mazza, Maria Chiara Rioli, and Stéphane Ancel Vatican Diplomacy and Palestine Paolo Zanini UNESCO’s First Mission to the Holy Land Benedetta Serapioni www.palestine-studies.org INSTITUTE OF JERUSALEM STUDIES Editors: Salim Tamari and Issam Nassar Associate Editors: Penny Johnson and Alex Winder Managing Editor: Carol Khoury Guest Editor: Roberto Mazza Advisory Board Yazid Anani, A. M. Qattan Foundation, Ramallah Rochelle Davis, Georgetown University, USA Beshara Doumani, Brown University, USA Michael Dumper, University of Exeter, UK Rema Hammami, Birzeit University, Birzeit George Hintlian, Christian Heritage Institute, Jerusalem Huda al-Imam, Palestine Accueil, Jerusalem Omar Imseeh Tesdell, Birzeit University, Birzeit Nazmi al-Jubeh, Birzeit University, Birzeit Hasan Khader, al-Karmel Magazine, Ramallah Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University, USA Yusuf Natsheh, al-Quds University, Jerusalem Roberto Mazza, University of Limerick, Ireland Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Mada al-Carmel, Haifa Tina Sherwell, International Academy of Art Palestine, Ramallah The Jerusalem Quarterly (JQ) is published by the Institute of Jerusalem Studies (IJS), an affiliate of the Institute for Palestine Studies. The journal is dedicated to providing scholarly articles on Jerusalem’s history and on the dynamics and trends currently shaping the city. The Quarterly is known both for its pioneering social history and for its contemporary analyses of Jerusalem from writers on the ground, covering Palestinian lived experiences in the city, analyses of land appropriation and settlements and formal and informal negotiating strategies on, and visions for, the future of Jerusalem. Ranging from Ottoman and Mandate times to the complexities and dangers of the present, we offer incisive articles that analyze the role of culture, media, religion and politics in the struggles to claim the city. This journal is produced with the financial assistance of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Palestine/Jordan. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do therefore not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung, nor those of the editors or the Institute of Jerusalem Studies. www.palestine-studies.org ISSN 1565-2254 Design: PALITRA Design Printed by Studio Alpha, Palestine Autumn 2017 — Issue 71 formerly the Jerusalem Quarterly File For local subscriptions to JQ, contact: The Institute of Jerusalem Studies P.O. Box 21649, Jerusalem 91457 Tel: 972 2 298 9108, Fax: 972 2 295 0767 E-mail: [email protected] For international or US subscriptions, contact: The Institute for Palestine Studies 3501 M Street, N.W Washington, DC 20007 Or subscribe at the IPS website: www.palestine-studies.org INSTITUTE OF JERUSALEM STUDIES Table of Contents Jerusalem in Diplomatic History Editorial Diplomacy in the Holy Land: New Sources, Themes and Topics ..........................................3 Roberto Mazza, Guest Editor Russian Policy in Palestine in the Late Imperial Period, ................................................................7 Or How to Transfer "Holy Russia" into the Holy Land? Elena Astafieva The United States and the Struggle in ...............................................................................................................19 the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, 1955–1960 James R. Stocker Greece in the Holy Land during the British Mandate ....................................................................30 Konstantinos Papastathis “Our Country’s Prestige” .................................................................................................................................................43 The Status of France’s Representation in Jerusalem Dominique Trimbur French Language Teaching in Palestine: A Diplomatic Stake ...............................................59 Clementine Rubio The Disappointed Consul: Nageeb J. Arbeely ..........................................................................................69 Linda K. Jacobs Alexander Knesevich and the Consular Agency in Gaza, 1905–1914 ...........................81 Dotan Halevy The Italian Consulate in Jerusalem ......................................................................................................................94 The History of a Forgotten Diplomatic Mission, 1846–1940 Roberto Mazza, Maria Chiara Rioli, and Stéphane Ancel New Sources on the Ethiopian Christian Community ................................................................ 106 in Jerusalem, 1840–1940 Stéphane Ancel and Vincent Lemire Vatican Diplomacy and Palestine, 1900–1950 ....................................................................................... 120 Paolo Zanini UNESCO’s First Mission to the Holy Land, 1957–1960 ........................................................... 132 Benedetta Serapioni “Our Weapon Here Is the Prayer Rug” ....................................................................................................... 143 Abd El-Raouf Arnaout Jerusalem Statistical Yearbook, 2017: Summary ............................................................................. 148 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics Cover photo: Austrian Post Office, inside Jaffa Gate, at the turn of the century. G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Editorial Dictionary, diplomacy is “the activity of managing relations between different Diplomacy in the countries,” while a diplomat is “a person Holy Land: whose job is to represent his or her country in a foreign country.”1 Though this may be New Sources, Themes a simplified definition of a rather complex matter, it highlights the fact that we often and Topics believe diplomacy refers solely to how Roberto Mazza countries relate to each other; in other words, it is a business of high politics. With this issue of Jerusalem Quarterly, we want to show other aspects of diplomacy, not necessarily related to high politics and often with direct consequences for the people living in a specific territory: in our case Jerusalem and, more broadly, Palestine. Foreign residents and diplomats have been often marginalized when discussing the local population, as if they were somewhat alien to the local environment in which they lived and operated. The establishment of consulates in Palestine was a response to increased activity in the economic, social, and religious spheres of foreign subjects in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. The British consulate was first established in 1839, followed by the German in 1842, and then those of France, Italy, Austria, and Russia. Other smaller consulates opened at the beginning of the twentieth century, making Jerusalem a center of diplomatic activity that went beyond the borders of the city and the region. As representatives of their governments, consuls had to deal with both Ottoman authorities and the local population. Consuls were, in general, largely critical of the Ottomans and of the locals. Despite their latent and visible Orientalism, it was partly due to their constant pressure that the Jerusalem municipality worked to improve services like lighting, cleanliness, and public security. It is rather more difficult to assess the relationship Jerusalem Quarterly 71 [ 3 ] between consuls and the local population; often, consuls did not report about these relations or chose some sort of isolation. However, regardless of the degree of relations with the indigenous population, consuls were, and still are, residents of the locations in which they serve, whether they liked it or not. The articles presented in this issue of JQ are for the most part devoted to showing the variety of interaction between consular missions and the local environment, shifting the gaze from the center to the periphery. Some of the articles seem to look away from Jerusalem and Palestine to focus on political aspects of consular representation, as in the case of Elena Astafieva discussing Russian policies in Palestine toward the end of the nineteenth century. This analysis shows that Russia and Palestine were closer than we may think, by examining how Russians imagined and interpreted Palestine as Holy Land. But it also gives a glimpse of the impact of Russian pilgrims in Jerusalem. These were men and women who may have looked upon local Jerusalemites with some suspicion – Astafieva reminds us of the shock many Russians experienced upon learning that the Holy Land was ruled by Muslims – but they could not avoid interaction with the ‘natives’, whether for business or other services. Diplomacy and religion is a topic also discussed by James Stocker and Kostantinos Papastathis, as they look at the influence exercised over religious institutions by the United States in the first case, and Greece in the latter. Stocker brings back to light a neglected