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1  Introduction  The tale of written texts and their use in twentieth-century Palestine is one of spectacular change. Like an engine shifting from first gear straight to fourth, Palestinian society moved within a brief historic moment from near-complete illiteracy to massive reliance on the written word. In Europe , popular consumption of printed products had evolved gradually over several centuries. By the time Arab subjects of the Ottoman Empire began to lend ears to the voices coming from that continent, Europe had already developed a routine of enjoying the fruits of printing in endless ways. In certain parts of the Arab Ottoman region, a similar process started around the middle of the nineteenth century. But Palestine, like most of its neighboring lands, remained on the sidelines of these developments until much later. A handful of early precursors aside, the change it experienced was telescoped into a brief period in the twentieth century. Only a few decades previously, no portent of this upcoming shift was apparent in Palestine. Under Ottoman-Islamic rule since the early sixteenth century, its society and other Arabic-speaking communities were living through one of the less productive eras in their cultural history. The marvelous Arab legacy of intellectual and scientific creativity had had its zenith in much earlier times. A variety of factors, not least political instability and bloody conflicts on domestic and foreign fronts, had undermined this cultural endeavor and diminished it in scope and quality. Intellectual activity did continue, but it was limited mostly to a small spiritual leadership and marked by a strong religious accent. Writing, reading, the retention and collection of texts—all remained the business of state officials, religious scholars, and an exclusive sociocultural elite. Other parts of the society had little use for such skills and objects. Mechanisms based on oral modes of r e a d i n g p a l e s t i n e 2 communication functioned effectively in addressing all their daily needs; writing and reading were redundant. Books, precious and revered items, were irrelevant to the normal routine of most people. This benign equilibrium was upset, and eventually terminated, by powerful processes that unfolded in two waves. The first was the long-term encroachment of Western imperialism on the societies of the Ottoman Empire . By the nineteenth century, the challenge of Europe, with its lures and threats, had become plain enough in the Arab provinces to stir a response, both from rulers and from their more astute subjects. The reaction came in many forms, among them a vocal demand for cultural revitalization. Europe presented a wide range of attractive ideas and devices—from state-run schools to printing, from newspapers to eyeglasses—which could be borrowed and adapted to local needs. First in the region to experience changes in this field were the provinces of Egypt and Lebanon.1 The endorsement of printing, emergence of a periodical press, advent of literary societies, enhanced exchanges with foreign colleagues, upgrading of the educational systems—all were signs of the drive for a cultural awakening in them after the middle of the nineteenth century. Palestine was not a locus of such activities at first. But members of its educated elite, a thin social layer, soon became aware of these changes and embarked on a vivid dialogue with their counterparts across provincial lines. It was through this elite that the country first joined the trend that would transform its cultural reality. Involving only a tiny fraction of the people until after the end of the century, modern cultural activities were stepped up following the 1908 Young Turk Revolution , a historic earthquake of major magnitude that shook the region. In the Fertile Crescent lands of Syria, Iraq, and Palestine, hitherto the periphery of cultural awakening, the new sense of opportunity inspired by political changes prompted lively cultural activity. The spread of printing and emergence of a local press in these places were two prominent marks of this new spirit.2 By the outbreak of the First World War, there were discernible signs of an upcoming cultural transformation in the region, including Palestine. The second wave was far more intensive than the first. Indeed, more than a wave, it was a massive flood. The traumatic political transition after 1918, from Islamic caliphate to European tutelage, was coupled with the equally disconcerting influx of Zionist Jews, which posed an overt and growing threat to the Arab character of the country. The alarming developments at home...

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