Journal of Levantine Studies


Follow us on Facebook!

Unable to display Facebook posts.
Show error

Error: Error validating application. Application has been deleted.
Type: OAuthException
Code: 190
Please refer to our Error Message Reference.

Vol. 5, No. 1 Summer 2015

Editor's note | Abigail Jacobson

The significance of “space” as an analytical category has been well established in the social sciences and humanities for many years. As a result of the “spatial turn” in the late 1970s and 1980s, “space” began to be treated both as a symbolic form of meaning and as playing a much greater role in historical processes. Indeed, as David Harvey taught us in his seminal work Consciousness and the Urban Experience, space is not simply a neutral, abstract, and uniform category; rather, it is embedded with certain historical realities and processes. Henri Lefebvre, Michel Foucault, and…

Read More »


  • Islamic Law as Indigenous Law: The Shari‘a Courts in Israel from a Postcolonial Perspective
    Ido Shahar
    Free download Download
  • Skin Color Stratification in Israel Revisited
    Henriette Dahan Kalev, Maya Maor
    Free download Download
  • The City Square in the Performance of Taanit: From Rabbinic Space to Contemporary Jerusalem
    Yair Lipshitz
    Free download Download
  • The Rear Side of the Front: Gaza and Its People in World War I
    Dotan Halevy
    Free download Download
  • The Foundational Antinativism of Mizrahi Literature
    Moshe Behar
    Free download Download
  • Flora Saporto as a Window into Changes in the Lives of Sephardi Women in Palestine at the End of the Ottoman Era
    Margalit Shilo
    Free download Download

dock-ument promotes theoretical discourse on topics related to various aspects of the Levant through the publication of personal essays, lyrical prose, poetry, and other expressive texts. It encourages various perspectives and unique voices, so they can be heard in a way that is not confined by the constraints of scientific discussion. The name, dockument, expresses the connection between text and context, between the pier, the home dock, and the ship of thoughts and reflections that will sail, we hope, to various interesting places.

Yonatan Mendel

The three reviews in this issue cover five books examining three different geopolitical regional case studies: one looks at politics and culture in the Arab Gulf, another considers politics and architecture in Israel/Palestine, and the third, on the Ottoman Empire, discusses politics and climate. Together they shed light on fields related to “hardcore” politics that both reflect the outcomes of political decision making and stand at the heart of the considerations from which political policy making begins.

+ Articles
  • Islamic Law as Indigenous Law: The Shari‘a Courts in Israel from a Postcolonial Perspective
    Ido Shahar
    Free download Download
  • Skin Color Stratification in Israel Revisited
    Henriette Dahan Kalev, Maya Maor
    Free download Download
  • The City Square in the Performance of Taanit: From Rabbinic Space to Contemporary Jerusalem
    Yair Lipshitz
    Free download Download
  • The Rear Side of the Front: Gaza and Its People in World War I
    Dotan Halevy
    Free download Download
+ Essays
  • The Foundational Antinativism of Mizrahi Literature
    Moshe Behar
    Free download Download
  • Flora Saporto as a Window into Changes in the Lives of Sephardi Women in Palestine at the End of the Ottoman Era
    Margalit Shilo
    Free download Download
+ Dock-ument

dock-ument promotes theoretical discourse on topics related to various aspects of the Levant through the publication of personal essays, lyrical prose, poetry, and other expressive texts. It encourages various perspectives and unique voices, so they can be heard in a way that is not confined by the constraints of scientific discussion. The name, dockument, expresses the connection between text and context, between the pier, the home dock, and the ship of thoughts and reflections that will sail, we hope, to various interesting places.

+ Reviews

Yonatan Mendel

The three reviews in this issue cover five books examining three different geopolitical regional case studies: one looks at politics and culture in the Arab Gulf, another considers politics and architecture in Israel/Palestine, and the third, on the Ottoman Empire, discusses politics and climate. Together they shed light on fields related to “hardcore” politics that both reflect the outcomes of political decision making and stand at the heart of the considerations from which political policy making begins.



Journal of Levantine Studies

The Journal of Levantine Studies (JLS) is an interdisciplinary academic journal dedicated to the critical study of the geographical, social, and cultural settings which, in various periods of history, have been known as the “Levant.” The journal is published biannually in English in print and online by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute.