Jerusalemite journalist and historian Arif Al-Arif was famous for publishing the newspaper “Syria Al-Jawoubiyya” during the British Mandate, and he served as mayor of Jerusalem between 1950 and 1955 (Al-Jazeera)

The Palestinian journalist and historian Arif Al-Arif, born in Jerusalem in 1891 and died in Ramallah in 1973, did not live to see that the Arab unity that he had rejoiced in the imminent realization of it had become a distant dream, and that the national state whose demise he heralded was divided and became states.

Likewise, he who preached unity in the introduction to his book “The History of Gaza” (Ahliyya Publishing House, 2024) did not realize that Gaza, which he chronicled and explained in his book - first published in the 1940s - and the development of its industry in a bygone century, is now in ruins. .

Its residents who built it and their descendants were torn apart by the Israeli occupation planes, and many of them were even buried under its rubble.

Gaza is a companion of the ages

In his book, Al-Arif continues his message of introducing the Arab reader to Palestine, in continuation of his two books, “The Judiciary Among the Bedouins,” and “The History of Beersheba and Its Tribes.”

Palestinian historian and politician Arif Al-Arif mediates the sheikhs of Beersheba (Al-Jazeera)

Al-Arif was born in Jerusalem, studied in Istanbul, fought in the Ottoman army, was captured in Siberia, and returned to Palestine after the Russian Revolution. He edited the first Palestinian national newspaper published after World War I.

It is the newspaper of "South Syria".

In the book, which is approximately 460 pages long, the writer sees that “Gaza is not the daughter of a century, or the product of an era, but rather it is the daughter of all past generations, and a companion of all past ages since the day history wrote its first pages.”

Regarding the history of Gaza, the historian adds that it is “a glorious history because it has withstood all kinds of calamities of time, to the point that not a single invader of the early or late invaders remained without a calamity against it. Either he defeated it, or it defeated him.”

Built by the ancients

The book explores the ancient history of the city, which was built by the ancients and the Arabs were the first to frequent it and visit its markets, and they were the ones who carried their goods and merchandise to it, including perfumes, spices, incense, and others.

Gaza is one of the oldest cities in the world, as the book chronicles. It was first inhabited by the Canaanites, who are “Semitic” peoples. The Torah narration attributes them to Ham, son of Noah. In another narration, Gaza existed in this existence when the Canaanites occupied it and took it from the Amorites.

Throughout its history, Gaza was also connected to Egypt, and Al-Arif presents an overview of the city’s connection to the Pharaohs and shepherd kings who ruled Egypt (the Hyksos), and its relationship with the first Palestinians.

An impenetrable dam

In ancient history, he talks about Gaza’s relationship with the Jews. Although they succeeded in entering Palestine, “they were unable to subjugate and humiliate Gaza, so it remained far from their influence,” he says.

He mentions some of the books of the Old Testament in which Gaza was mentioned, including the first chapter of the Book of Amos, where Gaza was one of the main Palestinian cities that stood as an impenetrable barrier in their faces and refused to submit to their rule, and the war was a dispute between the two groups.

Al-Arif stops at Gaza in his contemporary days - in the 1940s - and says, “It is one of the most beautiful Palestinian cities located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It has lush gardens, and around the old city are orchards in which all kinds of vegetables and fruit trees are grown. Its water is fresh and its air is pleasant. If you come to it, In the summer, I found it to be the best summer resort, and when I stayed there in the winter, I found it to be the most beautiful wintering place in Palestine.”

The richest cities in Palestine

He presents the progress and development of the city before the Nakba and the occupation of Gaza, and believes that it may have been the richest city in Palestine in the 1940s. It is one of the most important Palestinian markets for the sale of agricultural products, and it comes after the Palestinian city of Lydda in this respect. Its location on the sea, the plain, and the desert has increased its importance. And he gave her that wealth.

Al-Arif records that the population of Gaza in the 1940s reached 33 thousand people, and its population may have outnumbered those who lived in Jerusalem, but the successive invasions led to its population decreasing several times.

The city also witnessed a major educational renaissance and a large number of schools.

In fact, the city witnessed the existence of a special school for the blind before the World War in 1914, the purpose of which was to teach them the Holy Qur’an and it was called the Hashemite School.

In terms of mosques and mosques, Gaza - according to the author - may be the richest Arab Islamic city in the East with its mosques and mosques, some of which are ancient and mentioned in history books, and some of which were built after that.

The author mentions among its ancient mosques that he mentioned in his book: the Grand Mosque of Al-Omari Mosque, Al-Sayyid Hashem Mosque, Al-Shamaa, and many others.

Source: Al Jazeera