Thread by @HusseinAboubak

Khalidi promises to counter the assumption that the Palestinian identity only existed because of resistance to Zionism. He completely failed to carry this promise throughout a book that is mostly dedicated to retelling Arab reactions to Zionism. The first argument of Khalidi /1

https://twitter.com/HusseinAboubak/status/1409935139539402755

is that the Palestinian identity has its roots in Islamic reverence of Jerusalem, which begs the question of why such reverence should be considered distinctly Palestinian and a sufficient base for a modern Palestinian nationalism and not Islamic or Arab? Moreover, Judaism and/2

Christianity also religiously revere Jerusalem which at best gives the Jews equal claim to a Palestine-based nationalism. The two chapters titled Elements of Identity I&II exclusively tell of Arab efforts against Zionism. Moreover, the chapter takes us to Beirut, Cairo, /3

Damascus, and Istanbul more than it takes us to Jerusalem or other Arab cities and is strictly speaking dealing with the confused and fluid positions of the educated Arab notables and elites, a distinct minority within a sea of largely illiterate populations. Many of such /4

anti-Zionist writings were primarily political critiques of either the Ottoman Union and Progress or of other Arab leaders that instrumentalized the “Zionist threat” for purposes of political polemical rhetoric. A classical feature of antisemitism that always turns Jews to /5

the other against which one bounces his ideas. The crucial section of the book, discussing the early decades of the 20th century, is not at all serving Khalidi’s intent given that it was a period of general identity confusion and it was impossible to distinguish between what /6

is transnationally Arab, Islamic, or particularly territorial, a problem which is largely still present till today, not to speak of potent local, tribal, and family loyalties. This is especially clear from the anti-Zionist polemics from 1910s Khalidi is using which call on /7

the Zionist settlers to become “Ottoman citizens,” an imperial anti-nationalist identity that was soon to disappear. Even if we contend that such anti-Zionist opinions of the journalists and notables cited are consequential, and they are, they positions remain restricted /8

between Ottoman Arabism and Arab nationalism without anything that can be described as the nucleus of independent Palestinian nationalism. The section about the resistance of the Arab peasantry to early Zionist settlements, considered by many to be the start of Palestinian /9

resistance, fails to justify the retroactive nationalization of such a resistance given that it was largely a dissatisfaction with a new system of modern property relations in which Arab landowners were a part, and many peasants accepted employment or monetary compensation /10

Blaming the lack of cohesive Palestinian identity narrative on the absence of state structure due to the lack of Palestinian statehood doesn’t take into account the identity conflicts in surrounding Arab societies with such structures. Why are Palestinians so different from /11

Iraqis, Syrians, Lebanese, etc? Even in age-old Egypt, the country I grew up in, issues of identity were problematic for most of the 20th century. Khalidi ended up, at least to this reader, affirming the argument that he claimed to be refuting, that the basis of Palestinian /12

national identity is nothing but the opposition to Jewish settlement in Israel and to the Zionist project. However, he failed to mention the unimaginable amount of abhorrent antisemitism which came with such purposes and infected the entire Arab and Muslim self-conception /13

beyond Palestine. This is not an attack on the Palestinians and their desire to have their identity, but a cry that the Palestinian identity as it stands, is largely a polemic against Jews, the West, and neighboring Arab countries and is in need of serious redesign and /14

rethinking. All expositions of Palestinian identity from the most notable and celebrated Palestinian authors start and end of tales of victimization by Israel, the international community, and the betrayal of Arab countries. How is this a good identity to have for anyone? /15

This is not about Israel, this is about the Palestinians and their future. As long as Palestinian identity is built on completely negating Jewish rights to Israel, Palestinian identity as it exists will remain toxic and chauvinist. Accepting Israel's right to exist and /16

adjusting Palestinian identity structure to accommodate such recognition will be a good place to start.

In his opening of the book, Khalidi naturally starts with the quintessential story of Palestinian identity, the unpleasant and painful interaction at crossing ports not just in Israel but also in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Kuwait, and elsewhere. An identity /

seen as suspicious by Jews and Arabs alike. Palestinian intellectuals would do their people a service by having offering some sincere reflection and introspection at why others see being “Palestinian” suspicious. An identity that is thoroughly polemical and antagonistic against /

both Jews and Arabs, is naturally and sadly a source of unease.

In critiquing the self-conception of Palestinian identity I do not seek to deprive the Palestinians of any rights but for one right only, their self-perceived right to negate Jewish and Israeli rights and existence.