Book contents
- Late Ottoman Gaza
- Late Ottoman Gaza
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on Transcription and Dating
- Introduction
- 1 A Bird’s-Eye View of Gaza’s Economy, Population, and Geostrategic Position
- 2 Living in Late Ottoman Gaza
- 3 Relationships with the Rural Population
- 4 Gaza-Style Politics and the Emergence of Spatialized Factionalism
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Gaza-Style Politics and the Emergence of Spatialized Factionalism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 November 2024
- Late Ottoman Gaza
- Late Ottoman Gaza
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on Transcription and Dating
- Introduction
- 1 A Bird’s-Eye View of Gaza’s Economy, Population, and Geostrategic Position
- 2 Living in Late Ottoman Gaza
- 3 Relationships with the Rural Population
- 4 Gaza-Style Politics and the Emergence of Spatialized Factionalism
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter delves into the politics of factionalism in Gaza, its causes, development, the impact of external factors, and its effects. It surveys the main bones of contention within the Gazan elite, presents portraits of elite families and political personalities, and discusses the relationships between the Gazan elite and outside forces. It focuses on the rise of the Shawwa family and its allies the Busaysus, erstwhile supporters of the Husaynis, who at some point in the mid-1890s turned against them for unknown reasons and eventually were able to oust them from control over the city’s politics in 1898, when the leadership of the Husayni family was exiled by the Ottoman government to Ankara. The rise of the Shawwa–Busaysu coalition, whose source of power was the newly created municipality, was accompanied by a spatial divide of the city between the neighborhood of Daraj where most of the elite families, including the Husaynis, resided, and the relatively poor neighborhood of Shajaʿiyya, the stronghold of the opposition. This led to what here is termed “spatialized factionalism,” a new concept that is discussed at length. Gaza’s factionalism is then analyzed in comparison to late Ottoman cities in Bilad al-Sham.
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- Late Ottoman GazaAn Eastern Mediterranean Hub in Transformation, pp. 119 - 151Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2024