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Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, by Beshara Doumani. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995. xviii + 245 pages. Appends. to p. 258. Gloss. to p. 260. Notes to p. 308. Bibl. to p. 325. Index to p. 340. $50 cloth; $20 paper.
Reviewed by Dror Ze'evi
Rediscovering Palestine is a very good book. It is readable, innovative and often original. It adds new information, reveals important sources, and explores them with a sober and critical eye. This study examines the 18th- and l9th-century social and political life of the Ottoman district surrounding the city of Nablus, a medium-sized Palestinian town that lies to the north of Jerusalem. Olive oil, soap, and textiles and cotton are used as three strands of a narrative thread around which the story of the region is woven. By telling the story of each commodity, the author examines the formation of social structures, trade networks, political upheavals, the region's integration into the European-dominated world economy, and the crucial importance of city-village relations. Doumani does well not to rely solely on sijils (records of the local shari'a [Islamic law] court), which have become a sine qua...