LOcATING THe ZIONIST-ARAB eNcOUNTeR • 29racial thinking was a central part of the ways in which intellectuals
and others to Palestine’s north, in Syria, and south, in egypt, catego-
rized and conceived of themselves and of others. When the Jerusalem
of al- Khalidi and Ben- Yehuda is understood in this Nahḍa nexus, it is
unsurprising to discover that these men’s communities also employed
racial modes as they perceived one another.
Jerusalem and europeFinally, in numerous ways both real and imagined, Ben- Yehuda and
al- Khalidi’s Jerusalem was linked to europe. In a personal sense, these
two individuals were partly european: Ben- Yehuda and many of his
fellow Zionists in Jerusalem were born in eastern europe, while al-
Khalidi had studied in paris and served as the Ottoman consul general
in the south of France. Intellectually, culturally, even linguistically
(the conversation was likely conducted in French),^54 their encounter
in Jerusalem was one critically informed by, even inseparable from,
europe.
Jerusalem, and palestine more broadly, were the focus of immense
european attention in the fin de siècle. This attention is evident, of
course, in Zionism, the european- born Jewish nationalist movement di-
rected at Zion (the mountain that serves as a synecdoche for both Jeru-
salem and the entire Land of Israel). european interest is also apparent,
though, in the communities of european Christian missionaries, educa-
tors, and consuls that settled in palestine in this period. Beginning in
the mid- nineteenth century, numerous european countries, including
Britain, prussia, France, austria, russia, Italy, Greece, Spain, holland,
Belgium, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, established new consulates
in Jerusalem.^55 also beginning in the 1830s and continuing through
the end of the Ottoman period in palestine, european protestant mis-
sionary communities established themselves in Jerusalem.^56 these mis-
sionaries founded and staffed schools, hospitals, and other institutions
that served the needs of the often impoverished communities of pal-
estine. By Ottoman law, Christian missionaries were prohibited from
proselytizing Muslims. Instead, they focused their missionizing efforts
on the Jews (through, for example, the London Society for promoting
(^54) An irony, of course, as Ben- Yehuda is best known for his efforts to revive Hebrew
as a quotidian, spoken language and for his stubborn refusal to speak to his son in any
language other than hebrew.
(^55) Ben- arieh, Jerusalem in the 19th Century— the Old City, 185– 86.
(^56) Perry, “ha- Naẓrut ha- maʿaravit,” 141– 45.