Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

6-2025

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Program

Middle Eastern Studies

Advisor

Simon Davis

Subject Categories

Islamic World and Near East History | Jewish Studies | Near and Middle Eastern Studies

Keywords

Western Wall, Temple Mount, Haram al-Sharif, British Mandate, Palestine, Israel

Abstract

This paper explores how religious space and symbolism became central to Arab and Jewish nationalist identities in Mandatory Palestine, focusing on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif and the Western Wall during the transition from Ottoman to British rule. It argues that the collapse of Ottoman sovereignty, alongside British support for a Jewish national home, transformed Islamic institutions into arenas for political expression. Muslim notables, particularly the Husayni family, strategically engaged with British colonial notions of “tradition” to reassert influence, exemplified by the politicization of the Nebi Musa festival. At the same time, Zionism—both political secular and religious—began to attach renewed significance to sacred space, especially the Western Wall, where religious devotion and nationalist aspiration became intertwined. British officials, caught between rival claims, struggled to balance imperial control with the Balfour Declaration, and their reactive responses to violence weakened their authority. Far from a merely “defensive” Islam, this period reveals an active religious mobilization in response to imperial and Zionist pressures. The paper situates the 1920 Nebi Musa riots, the Western Wall tensions of 1928, and the 1929 riots within this broader context, showing how religious spaces became flashpoints. Newspapers in both Arab and Zionist Jewish communities amplified fear and distrust, making religion, space, and media tools of nationalist resistance and colonial failure.

Download

Share

COinS