Maher Al-Sharif: A History of Modern Palestine

The problems of writing the history of the country have been deeply present in the books and writings of Maher Al-Sharif. The Palestinian historian and researcher posed many challenges, including the ability to write a local history independently of Western curricula, including colonial curricula in the post-Nakba period, as well as the Arabic trend that dominated the writing of the Palestinian history in the twenties and thirties of the last century. Al-Sharif does not stop returning to that period of Palestinian history, in his books and studies that came as basic contributions to the writing of Palestinian history in all its cultural, intellectual and political aspects, as in “Communism and the question Arab national in Palestine 1919-1948 “(1981) and” Introduction to the history of Palestine “Economic and social studies” (1985), “Searching for an entity: a study on Palestinian political thought 1908-1993” (1995).

Thus, Al-Sharif returns to that period from the window of Palestinian cultural and intellectual modernity during the years prior to the Nakba in his new book “The Palestinian Intellectual and the Stakes of Modernity (1908-1948)” ( Institute for Palestinian Studies). The author starts from the recognition of the existence of a modern Palestinian intellectual project that extends from 1908 to 1948, within four decades, which is the period covered by the study. However, the challenge of the book and its basic questions lie in elucidating and writing the characteristics of this project, and its influences between the Arab Renaissance and modern European cultures, either through foreign mission schools in the country, or through students who attended European universities. That period brought many concerns that accompanied the modernist project, which were not separated from the political reality in Palestine and the struggle for survival imposed by the Zionist project. Al-Sharif traveled through those years through various references, including liberal, patriotic, nationalist, and left-wing newspapers and magazines that began publication since the Ottoman coup in 1908 and continued to be published during the British Mandate era. It also delves into the legacy that Palestinian intellectuals left at that time in their diaries, such as in the diaries of Khalil al-Sakakini, Omar al-Saleh al-Barghouti, Akram Zuaiter, and others. The study also extends the books of the most prominent faces of that time, such as Isaaf Nashashibi, Ahmed Sameh al-Khalidi, Muhammad Ruhi al-Khalidi, Qadri Hafez Touqan and Najati Sidqi. Through its 12 chapters, the book addresses the characteristics and aspects of Palestinian life at that time, including the reality of education, literature and translation, and the most prominent cultural and intellectual faces active at that time. Parallel to the launch of the book, the Institute for Palestinian Studies is organizing a seminar for researcher Maher Al-Sharif, in which he will be interviewed by academic Ibrahim or Hashhash at the Khalil Sakakini Center in Ramallah at 6 pm tomorrow, Monday 12 October.

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