About
I am a Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, where I have been a faculty member since 2007. I served as Chair of the Department from 2017 to 2022 and have been the Associate Dean for Research in the Faculty of Humanities since early 2020.
My research specializes in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire in Greater Syria (Bilad al-Sham), focusing on petitioning culture to the Sultan, cartography, rural populations, late Ottoman Jewish settlement in Palestine, the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and its regional ramifications, and the history of Gaza and its hinterland.
I recently completed a major research project on late Ottoman Gaza, funded by the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF), in collaboration with Prof. Johann Büssow of Ruhr University Bochum. This project aimed to shed light on this significant yet historiographically overlooked city—often overshadowed by research on Jerusalem and northern coastal cities such as Jaffa, Haifa, and Beirut. The project integrated Ottoman archival documents, previously unpublished Arabic sources, maps, and photographs, utilizing cutting-edge digital humanities tools. The results and data are accessible on the project website: https://gaza.ub.rub.de/gaza.
Currently, I am involved in several funded research projects:
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Late Ottoman Beersheba: A project co-led with Prof. Johann Büssow, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation.
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Agricultural Heritage: An interdisciplinary study examining the remains of historical orchards in the southern coastal plain, conducted alongside Prof. Guy Bar-Oz and funded by the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology.
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Jewish Settlement and Demography: A study funded by the Israel Science Foundation (ISF) focusing on Jewish settlement in Palestine based on the 1905 Ottoman census.
Specializing in Ottoman archival material in Istanbul and Jerusalem, my work emphasizes the critical importance of incorporating primary Ottoman sources into the study of Greater Syria. This approach seeks to counter narrow nationalistic paradigms and challenge skewed historiographical perceptions of the Ottoman era.
Committed to public academic engagement, I actively work to make scholarly research accessible to the broader community. At the University of Haifa, I have organized numerous public conferences and symposia on late Ottoman Palestine, as well as three curated research exhibitions: Petitions to the Sultan (2013), Ottoman Cartography (2016), and Ottoman Gaza (2020).
Beyond my academic pursuits, I am a dedicated father of two daughters and an avid hiker and photographer.
Publications
- Petitions and petitioning in Europe and North America: from the medieval period to the present, Ben-Bassat, Y., Jul 2026, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Comparative Legal History. 6 p.
- A population register of a Jewish colony in late Ottoman Palestine, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Baumgarten, E., Apr 2026, In: Journal of Jewish Studies. 77, 1, p. 151-181 31 p.
- מגלים את ארץ הדבוקי בדרום מישור החוף,
Translated title of the contribution :Discovering the 'Dabouki Land' in the Southern Coastal Plain - The demography of three northern Jewish colonies in Late Ottoman Palestine as reflected in two rare mukhtar books, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Baumgarten, E., 2026, In: Journal of Israeli History. 44, 1, p. 99-121 23 p.
- Historical Roots of Heritage Horticulture in the Southern Coastal Plain of Israel, Zohar, M., Ben-Bassat, Y. & Bar-Oz, G., Feb 2025, In: Land. 14, 2, 285.
- Intra- and Inter-Communal Relationships in Palestine during the Last Years of Ottoman Rule, 1908–17, Ben-Bassat, Y., 1 Jan 2025, The I.B. Tauris Handbook of the Late Ottoman Empire: History and Legacy. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., p. 361-372 12 p.
- Late Ottoman Gaza: An Eastern Mediterranean Hub in Transformation, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Buessow, J., Nov 2024, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 192 p.
- In Dabouki Land: Interdisciplinary notes on the cultural history of a landrace grape cultivar in Israel, Schmidt, J., Ben-Bassat, Y. & Bar-Oz, G., Oct 2024, In: Journal of Arid Environments. 224, 105220.
- מושבות העלייה הראשונה במפקד העות'מאני משנת 1905: מקרה הבוחן של המושבה הספרדית הר-טוב,
Translated title of the contribution :The First Aliya Colonies in the 1905 Ottoman Census: A Case Study of the Sephardic Colony of Har-Tuv - From the household to the wider world : local perspectives on urban institutions in Late Ottoman Bilad al-Sham, Ben-Bassat, Y. (Editor) & Buessow, J., 2023, Tübingen: Tübingen University Press.
- Arguing for political legitimacy in a late Ottoman city: A fictional literary dialogue from Gaza, c. 1895, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Bussow, J., 2023, Berlin: EB-Verlag. 90 p.
- George Franghia (b. 1856): a forgotten farsighted Ottoman engineer’s contribution to the development of the province of Jerusalem during the late Ottoman period, Ben-Bassat, Y., 2023, In: Middle Eastern Studies. 59, 5, p. 713-725 13 p.
- עדויות קרטוגרפיות משלהי התקופה העות'מאנית לחיפוש נפט בנגב ובמדבר־יהודה,
Translated title of the contribution :Cartographic Evidence from the Late Ottoman Period of Oil Concession Permits in the Judean Desert and the Northern Negev - Analyzing routes in Ottoman Greater Syria using historical GIS: The 1849 Saida map, Zohar, M. & Ben-Bassat, Y., Oct 2021, In: Transactions in GIS. 25, 5, p. 2612-2640 29 p.
- פטיציות לסולטן באיסטנבול: שוליים ומרכז בשלהי האימפריה העות'מאנית - מבט חדש,
Translated title of the contribution :Petitions to the Sultan in Istanbul: Periphery and Ottoman Empire under the Shadow of the Rabbanite Jews - Jews and Palestinians in the Late Ottoman Era, 1908-1914: Claiming the Homeland: [מאמר ביקורת],
Translated title of the contribution :Jews and Palestinians in the Late Ottoman Era, 1908-1914: Claiming the Homeland - National Narratives Challenged: Ottoman Wartime Correspondence on Palestine, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Halevy, D., 1 Jan 2021, Remembering the Great War in the Middle East: From Turkey and Armenia to Australia and New Zealand. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., p. 117-131 15 p.
- ירושלים 1900: עיר הקודש בעידן האפשרויות: [מאמר ביקורת], בן בסט, י., 2019, In: המזרח החדש. נח, p. 155-1נח 155 p.
- עדויות קרטוגרפיות חדשות למיפוי קרקעות הסולטאן עבד אל-חמיד השני בצפון ארץ ישראל ובדרום סוריה בשלהי המאה התשע-עשרה,
Translated title of the contribution :New Cartographical Evidence on the Efforts to Survey Sultan Abdülhamid’s Lands in Northern Palestine and Southern Syria at the End of the 19th Century - Ottoman maps of the Empire's Arab provinces, 1850s to the First World War, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Ben-Artzi, Y., 30 May 2018, In: Imago Mundi. 70, 2, p. 199-211 13 p.
- האם זנחו העות'מאנים את עכו? עדויות קרטוגרפיות לכוונה לפתח את העיר בשלהי התקופה העות'מאנית,
Translated title of the contribution :Acre in 19th-Century Ottoman Maps: Was the City’s Demise Inevitable? - המזרח החדש - כתב עת ללימודי המזרח התיכון והאסלאם, כרך 57 (נ"ז), Alon, Y. (Editor) & Ben-Bassat, Y. (Editor), 2018, In: המזרח החדש. 57
- Ottoman Jerusalem, 1517-1918, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Buessow, J., 1 Jan 2018, Routledge Handbook on Jerusalem. Taylor and Francis, p. 113-121 9 p.
- Developing Perspectives in Mamluk History: Essays in Honor of Amalia Levanoni, Ben-Bassat, Y. (Editor), 2017, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. 441 p. (Islamic History and Civilization; vol. 143)
- ה'מניפסט' של ג'מאל פאשא: הממשל הצבאי העות'מאני ותושבי הארץ במלחמת העולם הראשונה,
Translated title of the contribution :Jamal Pasha’s Manifest - גבול ארץ-ישראל-מצרים בראי המיפוי העות'מאני בשלהי המאה התשע עשרה,
Translated title of the contribution :The Creation of the Border between Ottoman Palestine and Egypt as reflected in Ottoman Maps - המזרח החדש - כתב עת ללימודי המזרח התיכון והאסלאם, כרך 56 (נ"ו), Alon, Y. (Editor) & Ben-Bassat, Y. (Editor), 2017, In: המזרח החדש. 56
- A tale of two cities and one telegram: The Ottoman military regime and the population of Greater Syria during WWI: The Ottoman military regime and the population of Greater Syria during WWI, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Halevy, D., 2016, In: British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 45, 2, p. 212-230 19 p.
- המזרח החדש - כתב עת ללימודי המזרח התיכון והאסלאם, כרך 55 (נ"ה), Ephrat, D. (Editor) & Ben-Bassat, Y. (Editor), 2016, In: המזרח החדש. 55
- The collision of Empires as seen from Istanbul: The border of British-controlled Egypt and Ottoman Palestine as reflected in Ottoman maps, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Ben-Artzi, Y., 1 Oct 2015, In: Journal of Historical Geography. 50, p. 25-36 12 p.
- Que faire des juifs de Palestine? Les Contradictions de la Politique Ottomane,
Translated title of the contribution :The Jewish Yishuv in Ottoman Palestine - Enciphered Ottoman telegrams from the First World War concerning the yishuv in Palestine, Ben-Bassat, Y., 1 Jan 2015, In: Turcica. 46, p. 279-299 21 p.
- PALESTINE'S POPULATION AND THE QUESTION OF OTTOMANISM DURING THE LAST DECADE OF OTTOMAN RULE, Ben-Bassat, Y., 1 Jan 2015, World War I and the End of The Ottomans: From the Balkan Wars to the Armenian Genocide. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., p. 149-165 17 p.
- Shattered Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire: [מאמר ביקורת], בן בסט, י., 2015, In: המזרח החדש. 54, p. 227-229 3 p.
- Palestine’s Population and the Question of Ottomanism During the Last Decade of Ottoman Rule, Ben-Bassat, Y., 2015, World War I and the End of the Ottomans: From the Balkan Wars to the Armenian Genocide. Kieser, H.-L., Öktem, K. & Reinkowski, M. (eds.). London: I.B. Tauris, p. 149-166 18 p.
- The Fate of a Bulgarian Jewish Settlement in Palestine (1895-1896), Ben-Bassat, Y., 2014, Sephardi Lives: A Documentary History, 1700-1950. Phillips Cohen, J. & Abrevaya Stein, S. (eds.). Stanford: Stanford University Press, p. 192-194 3 p.
- מברקים עות'מאניים סודיים הנוגעים לארץ ישראל,
Translated title of the contribution :The Secret Ottoman Telegraphs on Palestine during WWI - From Şikayet to Political Discourse and ‘Public Opinion’: Petitioning Practices to the King-Crane Commission, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Zachs, F., 2014, In: New Middle Eastern Studies. 4, p. 1-23 23 p.
- Rural reactions to zionist activity in palestine before and after the young turk revolution of 1908 as reflected in petitions to Istanbul, Ben-Bassat, Y., May 2013, In: Middle Eastern Studies. 49, 3, p. 349-363 15 p.
- Petitioning the Sultan: Protests and Justice in Late Ottoman Palestine, Ben-Bassat, Y., 2013, London: I.B. Tauris. 332 p.
- Beyond National Historiographies: Reflections on the Ottoman Background of Proto-Zionist-Arab Encounters in Fin de Siècle Nineteenth Century Palestine, Ben-Bassat, Y., 2013, Ottoman Legacies in the Contemporary Mediterranean: The Balkans and the Middle East Compared. Ginio, E. & Kaser, K. (eds.). Jerusalem: European Forum at the Hebrew University, p. 93-118 26 p. (Ottoman Legacies in the Contemporary Mediterranean: The Balkans and the Middle East Compared).
- Regional cooperation among the rural population of Palestine's southern coast as reflected in joint petitions to Istanbul at the end of the nineteenth century, Ben-Bassat, Y., 2012, In: New Perspectives on Turkey. 46, p. 213-238 26 p.
- Hamidian Palestine: Politics and Society in the District of Jerusalem: [מאמר ביקורת], בן בסט, י., 2012, In: המזרח החדש. 51, p. 225-228 4 p.
- תקריות רחובות בפטיציות של האוכלוסייה הערבית הכפרית לאסתאנבול, 1913-1890, בן בסט, י., 2012, In: קתדרה: לתולדות ארץ-ישראל וישובה. 146, p. 101-116 16 p.
- Late Ottoman Palestine: The Period of Young Turk Rule, Ben-Bassat, Y. (Editor) & Ginio, E. (Editor), 1 Jan 2011, Tauris. 310 p.
- Introduction: The Case Study of Palestine during the Young Turk Era, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Ginio, E., 1 Jan 2011, Late Ottoman Palestine: The Period of Young Turk Rule. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., p. 1-14 14 p.
- Late Ottoman Palestine, Ben-Bassat, Y. & Ginio, E., 1 Jan 2011, Late Ottoman Palestine: The Period of Young Turk Rule. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc., p. 1-310 310 p.
- על טלגרף וצדק: הפטיציות של תושבי יפו ועזה לווזיר הגדול באיסטנבול בשלהי המאה התשע-עשרה,
Translated title of the contribution :On Telegraph and Justice: Petitions from Jaffa and Gaza to the Ottoman Grand Vizier in Istanbul during the Late Nineteenth Century - In Search of Justice: Petitions Sent from Palestine to Istanbul from the 1870, BEN-BASSAT, Y., 2009, In: Turcica. 41, 0, p. 89-114 26 p.
- על פרשת דרכים: עיתוני היישוב ומהפכת התורכים הצעירים של 1908,
Translated title of the contribution :On Crossroads: The Hebrew Press in Palestine in the Aftermath of the Young Turk Revolution of 1908
Academic Background
I completed my Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2000, double-majoring in Middle Eastern Studies and Geography. Consequently, much of my research operates at the intersection of history and historical geography.
I pursued my graduate studies at the University of Chicago in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, earning my Ph.D. in 2007. That same year, I joined the Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Haifa, where I teach courses on the history of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey. My research relies heavily on primary sources gathered through extensive archival work at the Ottoman Archives (Devlet Arşivleri) in Istanbul.
In recent years, I have expanded my teaching portfolio to encompass courses examining the interplay between political dynamics, environmental history, and the climate crisis in the Middle East.