Nationalism and religious identification: Palestinian Christians in Mandate Palestine, 1918-1948

This dissertation examines the relationship between Palestinian Christians (roughly ten percent of the population at the time) and the Palestinian national movement during the period of British rule (1917-1948). It describes political roles played by Christians as well as the ways in which political and social circumstances influenced how Christians balanced their national and religious identification.;Religious identification did not fully determine Arab Christians' political outlook. They were involved in all major political movements, and many minor ones as well. Some were pro-British, others favored the major opposition movement, while still others supported Haj Amin al-Husayni, the head of the mainstream national movement. Still, historical events shifted the balance between religious and national identification. At first Arab notables advocated Muslim-Christian unity to further their demands for independent Arab statehood; Christians responded by privileging nationalism over communalism A number of factors over the course of the 1920s and 1930s altered this balance: British policies strengthened Muslim institutions and aligned Islamic and nationalist efforts; the Zionist-Arab conflict took on strong Jewish-Muslim overtones; and sub-elite Arab voices began to question Muslim-Christian unity.;In response to intercommunal tensions in the 1930s, some Christians, particularly the Orthodox community, began to organize along communal lines in an effort to strengthen their collective position in society. Yet these Christians maintained their nationalism, balancing carefully between religious and national identification.