American Consuls in the Holy Land, 1832- 1914 (review)

This volume contains an abundance of facts about nineteenth century Palestine that are drawn from several archives in the US, Europe and Israel. Future research, whether focusing on trade, local customs, agriculture, politics or almost any other conceivable area within this subject, should therefore rely extensively on the information amassed in this study. Yet, this volume does not successfully mold the raw material accumulated into a narrative which could offer a new and better understanding of the period. In view of its detailed and comprehensive documentation this is quite disappointing and even frustrating.

The initial approach of this study is very promising. It offers the potentially untraditional perspective of a relatively marginal and politically uninvolved American consulate to describe the socioeconomic history and politics of nineteenth century Palestine. Rather than focusing on this main story, however, the author prepares the setting with excessive facts and descriptions, such as the development of the term “consul” from ancient Rome to the Middle Ages.

The irrelevant information obscures the overall picture from the casual reader whereas historians and informed readers will find many of the descriptions, such as a detailed explanation of the capitulations system, trivial and unnecessary. Moreover, some of the excessive “facts,” those which are drawn from secondary sources, are inaccurate. For example the author describes Isaac Leeser as one of the founders and leaders of Conservative Judaism when in fact Leeser died many years before the actual foundation of the Conservative movement and at best he could be referred to as one of the forerunners of the “Conservative philosophy.”

Aside from the irrelevant material, the book can be divided into two main parts. The first one consists of three introductory chapters. First, the religious and scholarly motives toward the Holy Land of an American society which otherwise was indifferent of everything relating to foreign policy. Second, the political setting of the capitulations system in which the American and other foreign consuls operated. The third chapter focuses on the commercial, political and consular ties between the U.S. and the Ottoman Empire. The following three chapters, which constitute the second half of this volume, deal with various aspects of American consular work in Palestine. They describe the unique personalities, outlooks and religious beliefs of the various consuls. They give a detailed review of the consulate’s administrative structure. Primarily this section discusses the many administrative, economic and legal services offered by the consulate to the different groups of American citizens (missionaries, Christian and Jewish settlers, pilgrims and tourists) and to its local Jewish proteges. These descriptions include some interesting encounters of American individuals with the distinct culture, customs and perspective of the Orient.

According to its title, the concluding chapter should discuss the importance of the documents to research on nineteenth century Palestine. Unfortunately this is done only in very general terms. No attempt is made to cull any outstanding facts or new insights from the information gathered in this volume. The author, instead, leaves this critical task to the intelligent reader. It is therefore my recommendation to consider this addition to the shelf of nineteenth century Palestine, not as a study with its own distinctive view, but rather as a reference with extensive archival work and a thorough bibliography.