The role of protestant missionaries during the Great Arab Revolt in Jerusalem and South Palestine (1936-1939) – towards humanity?

Abstract

ABSTRACT During the Arab Revolt against the British authorities in Palestine from 1936 to 1939, missionaries responded by organizing aid to relieve Arab local suffering, transforming their educational and medical mission to provide immediate relief. This article questions the image of missionaries as producers of expertise, both from a welfare and political activity point of view, in a place—the ‘Holy Land’- where missionary activity was particularly intense and widespread. Two Protestant missions stand out for their immediate and systematic reaction to local suffering as agents situated at the margins. A close, comparative study of S. Ekblad (Swedish Jerusalem Society; Jerusalem), and E.D. Forster (Jerusalem and the East Mission, Hebron and the south of Palestine) uncover the complex relations between relief, religion and diplomacy during the anti-colonial Arab uprising. Colonial agents themselves, both actors addressed people within and beyond what their own organizations defined as target groups, proposing their own definitions of ‘humanity’ and ‘humanitarian worker’. A closer look at their actions, at a micro (in a neighbourhood), meso (on a regional scale) and macro level reveals the political implications, the moral issues and challenges these two Protestant agents could pose to political governance during a period of turmoil.