The American Palestine Exploration Society and the Survey of Eastern Palestine

Abstract

The Survey of Western Palestine, carried out from 1871 to 1878 by the Palestine Exploration Fund, has become one of the central pieces of scientific research for this region. From its outset, it was conceived as one half of a two-fold project, the other being a survey conducted in the same manner in Transjordan. The Society that was to undertake this, in collaboration with the PEF and their work in Western Palestine, was the American Palestine Exploration Society (APES), founded in 1870. However, by the autumn of 1877, the APES had ceased to exist, and their survey was never widely published. As the first American Society to focus on the Levant as an area of study, the APES is significant, despite its failure to produce a map of lasting value. Many of the founding members went on to be significant players in later, more successful American ventures, notably the American School of Oriental Research. The PEF's archives hold a record of the relationship between the APES in New York, and the PEF in London, and chart the fortunes of the two societies, and their endeavours to map the region east of the Jordan.     

An Independent Palestine: The Security Dimension

If negotiations produce an end to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict then a sovereign, independent Palestine may emerge. But what is required for it to succeed? Nothing is more important than the security of a Palestinian state–for itself, for Israel, and for the region: security trumps all else. In addition to the problem of dealing effectively with opposition to a peace agreement within Palestine or directed against it from outside, the nature and magnitude of the security challenge will depend in large part on three issues: the drawing of borders between Israel and Palestine–and whether they are porous or marked by a rigid line of barriers; whether Israeli settlements are withdrawn, or in part incorporated into Israel, perhaps through land swaps with Palestine; and what arrangements are made for Jerusalem. One answer is the creation of effective Palestinian military forces (in addition to police), but this course could be divisive; a second is the development of a series of Israeli–Palestinian confidence‐building and share–security measures, including intelligence cooperation; a third is progress towards reducing external threats to Israel–Palestine, including success in Iraq and in defusing other Middle East problems. Most useful, however, would be the creation of an American‐led peace enabling force, ideally modelled on NATO. This force would need to be agreed by both Israel and Palestine; it must be adequately staffed, trained and equipped; its duties and rules of engagement must make sense to all parties; and it must be part of a network of dispute‐resolution and confidence‐building measures in full partnership with Israeli and Palestinian authorities.     

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Building the Future Palestine

A Palestinian geographer and urban planner discusses one of the territorial challenges that will likely emerge in the process of building a future Palestinian state. More specifically, he outlines how looming population pressures (high density in tandem with rapid natural increase and return of displaced refugees) will require that investments to support economic growth and new construction be organized within a national settlement system based on the existing urban hierarchy. In addition to describing the elements of such a system ("developed urban axis of Palestine"), the paper also covers the effects of public opinion and shifting political alignments within the territories on shaping the conceptualization of a future Palestinian state.