My Grandmother and Other Stories: Histories of the Palestinians as ...
My Grandmother and Other Stories: Histories of the Palestinians as ...
My Grandmother and Other Stories: Histories of the Palestinians as ...
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Ihsan’s fa<strong>the</strong>r, H<strong>as</strong>an Bey al-Salih, inherited some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se properties but most were<br />
tied to public endowments or le<strong>as</strong>ed l<strong>and</strong>. The family lived inside <strong>the</strong> Haram at <strong>the</strong><br />
entrance <strong>of</strong> Bab al-Silsilah in a three-story house that overlooked <strong>the</strong> Haram plaza<br />
from <strong>the</strong> e<strong>as</strong>t <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Wailing Wall <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> Magharbeh Quarter from <strong>the</strong> south. H<strong>as</strong>an<br />
Bey lived for two decades in a childless marriage until his first wife prevailed on<br />
him (according to contemporary stories) to marry his second wife Nabiha al-Khalili–<br />
descended from Sheikh Ali al-Khalili, a prominent Jerusalemite <strong>and</strong> one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first<br />
city dwellers to build a mansion outside <strong>the</strong> city walls in al-Baq’a neighbourhood.<br />
Nabiha bore him six children (three boys <strong>and</strong> three girls), <strong>of</strong> whom Ihsan w<strong>as</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
eldest. 27 But H<strong>as</strong>an remained faithful to his first wife, Safiyyah, <strong>and</strong> continued to live<br />
with her after his second marriage in a separate apartment on <strong>the</strong> third floor <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
home until she died during <strong>the</strong> first war.<br />
Ihsan grew up with Safiyyah <strong>as</strong> his second mo<strong>the</strong>r. He studied in Qur’anic schools<br />
by <strong>the</strong> Haram, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>n went to a local Nizamiyyah school for his primary education.<br />
After 1909, he joined Khalil Sakakini’s Dusturiyyah College, which <strong>of</strong>fered an Arab<br />
secular curriculum. To <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> his days, Ihsan considered Sakakini his mentor <strong>and</strong><br />
confidante, <strong>as</strong> is evident from his diary.<br />
When <strong>the</strong> general mobilization w<strong>as</strong> announced by Ottoman authorities in November<br />
1914, Ihsan w<strong>as</strong> conscripted <strong>and</strong> sent to central Palestine. He w<strong>as</strong> on <strong>the</strong> verge <strong>of</strong><br />
being sent to <strong>the</strong> Suez front in Sinai when he w<strong>as</strong> transferred to serve in Jerusalem’s<br />
military headquarters under <strong>the</strong> comm<strong>and</strong>er Ali Roshen Bey.<br />
Roshen Bey w<strong>as</strong> an Albanian <strong>of</strong>ficer whose administrative skills promoted him<br />
to become <strong>the</strong> military Qa’immaqam in charge <strong>of</strong> army logistics on <strong>the</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>rn<br />
front. His headquarters, known <strong>as</strong> ‘<strong>the</strong> Manzil’, were in <strong>the</strong> sequestered Notre Dame<br />
building opposite Jerusalem’s New Gate. 28 In that capacity he became <strong>the</strong> highest<br />
military <strong>of</strong>ficer in Ottoman Palestine, subject only to Jamal P<strong>as</strong>ha <strong>as</strong> comm<strong>and</strong>er<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> fourth army. The latter w<strong>as</strong> b<strong>as</strong>ed in Dam<strong>as</strong>cus during <strong>the</strong> war <strong>and</strong> visited<br />
Jerusalem periodically.<br />
Ali Roshen’s <strong>of</strong>ficial title w<strong>as</strong> residence inspector (mufattish manzil) <strong>and</strong> his domain<br />
included <strong>the</strong> mobilization <strong>and</strong> training <strong>of</strong> soldiers for military <strong>and</strong> auxiliary t<strong>as</strong>ks, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
overall administration <strong>of</strong> army logistics–food, munitions, <strong>and</strong> establishing army camps<br />
in sou<strong>the</strong>rn Palestine. 29 Omar al-Salih attributes <strong>the</strong> initial success <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Ottomans on<br />
<strong>the</strong> Egyptian front to <strong>the</strong> organizational skills <strong>of</strong> Roshen Bey. 30 Ali Roshen remained<br />
in Jerusalem to <strong>the</strong> very end, where he directed a battalion <strong>and</strong> fought tenaciously–<br />
according to an eyewitness account–against General Allenby’s advancing army in Nebi<br />
Samuel, a strategic area north <strong>of</strong> Jerusalem. 31 He w<strong>as</strong> l<strong>as</strong>t seen with retreating fighters<br />
in <strong>the</strong> village <strong>of</strong> Jib. Aside from local contemporary sources, such <strong>as</strong> <strong>the</strong> Barghouti <strong>and</strong><br />
Jawhariyyeh memoirs, 32 very few records have been found that describe <strong>the</strong> fate <strong>of</strong><br />
[ 36 ] HISTORICAL FEATURES The Short Life <strong>of</strong> Private Ihsan