Unveiling History: Italian Presence In Levantine Region Over The Past Century

(MENAFN- Jordan Times) AMMAN - The Italian presence in the Levantine region between the two world wars has been a scholarly topic that has attracted historians, Political scientists and political anthropologists.

The studies about European cultural policies in Palestine have often focused on Britain, France and occasionally Germany; however a very small amount of scholarships have been dedicated to Italy.

The works of Nir Arielli, Daniela Fabrizio, Lucia Rostagno and Arturo Marzano are shedding light on some aspects of the early Italian cultural diplomacy and relations in Mandatory Palestine.

Yet, the literature that is available, and more importantly the research currently carried out on this topic, is rather scant and often unclear on how cultural diplomacy should be defined, an Italian historian noted, adding that the lack of sources has certainly been one of the reasons behind this shortage of studies, however, the problematic definition of cultural diplomacy has also kept scholars away from potential complications.

Italian consulate in Jerusalem was opened during the Ottoman period in the 1860's. This period was characterised by the weakening of the Ottoman central government, through reforms that attempted to restructure and revamp a declining empire and an intensive campaign of the European powers to curve the Ottoman territories. The material from the Italian consulate in Jerusalem is available for historians and other scholars, so they can follow the diplomatic engagement and cultural diplomacy of Italy from the 1860's until 1945.

The relations in the Levant were particularly complicated after the First World War and the British–French implementation of the Sykes–Picot Agreement.

“What role did culture play in the policies of European agents - governmental and non-governmental - regarding the Levant?” asked the historian Roberto Mazza, a lecturer at the University of Limerick. Mazza studied history of the Levant and Palestine during 19th and 20th century.

“The Italian presence in the Levant has been important for centuries, mostly from a religious point of view. Firstly because of a number of Italian clergymen and travellers, but also it has been defined in religious terms. The leader of Franciscans in Terra Sancta based in Jerusalem is an Italian by the constitution,” said Mazza.

Since the opening of the Catholic Patriarchate in 1847, the Patriarch has always been an Italian with a few exceptions of Arab Patriarchs, Mazza elaborated, adding that there is an obvious connection of Italian presence in the holy land.

The Italian political activity in the Levant intensified after the unification in 1871 but Britain and France remained the dominant regional forces.

“Mussolini tried to influence both Arabs and Zionists,” Mazza said, adding that Radio Bari predated the BBC service in this region.

Radio Bari not only played popular Arab music but spread different political ideas, especially anti-British propaganda.

“Italian politics in the Levant were consistently inconsistent,” Mazza pointed out, adding that the Italian regime between two World Wars tried to create sympathy for Italy with often contradictory ideas.

Although relations between the Italian regime and the Vatican were rocky after the unification, they worked hand in hand in Jordan and Palestine; the testimony of that collaboration is the presence of Italian hospitals built in Jerusalem, Amman and Karak.

“The Roman Catholic Church promoted the pilgrimage and it gathered Italian, Spanish and French Roman Catholics in the holy land,” Mazza said, adding that each ethnic group of Catholics tried to establish their own national institutions.

Beside Italian hospitals, by the end of the 19th century, Italian schools had also been established. The main goal on the turn of the centuries was to challenge the monopoly of the French Catholic organisations as France posed itself in the 19th century as a main Roman Catholic centre and protector of the Roman Catholics in the Levant.

“These institutions did not primarily target Italians, but Arabs and other locals,” Mazza said, adding that“It was a form of the Italian soft-power”.

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