Prof. Mustafa Abbasi

Middle Eastern Studies

My research focuses on two main fields:

The first field is the study of the social history of the Palestinian Arab population from the late Ottoman period to the end of the British Mandate. Most of my research in this field has dealt with social changes in the Arab cities and towns in the Galilee, a region in which my family has resided for centuries. In addition, a few of my studies have dealt with the city of Jerusalem and its rural environs, as well as the city of Nablus.

The second field is the history of the 1948 War and the Galilee in the first few years following the establishment of the state of Israel, in both the urban population of the four Galilee cities (Safad, Acre, Nazareth, and Tiberias), and the rural population in the districts of these four cities.

These two fields of study are interrelated and complement one another to a great extent. Familiarization with all strata and components of the social structure, including leaders, leading families, ethnic composition, internal relationships, struggles between elites, relations between the rural and urban communities, the status of the Bedouin, and more.  It is essential to understanding the outcome and implications of the 1948 war for the Arab population in the Galilee, and the way in which this society has faced the Zionist challenge and the developments since the beginning of the British Mandate.

Undergraduate courses

The British Mandate in Palestine

The History of the Palestinian National Movement in the Mandate Period

The History of the Palestinian National Movement From the War of Independence to the Oslo Accords

Ruling Families in Palestine During the Ottoman Period and the British Mandate

Changes in Arab Thinking in the Modern Era

Introduction to Islam

The History of the Muslim Empire

The History of the Middle East in the Modern Era

Religious and Ethnic Minorities in the Middle East

Arab Society in the State of Israel: Majority–Minority Relations

Master’s degree courses

 The Arab Population in the Galilee: Social and Religious Structure

1.  10 May 2001. Yad Ben Zvi Center for Study of Jewish Communities in the East and Hebrew University Jerusalem. First research: Safad during the Mandate period.

2.    14 June 2001. Tel-Hai College. Conference on New Research on the Galilee and the Vicinity. The Maghreb community in the Safad district during the Mandate period.

3.    12-18 August 2001. Quebec City. 11th International Conference of Historical Geographers. Urban rural strife among the Arab population in the Mandate period.

4.    3-4 February 2002. Yad Ben-Zvi. The Soviet Union, Communism, Jews and Zionism. Responses of the Arab press in Israel to Gromyko’s speech at the UN and the 29 November Resolution (by invitation).

5.   3-5 March 2002. Haifa University. International Conference in Honor of Prof. Butrus Abu-Manneh. Perspectives on the Ottoman reforms: Istanbul and the Syrian provinces: The Arab community in Safad during the Ottoman reforms.

6.   30 May 2002. Tel-Hai College. Conference of New Research on the Galilee and the Vicinity. Changes in Safad between 1840-1948.

7.   2 January 2003. Tel-Hai College. Travelers, Journeys and Pilgrims. The journey of Avila Chelbi in the Safad and Lejun districts (by invitation).

8.  2 November 2004, Jordan Valley College. The Jordan Valley as the Representative Landscape of the Second Aliya. The Arab community in the Jordan Valley and Lower Galilee in the late Ottoman period.

9.   7 June 2005. Yad Ben-Zvi. A Nation at War: The Civil Society During the War of Independence. The Palestinian community during the battle in Tiberias.

10.   5 December 2005. Bar-Ilan University. International Conference on Religion and State. Changes in the status of the Muslim ethnic group during the Mandate period and in the state of Israel (by invitation).

11.   11 May 2006. Yad Ben-Zvi. Conference on Civil Society in 1948. A retired British general in an Arab village in the Galilee.

12.  11-16 June 2006. Amman, Jordan. Second World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies. Tiberias during the 1948 War.

13.  9-28 June 2006. Tel-Hai College. Conference of New Research on the Galilee and the Vicinity. The Tavri family and its leadership of the Arab community in Tiberias in the Mandate period.

14.  9-12 July 2007. University of Leeds, England. International Medieval Congress. Sacred but destroyed: The destruction of ancient Tiberias after the 1948 War.

15.  3-7 September 2007. Tel-Hai College. Palestine and the First World War: New Perspectives. The situation in Jerusalem on the eve of WWI, according to the memoirs of Wasif Juhariya (by invitation).

16.  29-30 March 2009. Hebrew University Jerusalem School of History. International Congress, Contested Spaces: Legal and Cultural Practices in Eastern Europe and Palestine. Israel after World War II (by invitation).

17. 22 November 2010. Nazareth. Nazareth International Conference. Nazareth in the war for Palestine: The Arab city that survived the 1948 war (invited lecture).

18.  24 March 2011. Yad Ben-Zvi. Truth or Dare. The Moslem population in Jerusalem in the 19th century: Religion and society (by invitation).

19.  4 April 2011. The Center for Research of Acre and the Galilee During the Ottoman period, Western Galilee College. Ottoman Acre, History and Preservation. The notables of Acre in the late Ottoman period (by invitation).

20.  25 June 2012. Association for Israel Studies. 28th Annual International Conference, University of Haifa. A city in distress: Nazareth and the problem of internal refugees, 1948-1949.

21.  5 July 2012. Yad Ben-Zvi. Jerusalem Days Conference. Changes in the Moslem community in Jerusalem in the late Ottoman period.

22. 6 December 2012. Kinneret College. From a Tower of Christians to a Fortress City. Kalat Even Maan (Arbel) Citadel and its role in the struggle between the emir of Mt. Lebanon and the emir of the Galilee in the first half of the 17th century (invited lecture).

23.  11 March 2013. Western Galilee College. Ethnic and Religious Community in Acre and the Galilee during the Ottoman period. Algerians and other Moslem settlers in the Galilee in the late Ottoman period (invited lecture).

24. 16 September 2013. European Association of Israel Studies Conference 2013, SOAS, University of London. Samakh: The rise and fall of an Arab town on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

25. 6 September 2014. The Arab Population in Jerusalem in the Late 19th Century and during the British Mandate. The Muslim population in Jerusalem. Lecture to a forum of supervisors in the history of Jerusalem (by invitation).

Mini-conferences and Workshops:

1.  18-21 February 2009. Salzburg Global Seminar, Workshop on Haifa. Haifa before and after 1948.
2.  16-21 August 2009. Hamburg, Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation, Workshop on Haifa. Haifa before and after 1948.
3.  15-19 February 2010. Salzburg Global Seminar, Workshop on Haifa: Haifa before and after 1948.