The Levant region was no different. Under Ottoman rule, specifically
in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, numerous
railways were constructed,62 starting with the Jaffa-Jerusalem Line in
1892. Subsequently, these railways connected the Palestinian cities of
Acre, Haifa, Afule, Nablus, Tulkarm, Jaffa, Al-Lydd, Jerusalem, Samakh
(Tiberias), Gaza and Rafah, by the time the Ottoman empire fell. 63 On
the one hand, this development of rail infrastructure was driven by
the demand to meet the commercial interests of European countries, 64
promoting European goods and products, as well as fulfilling European
expansionist ambitions for Ottoman territory following the empire’s
division. 65 On the other hand, Ottoman motives for constructing this
railway project, named Al-Hijazi, included their hopes to improve
their status among Muslims, to transport pilgrims, reduce Ottoman
dependency on British-controlled Suez Canal, and to transport soldiers.
As historian George Antonious suggests, these projects were driven by
political and military objectives rather than any other considerations. 66
Albeit, railways did have a minimal positive localized impact on the
Palestinian communities, but this was a secondary, unintended benefit.
These systems were not built for Palestinian development, especially
considering that Palestinians were predominantly dependent on
subsistence agriculture and not in need of railways. More importantly,
these railway lines facilitated Zionist-Jewish travel and the initial waves
of Zionist colonization Palestine. 67
Towards the end of World War I (WWI), British forces seized control
of virtually all railway networks in Palestine and implemented new
decision-making processes that were purely driven by military factors,
especially concerning control of Jerusalem. In 1918, the British built
a railway line through the center of Jerusalem and north to Al Bireh
(near Ramallah) and Nablus, in order to thwart Ottoman and German
forces who had cut off all other supply routes to Jerusalem. 68 After the
end of WWI, this route was slowly deconstructed and all other railway
62 Id., 49-52.
63 See Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency, “Ottoman Railway,” webpage, available at: http://www.
decolonizing.ps/site/return-to-the-sea/ [accessed 28 February 2020]; See also Mansour, Id.
64 According to Mansour, the commercially dominant states in the Ottoman Empire were France, Britain,
and Germany. Mansour, supra 60, 62.
65 Id., 60-63.
66 Id., 85-87.
67 May Seikaly, Haifa: Transformation of a Palestinian Arab Society, 1918-1939 (Beirut: Institute for Palestine
Studies, 1998), 15. See also Decolonizing Architecture Art Residency, “Jenin Camp Station,” webpage,
available at: http://www.decolonizing.ps/site/return-to-nature/ [accessed 28 February 2020].
68 Mansour, supra 60, 69.
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