al-Shaykh Muwannis - الشيخ مونس: Transformations in the Arab Countryside between the Mountainous Interior and the City of Jaffa

Al-Sheikh Muwannis, where Tel Aviv University was later established, was one of four villages founded in the Ottoman period next to the shores of the Sharon (along with the villages of Ijlil, Al-Haram Sidna ‘Ali and Umm Khalid). The establishment of Al-Sheikh Muwannis demonstrates that the expansion of settlement in the southern Sharon was the result of the internal expansion of the core settlement by residents of the mountainous highlands of Samaria, and not by Egyptian ‘penetrators’ as claimed in Zionist writings. Furthermore, Zionists exploited the complex relationships that developed between the original village population, new migrants, and nomadic populations camping on its lands to further the growth and crystallization of Jewish settlement in the Yarkon Basin and around Tel Aviv. The close proximity of al-Sheikh Muwannis to the countryside of the Sharon and to Tel Aviv-Jaffa, led to the development of a space expressing architectural, social, linguistic and technological concepts derived from both countryside and city alike. This rich and complex historical picture provides a framework to understand the development of other villages like al-Haram Sidna ‘Ali, Jalil, al-Jammasin, Sumayil (al-Mas‘udiya) and Salama.

Adopted from : Roy Marom, “Al-Sheikh Muwannis: Transformations in the Arab Countryside between the Mountainous Interior and the City of Jaffa, 1750-1848,” Cathedra 183 (February 2023), pp. 9-34. [in Hebrew, English abstract]