The Palestinian Arab House And The Islamic "Primitive Hut"

Abstract

The traditional Palestinian Arab house appears to be an extensively and well studied subject. Nineteenthand early-twentieth-century travelers and observers have left many descriptions of indigenous Palestinian dwellings and of domestic life in Palestine, and a short monograph specifically dedicated to the Palestinian village house appeared as early as 1912.1 During the period of British rule (1917-48), two studies were published that are still cited as the standard sources on the subject: Taufik Canaan's The Palestinian Arab House: Its Architecture and Folklore (1932-33) and the volume dedicated to "the House" in GustafDalman's seven-tome compendium, Arbeit und Sitte in Paliistina ( 1939). 2 Scholars have since produced a considerable body of work relating to the geography, history, and architecture of Palestinian settlements. 3 The fact that the British Museum shop now offers visitors an illustrated booklet entitled the Palestinian Village Home suggests it has become a "classic" of vernacular architecture.4 A review of this relatively abundant material reveals, however, that the treatment so far given to the subject of traditional Palestinian domestic architecture deserves some criticism. One problematic aspect of nineteenthand early-twentieth-century descriptive literature is its predominantly biblical-archaeological inspiration: many authors regarded the landscapes of Palestine as illustrations for the Scriptures, and their texts are frustratingly burdened with biblical quotations. Behind this attitude lay the assumption, often taken for granted, that traditional life in Palestine had remained unchanged for millennia. This bias affected our two standard authorities, Canaan and Dalman, as well. Canaan writes: