Rubble and Ruin: the CMS Hospital of Gaza in World War I … and Today?

ABSTRACT

While the Ahli Arab Hospital of Gaza – formerly the CMS Mission hospital – has been the focus of public attention due to the 17 October 2023 explosion on its premises and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, less attention has been given to its history. Very little information is publicly available. This article addresses that gap, aiming to bring texture, nuance and depth to contemporary discussions. Taking a narrative approach, this article poses two questions: first, how did the social, political and religious contexts of the hospital’s founding period shape its identity and role in the community? Second, how did it fare in World War I and the political transition that followed it? This article argues that Anglican Missionaries from the Church Mission Society (CMS) established the hospital in 1881 with the motivation and inspiration of their evangelical faith. After facing resistance from the local population, the missionaries won people’s trust through medical service. Their work was boosted after local leaders gave their endorsements and British imperial agents offered support. The situation changed rapidly, however, during World War I and the Ottoman entry into the war on the German side. The missionaries were expelled and the hospital was closed and eventually destroyed. Yet, after British victory, the missionaries were granted permission to resume services and rebuild the hospital.

KEYWORDS:

• Ahli Arab
• Church Mission Society
• Gaza
• Hospital
• Protestant missionaries
• Ottoman period
• British mandate
• World War I

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This work was supported by the Palestinian American Research Center (PARC) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the PARC/NEH Fellowships, 2020–2021. Additionally, the author would like to thank Sarah Irving and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful input and suggestions.

2 The organisation was originally named The Church Missionary Society for Africa and the East but was shortened to the Church Missionary Society in 1812. For details on the origin and history of the society, see (Ajayi 1999, Stanley and Ward 2019, pp. 1–14).

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Kenny Schmitt

Kenny Schmitt’s research interests lie at the intersection of Muslim religious practices and contentious political spaces, in addition to the social history of the Middle East and Muslim–Christian relations. Currently, he is Visiting Professor at Nazareth Evangelical College, Nazareth, Israel. Previously, he was Visiting Professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Spatial Practices at Al-Quds Bard College in Abu Dis, Jerusalem. He earned his Ph.D. in Arab and Islamic Studies from Exeter University in 2018. Schmitt has held visiting fellowships at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2015–2016) and the Department of Sociology at Yale University (2016–2017).