It is well known that, beginning in the mid-late 19th century, Christians and then Muslims began embracing an Arab identity around the Arabic-speaking world, including Palestine. Many have wondered, what about the Jews? Jews were not just integrated into the physical, social and religious fabric of late Ottoman Palestine, but, as we shall see, many also embraced an Arab consciousness, as was the case elsewhere in the Arab world. These were mainly Sephardi Jews who spoke Arabic and lived amidst Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem, Hebron and Tiberias. Most spoke Ladino, a Judeo-Spanish, as a first language, although a minority known as Moghrabi Jews spoke Arabic as a native language and some wrote in Arabic as well, such as Shimon Moyal and Nissim Malul. They even established a short-lived Arabic newspaper. As one native Jew put it in 1902, “we knew Arabic and conversed freely with our Arab neighbors, but Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) was our mother tongue.” Other Jewish families in Palestine had roots in Damascus, Salonica or elsewhere in the Empire. Although the native Jews of Palestine defined their own community in variety of ways, the Jews of Tiberias seem to have identified as Arab Jews. In a 1914 Ottoman military conscription registry document, about 300 Jews in Tiberias were described as Yahūd evlād-ı ʿArab, or “Jewish sons of the Arabs” or “Jewish children of the Arabs.” The entry was validated with the signet stamp of Yaakov Neḥmad, who identified himself as muḫtār-i evvel, the head of a local community bearing the same designation. Christian writers at the time such as Khalil Sakakini and Wasif Jawhariyyeh referred to the native Jews of Palestine as “sons of the country” (‘abna’ al-balad’), “compatriots” or “Jews, sons of Arabs,” (“Yahud awlad Arab”) in their diaries and autobiographies. The community was also known as “ha-‛am ha-yisra’eli” (‘the Israelite people’) or “yahadut falestinit,” “Palestinian Jews,” or “Ivrim” (Hebrews). Of course, on the eve of Zionist immigration, about half of the Jewish population of Palestine spoke Yiddish as a native language and had immigrated to Palestine in the previous centuries from Europe, primarily for spiritual reasons. Many of these Jews also spoke some Arabic and Ladino, and they were considered part of the native Jewish community of Palestine, although they would not have thought of themselves as Arab Jews. [palestinenexus.com] m_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=palestine-before-zionism-a-golden-age//en.yabiladi.com/topics/palestine-before-zionism-golden-44-12459874-12459874.html#msg-12459874 Thu, 04 Jun 2026 09:48:56 +0200 Phorum 5.2.15 //en.yabiladi.com/topics/palestine-before-zionism-golden-44-12459874-12460552.html#msg-12460552//en.yabiladi.com/topics/palestine-before-zionism-golden-44-12459874-12460552.html#msg-12460552 fawzi4 Morocco # English board Sat, 18 Apr 2026 06:01:18 +0200 //en.yabiladi.com/topics/palestine-before-zionism-golden-44-12459874.html//en.yabiladi.com/topics/palestine-before-zionism-golden-44-12459874.html fawzi4 Morocco # English board Wed, 15 Apr 2026 23:29:10 +0200