Archives and Collections in Israel/Palestine | Zachary J. Foster

Though Israel/Palestine encompasses a small geographical area of the former Ottoman Empire, it is home to a variety of valuable sources that can be used by Ottoman historians, including court records and Zionist archival records. In this episode of the Ottoman History Podcast, Zachary J. Foster discusses the various sources available to researchers working on and in Israel/Palestine and how they may be used.



Zachary J. Foster is a graduate student at Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies studying the history of Greater Syria in the early twentieth century
Chris Gratien is a PhD student studying the history of the modern Middle East at Georgetown University (see academia.edu)

Note for the listener: Although this podcast is based in part on primary source research, it is also a synthesis of publicly available information and draws extensively from the following works below, which are also mentioned during the course of the episode. For the purposes of academic citation, we encourage you to consult these works.


Select Bilbiography:

Alsberg, Paul A., “The Israel State Archives as a Source for the History of Palestine During the Period of Ottoman Rule” in Studies on Palestine During the Ottoman Period Moshe Ma’oz (ed.) (Jerusalem: The Magness Press, 1975), 532-547.

Ma’oz, Moshe, Erets-Yiśraʼel ba-teḳufah ha-ʻOt'manit : teʻudot me-arkhiyonim u-meʼusafim be-Yiśrael (Ha-Universiṭah ha-ʻIvrit bi-Yerushalayim, ha-Makhon le-limude Asyah ṿe-Afriḳah u-Vet ha-sefarim ha-leʼumi ṿeha-universiṭaʼi, 1970)

Beshara Doumani, “Palestinian Islamic Court Records: A Source for Socioeconomic History,” MESA Bulletin, 19 (1985), pp. 155–172

Michelle Campos, “Ottoman Palestine into the 21st Century.” Paper presented at the Conference, Palestine: What We Know, George Washington University, 16 October 2009;

Gerber, Haim, Ottoman Rule in Jerusalem, 1890-1914 (Berlin: K. Schwarz, 1985)

Lunts, Yosef, “Shorishayha ve-Mekorotayha shel ha-Tnu‘a ha-Le’umit ha-‘Aravit be-Eretz Yisrael Erev Milkhemet ha-Olam ha-Rishona,” in Moshe Ma’oz and B. Z. Kedar, (eds.) Ha-Tnu‘a ha-Le’umit ha-Falastinit (Tel Aviv: Misradha-Bitahon, 1996).