The Emergence of a Collective Palestinian Identity

Following the Young Turk Revolution, Palestinians began to unite as a people and to take steps to claim the homeland. While Zionism posed a threat to their local hegemony, British imperialism also became a growing concern. It is for this reason that the Palestinians set out on a collective struggle to defend their rights, which was expressed in the form of petitions addressed to the central government in Istanbul and within the local Arabic press. Furthermore, during these years a local identity emerged, Palestinianism, with Muslim and Christian Arabs forming new ties, and the urban population creating new bonds with Palestine’s Arab peasants. Lastly, this chapter shows the worries Palestinians had concerning not only Jewish immigration to Palestine, but also Palestinian emigration from it.