Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Nationalism and Religious Identification
- 1 1917–1923: Balancing Religion and National Unity
- 2 1923–1929: Christians and a Divided National Movement
- 3 1929–1936: Towards Communalism
- 4 1936–1939: Standing Aloof? Arab Christians and the Great Revolt
- 5 1940–1948: National Strength through Communal Unity
- Conclusion: Nationalism and Communal Identification – Conflicting Identities?
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - 1940–1948: National Strength through Communal Unity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: Nationalism and Religious Identification
- 1 1917–1923: Balancing Religion and National Unity
- 2 1923–1929: Christians and a Divided National Movement
- 3 1929–1936: Towards Communalism
- 4 1936–1939: Standing Aloof? Arab Christians and the Great Revolt
- 5 1940–1948: National Strength through Communal Unity
- Conclusion: Nationalism and Communal Identification – Conflicting Identities?
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
We are the army of the nation
Our course is straight our symbol is unity
Arab is in our core brothers in the jihad
From ancient times our blood is for the country
The Sacrifice and the Cost
The Union Club sends us: Forward March!
For the success of the revolt under the protection of unity
For the progress of the nation it sends us in peace
From the Anthem of the Orthodox Union Club, Jerusalem, 1942In 1944, the Union of Arab Orthodox Clubs (UAOC) set out to adopt a logo for the club's various publications. Nearly a dozen options were considered, all including a gold cross and a black, green, red and white Palestinian flag. The artist who drafted the samples must have been shocked by the ensuing debate in which the majority of Union committee members rejected the cross logo ‘under the pretext that [if] an emblem with a symbol of the cross is adopted … [their] Arab Muslims brothers [would] become angry’. Jiryis Hanna Butrus of Ramallah wrote to the Union headquarters sharing his concern over this development. Citing a local anecdote about a Christian who raised a cross during a public gathering, he concluded that the man ‘wasn't paid any notice of disgust from our Muslim brother, rather the opposite: they gave him all respect’. The UAOC was, after all, an umbrella organisation representing Arab Orthodox clubs throughout Palestine and, as such, was a specifically communal group.
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- Information
- Arab Christians in British Mandate PalestineCommunalism and Nationalism, 1917-1948, pp. 163 - 195Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2013