Episodes

  • The 1915 Famine in Palestine: Ottoman Siege and Starvation

    The 1915 Famine in Palestine: Ottoman Siege and Starvation
    Jul 4 2026
    In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the devastating famine that struck Palestine during World War I, focusing on the winter of 1914-1915. They discuss how Ottoman policies, including the requisitioning of food supplies and the disruption of trade by Allied blockades, led to widespread starvation. The conversation highlights the role of Jamal Pasha, the Ottoman governor, and the impact on the fellahin (peasant farmers). They delve into the locust plague of 1915, which compounded the crisis, and the efforts of the American Colony in Jerusalem to provide relief. The episode also touches on the political dimensions, including how the famine fueled resentment against Ottoman rule and contributed to the Arab nationalist movement. Specific locations like Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Nablus are mentioned, as well as the role of local newspapers like al-Karmil and Filastin in documenting the catastrophe. #1915Famine #PalestineHistory #OttomanEmpire #JamalPasha #WorldWarI #LocustPlague #AmericanColony #al-Karmil #Filastin #Fellahin #Jerusalem #Jaffa #Nablus #ArabNationalism #MiddleEastHistory #Famine #Siege #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    6 mins
  • The 1929 Western Wall Riots: Religion, Empire, and the Spark of National Conflict

    The 1929 Western Wall Riots: Religion, Empire, and the Spark of National Conflict
    Jul 3 2026
    In August 1929, a dispute over Jewish worship at the Western Wall spiraled into one of the bloodiest outbreaks of violence in Mandate Palestine. This episode explores the immediate trigger—the installation of a mechitzah, or partition screen, at the wall—and the deeper currents: religious fervor, Zionist activism, Muslim fears over al-Aqsa, and British mishandling. Lucas and Luna trace the events from the Jewish fast of Tisha B'Av through the Hebron massacre, where 67 Jews were killed, to the Shaw Commission inquiry and its damning findings. They examine the role of figures like Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, and the rise of the Supreme Muslim Council, as well as the impact on the Yishuv and Palestinian Arab society. The episode also reflects on how the violence reshaped communal boundaries, ended the centuries-old Jewish presence in Hebron, and hardened national identities on both sides—a tragedy whose echoes reverberate into the present. #WesternWall #1929Riots #Buraq #HajAmin #HebronMassacre #ShawCommission #MandatePalestine #Zionism #AlAqsa #TishaBAv #Mechitzah #BritishMandate #Yishuv #PalestinianArabs #OttomanLegacy #Jerusalem #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    9 mins
  • The 1840 Druze Revolt and the Battle of Majd al-Krum

    The 1840 Druze Revolt and the Battle of Majd al-Krum
    Jul 3 2026
    In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a pivotal yet often overlooked event in 19th-century Palestine: the 1840 Druze revolt against Egyptian rule under Ibrahim Pasha. They focus on the Battle of Majd al-Krum in the Galilee, where Druze clans, led by Shibl al-Aryan and allied with local Arab notables, mounted a fierce resistance. The episode delves into the broader context of Muhammad Ali's expansionist ambitions, the conscription and taxation policies that sparked unrest, and the shifting alliances among Druze, Maronites, and Sunni villagers. Lucas explains how the revolt was crushed with brutal force, leading to a cycle of retribution that reshaped the demographic and political landscape of Mount Lebanon and the Galilee. The discussion touches on the role of British and Ottoman intervention, the Tanzimat reforms, and the long-term consequences for Druze autonomy. Listeners will come away with a nuanced understanding of how local revolts in this period were not simply anti-Egyptian but reflected deep intra-communal tensions and the collision of imperial ambitions with local sovereignty. #Druze #Majdalkrum #IbrahimPasha #MuhammadAli #1840Revolt #Galilee #MountLebanon #EgyptianRule #Conscription #Tanzimat #OttomanEmpire #ShiblalAryan #DruzeChristianConflict #BattleofMajdalkrum #19thCentury #History #FexingoHistory #PalestineHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 mins
  • The 1824 Ottoman Siege of Acre: Palestine Under Muhammad Ali

    The 1824 Ottoman Siege of Acre: Palestine Under Muhammad Ali
    Jul 2 2026
    Episode 132 of The History of Palestine goes back to 1824, when the Ottoman Empire faced a direct challenge from Muhammad Ali of Egypt. His son Ibrahim Pasha laid siege to Acre, a fortified port city that had long been a symbol of resistance—first against Napoleon, now against the Sultan. We explore how this siege reshaped Palestine’s political landscape, the role of local Palestinian notables like Abdullah Pasha al-Jazzar's successor, and how the Egyptian occupation of Palestine in the 1830s introduced new military and administrative practices. Along the way, we consider the impact on peasant communities, the destruction of Acre’s walls, and the long-term consequences for the region’s economy and identity. This is a story of empire, ambition, and the people caught in between—a chapter often overlooked in modern narratives but essential for understanding Palestine’s deep history. #SiegeOfAcre1824 #MuhammadAli #IbrahimPasha #OttomanEmpire #PalestineHistory #AbdullahPasha #Acre #EgyptianOccupation #OttomanReforms #PalestinianNotables #MilitaryHistory #19thCentury #SiegeWarfare #NapoleonAndAcre #Fellahin #MiddleEastHistory #FexingoHistory #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 mins
  • The 1911 Jaffa Orange Boycott: Palestine's First Economic Uprising

    The 1911 Jaffa Orange Boycott: Palestine's First Economic Uprising
    Jul 2 2026
    In 1911, the citrus groves of Jaffa became the stage for a quiet but fierce confrontation. When Zionist settlers began exporting Jaffa oranges under newly established cooperative labels, Palestinian citrus merchants responded with a boycott—not just of the fruit, but of the land itself. This episode traces the Jaffa orange trade from its Ottoman roots, through the rise of the Arab citrus elite, to the 1911 boycott that pitted the al-Karmil newspaper and the fellahin of Mujeidil against the Jewish Colonization Association and the Yishuv. We explore how a single citrus fruit—the Shamouti orange—became a symbol of economic resistance, how the boycott prefigured later nationalist strategies, and how the port of Jaffa became a fault line between two communities. Along the way, we meet figures like Najib Nassar, the brothers Michel and Suleiman Tyan, and the workers of the Jaffa fruit markets who made the boycott real. The episode also reflects on the limits of economic leverage in an empire that favored European capital. A story of oranges, identity, and the struggle for economic self-determination in late Ottoman Palestine. #JaffaOrange #Shamouti #NajibNassar #alKarmil #OttomanPalestine #EconomicHistory #Boycott1911 #CitrusTrade #Mujeidil #Fellahin #TyanBrothers #JewishColonizationAssociation #Yishuv #PortOfJaffa #LateOttoman #PalestinianResistance #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 mins
  • The 1910 Yafo Lens: Palestine's First Cinema

    The 1910 Yafo Lens: Palestine's First Cinema
    Jul 1 2026
    In 1910, the city of Jaffa saw the opening of its first permanent cinema, the 'Cinema Exprex'. This episode explores the social and political implications of early film culture in late Ottoman Palestine. How did the arrival of moving pictures intersect with a society already in flux—torn between Ottoman modernity, rising nationalist currents, and the first waves of Zionist immigration? Lucas and Luna discuss the cinema's location near the Jaffa Gate, the types of films shown (from Lumière actualities to Italian epics), the mixed-gender audiences that scandalized conservative clerics, and the role of cinema as a space where Arabs, Jews, and Europeans mingled uneasily. They also touch on the 1910 Jaffa fire that destroyed parts of the old city, the cinema's owner, a Greek Christian from Beirut, and the broader culture of public entertainment that included coffeehouses, shadow plays, and the newly arrived gramophone. This is a story not just of technology, but of the contested public sphere in a rapidly changing land. #CinemaExprex #OttomanPalestine #Jaffa #EarlyCinema #PublicSphere #GreekChristian #Lumiere #OttomanModernity #1910s #MiddleEastHistory #PalestineHistory #CinemaHistory #MixedAudiences #UrbanEntertainment #CulturalHistory #History #FexingoHistory #Podcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    6 mins
  • The 1888 Ottoman Land Law: How Registration Changed Palestine

    The 1888 Ottoman Land Law: How Registration Changed Palestine
    Jul 1 2026
    In 1888, the Ottoman Empire issued a new land registration decree that would reshape Palestine for decades to come. While earlier episodes have explored land disputes and peasant revolts, this episode dives into the bureaucratic machinery behind it: the 1888 Law of 1858 Amendments, the role of the Tapu (land registry) offices, and how absentee ownership and debt pushed many fellahin off their ancestral plots. Lucas and Luna unpack the story through the lens of a single village — Beit Jibrin — tracing how its residents navigated the new system, the rise of the effendi class, and the legal loopholes that allowed large-scale land transfers to Zionist settlers in the 1890s and 1900s. They also discuss the controversy around the 1858 Ottoman Land Code itself, whose 'miri' (state-owned) land category became a battleground for competing claims. By focusing on the administrative and legal mechanics, this episode reveals how a seemingly dry regulation paved the way for the land conflicts that define Palestinian history. #OttomanLandCode #1888LandLaw #Tapu #BeitJibrin #Fellahin #Effendi #Miri #AbsenteeLandlord #ZionistLandPurchase #Palestine #OttomanEmpire #LandRegistration #19thCentury #LegalHistory #AgrarianHistory #LandDispossession #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    10 mins
  • The 1906 Yarkon River Dispute: Palestine's First Water War

    The 1906 Yarkon River Dispute: Palestine's First Water War
    Jun 30 2026
    Long before the water conflicts of the modern era, a quiet but pivotal struggle unfolded along the banks of the Yarkon River in 1906. As Zionist settlers from the newly established Petah Tikva sought to divert water for irrigation, they clashed with the fellahin of the village of al-Muzayri'a, who had farmed that land for generations. This episode digs into the Ottoman legal battles, the role of the kaymakam of Jaffa, the emergence of the Palestinian press as a watchdog, and the deeper questions about sovereignty and resource rights that the dispute raised. We explore how the Yarkon River became a flashpoint for competing visions of agriculture, development, and survival—and why this forgotten case still echoes in debates about water rights in Palestine today. #YarkonRiver #PetahTikva #al-Muzayri'a #WaterRights #OttomanEmpire #Fellahin #ZionistSettlement #1906 #KaymakamOfJaffa #AlKarmil #NajibNassar #PalestinianPress #OttomanLandCode #FirstAliyah #MutasarrifateOfJerusalem #Palestine #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 mins