Figure 1.--This 1947 wire servivevphoto show Arab Boy Scouts in Jerusalem. The caption read, "Good Friday rememberance in Holy Land.bbPilgrims, led by an Arab Boy Scout group carrying a symbolic cross, walk along the street of the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem on Good Friday, April 4, 1947, and approach the Sixth Station of the Cross which is under Arch in the foreground. Here, it is told, A Roman woman named Veronica wiped the bleeding face of Jesus. From this, it is said, originated Veronica's Veil showing the suffering face of Jesus on a linen cloth."
Scouting in Palestine is a little complicated. Yhe very term 'Palestine' and 'Palestinian' has changed overtime. Until the Arab-Israeli Independence War, Palestine menat the Ottoman Province or the British Mandate which included Arabs (Christians and Muslims) and Jews. Since the War the term has been used just for the Arabs and the Arb-claimed areas. And because the Arab Muslins have been drvng out the Christian Arabs, increasingly the term is coming to mean Arab Muslims. Only in Irael is is the Christian arab populatuin stable. Scouting was reportedly founded just before World war I (1912) while it was still part of the Ottoman Empire. We have not, however, been able to find information on Palestinian Scouting during the Ottoman era. We think that it was largely Christian Arabs who were involved, but we do not have any information at this time. Palestine was seized by the British during World War I (1914-18). It became a British League of Nations Mandate. We have some details about Scouting during the British Mandate era (1919-48). Scouting was emraced by Arabs during the inter-War era. The British unlike the Ottomans looked favorably on the Scouting movement. This and British efforts to expand the state school system which was primarily for Muslim children resulted in development of an important Scout movement. The Palestinian Scout Association was recognized by the World Scout Bureau in 1945. There were also a Chrstian and Jewish Scout movement. The Scouts becaming increasingly politcied during the 1930s. The Jewish Scout movement had both a secular and religious component. All three were separate movements with limited interactions. The post-War situation deteriorated as violence escalated between Jews ans Arabs, leasing to the First Isreali-Arab War (1948-49). The World Scout Bureau withdrew recognition (1949). Official recognition was restored by the World Scout Conference (1996). The Palestinian Scout Association serves youth throughout the Palestinian Authority. The headquarters is in Ramallah in the West Bank. We are not sure about the status of Scouting in Gaza. The Israeli Scout federation is now a separate organization, nut includeds Christian, Druze, and Muslim Scouts, for the most part organized into separate troops.
Ottoman Era
Scouting was reportedly founded just before World War I (1912) while it was still part of the Ottoman Empire. We have not, however, been able to find information on Palestinian Scouting during the Ottoman era. We think that it was largely Christian Arabs who were involved, but we do not have any information at this time.
We note several youth groups during the British Mandatory period in Palestine. We only note Scouts among the Arabs. We note Boy Scout troops organizing after the British victory in Palestine and the end of World War I. There may have been some during the Ottoman period, but we have found no evidence of them. The Palestinian Scout web site claims that Scouting was founded in 1912, but we have not been able to find any informtion about such early groups. With the arrival of the British we begin to see large numbers of Scout groups, both with the Arabs and the Jews. The Arab groups were organized at the schools. The Ottoman school system was limited. The British began opening many new schools and for the first time, large numbers of Palestinian children attended school, both boys and girls. Under the Ottomans schools were mostly located in the cities. And because most Christian Arabs lived in the cities, Christian Arabs tended to be better educated than Muslims who dminated the larger rural population. As schools began to open in the villges, more Muslim children had access to education. And many of the new schools sponsored Scout troops, especially the secondry schools. As Muslims and Christians generally attened separate school, the Scout Groups were also largely seatate. A factor promoting Arab Scouting was the popularity of youth groups at the Jewish schools. We do not know to what degree the Arab troops were mixed Christian-Muslim units. We note Jewish Scout groups during the Mandatory period. We do not yet, however, have details these troops such as who the sponsoring groups were. We do not know of any mixd Jewish/Arab troops. We have found no information on any umbrella association during the Mandatory era that coordinated Muslim, Jewish, and Christian Scouts. We do note a Jamboree held in 1926. We do not know, however, if there was participation by the different faith groups. which may have include troops of the differented religions. We are still researching this. The Arab Palestinian Scouts like the state school system in general ecame increasingly politicuzed in the 1930s. The first Jewish Scout and Guide groups were founded after the British seized Palestine. There seems to have been interest erlier, but given the association ofScouting with Britain it probably was not possible durng the Ottoman era. As with Arab Scouting, the schools played an important role in the develoment of Jewish Scouting. The idea of Jewish Scouting appears to have begun during Passover (1918) by some youth and sports associations, including the Meshotetim Association and the Herzliya Aassociation that conducted activities long the lines Baden-Powell's program, but without calling in Scouting. They elected Zvi Nishri to lead the movemet. They did not form a formal associations for some time. [Alon] Jewish Scouting was known as Tzofim and from the beginning was coeducational. As far as we know it was the first coeducational Scout movement. We are not sure that there was an assocition during the Mndate period. The first Scout tribe "Meshotetei BaCarmel" was founded in the Hadar neighborhood in Haifa by the Haifa's Reali School (1925). The funder was a teacher, Aryeh Croch. He would become the head of the Hebrew Scouts Movement. As was the case of the Zionist mivement n general, there was a division between secular and religious Scouts. The religious Scouts or Adat HaTzofim joined to the Hebrew Scout Movement. They were led by Asher Rivlin. As the political situarion worsened in the 1940s, the older Scouts joined the Palmach, the elite fighting force of the Haganah. The Jewish Scouting movement was strongest in the northern Palestine. Palmach recruits were trained on the "Reali" school ground before joining the organization. The Hebrew Scout Movement in Israel also sent its graduates across the country to create Jewish settlements and Hebrew labor, as part of the establishment of Israel.
Post-Arab/Israeli War Era (1949- )
The post-War situation deteriorated as violence escalated between Jews ans Arabs, leasing to the First Isreali-Arab War (1948-49). The World Scout Bureau withdrew recognition (1949). Official recognition was restored by the World Scout Conference (1996). The Palestinian Scout Association serves youth throughout the Palestinian Authority. The headquarters is in Ramallah in the West Bank. We are not sure about the status of Scouting in Gaza. The Israeli Scout federation is now a separate organization, nut includeds Christian, Druze, and Muslim Scouts, for the most part organized into seprate troops.
