non peer-reviewedLooking at the vast and conflicting literature
about Jerusalem, it soon becomes evident
that there are gaps in the historiographic
output. The city’s transition from Ottoman to
British rule is one such omission: very little
attention has been paid to that formative
period. What are the reasons for this lack
of interest? The relative scarcity of works
dealing with this era is due to a number of
factors, including a lack of political interest
in this period, and an arbitrary division
of history that fails to take into account
both the changes and continuities in this
transition. However, in the last decade a
number of works were produced that focus
on this period, significantly including local
voices often overlooked in favor of Western
sources only. A discussion of how historical
literature on turn-of-the-century Jerusalem is
moving forward will afford the opportunity
for a reassessment of the field