There is a valuable book about Italian diplomatic work in Palestine, according to Lucia Rostagno, according to which it is difficult for Italy to reach Palestine smoothly in terms of distance, so Italy should not consider colonizing Palestine, and it is even more impossible to settle here.
At the end of the nineteenth century, Italy's interest in Palestine was mainly in churches and churches. In fact, it is safe to say that very little is known about the country.
Italian Catholics pay a lot of attention to places of worship. The rebuilding of the Bishopric of Jerusalem in 1847 is likely to attract large crowds of onlookers. Although the available evidence does not prove this, it is nevertheless a place of worship worthy of attention.
Italy has no connection to the local Catholic Church of the East – a territory open to the French. The Italian government sees indigenous Catholics as a catalyst for the promotion and defense of the Italian character of the guardianship of the Latin Patriarchate and Holy Lands (both patriarchs and guardians are in fact Italian subjects).
Working with the local population, Salesian had a significant impact in Palestine. Similarly, the Franciscans, by far the largest Catholic group in Palestine, provides jobs and services to local Christians, Muslims and Jews. Politicians and diplomats are still far away.
In 1843, Ritton, consul of the Kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia, was sent to Jerusalem to protect the interests of his subjects and challenge the French protection of Catholics. The material provided by the National Archives of Turin has hardly been scrutinized by scholars, and together with the recent discovery of materials in the archives of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it may paint a different picture.
However, it is safe to say that until 1849 - when the consulate was "temporarily" closed - the influence of the Italian diplomatic establishment was limited. Adolphe Castellinal, the second Sardinian-Piedmontese consul, left Jerusalem in 1849. The seat remained vacant and was filled only 10 years after the completion of the process of Italian unification.
The newly formed Kingdom of Italy could not afford an extensive and complex diplomatic network. The lack of trained and trustworthy diplomats, coupled with Finance Minister Quintino Serra, must avoid budget deficits in the nascent nation. However, the members of the Italian Parliament were fully convinced of the need to open a consulate in the Holy City.
An agreement was finally reached, and Vice Consul Donald was appointed Consul in Jerusalem on November 15, 1871. Like his seven successors before the outbreak of World War I, Donald had no in-depth knowledge of the region, or its language, religion and ethnicity.
However, it must be said that the earliest Sardinian consuls had more experience in the region, as both Ritan and Castellinal had served as consuls in the Ottoman Empire before being appointed to Jerusalem.
It was not until 1911, with the Italian invasion of Libya blocked, that the Italian orientalist Leon Ketani enthusiastically asked the Italian Parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to support the Oriental Academy in Naples as a place to train young diplomats to serve in the East.
Rostagno indicated that the current consuls are not interested in local societies that never appear in their reports; However, new material may restate this point and paint a more nuanced picture. It seems that a local dimension appears in the records of correspondence with Constantinople, since many of the letters deal with local issues, in particular complaints of minor crimes committed by local residents.
Major changes took place after the appointment of Carlo Senny in May 1907. The young consul, although not an orientalist, was an attentive observer and collected more and more information in his reports about local communities and their internal and interrelated relationships. Carlo Senni reported on indigenous religious communities in detail and made recommendations on how to interact with them.
Some of his comments may seem naïve or ill-informed because he doesn't have a deep understanding of local politics. However, the fact that he is not involved in any major local disputes or any major plans to control one or more groups provides a glimpse into what we know about local politics and dynamics.
Sunny also provided valuable information about Jerusalem during World War I, as he remained in the city until the spring of 1915, covering a variety of topics. When Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire, Senny left Jerusalem, arguably making the Italian presence in the region more relevant, while bringing Jerusalem and Palestine closer to Italy and Italians.
With the end of the war, Senny briefly returns to Jerusalem, but everything changes. Now that the British are in control, the Italian government is involved in the redivision of the Middle East. Despite the growing role of Italian diplomacy in Palestine, both Britain and France marginalized Italy, which they saw as more of a challenge than a problem.
Jerusalem and Palestine began to play a greater role in Italian diplomacy and politics. Since Mussolini's goal was to expand Italy's influence in the Mediterranean, Palestine became a battleground against British influence in the region as part of his dream of making Italy an empire.
Orazio Perazzi is one of the most interesting consuls that have not yet been fully analyzed. Appointed in February 1927, Olazio Perazzi was not a career diplomat, but a journalist and expert on Middle Eastern politics. He may have had a direct connection to Mussolini, and during his short term in office, he stressed the need to cooperate with the Zionists, who would determine the future of Palestine.
Although he was an anti-Zionist and Arabophobic, his main concern was to challenge British rule, so he quickly lost his job. After the departure of Olazio Perazzi, on the eve of the riots of the Western Wall of 1929, Mussolini changed direction, and his support for the Arab-Palestinian cause became more evident in terms of propaganda and help to the local Palestinian elite.
The man who helped bring some local Arabs to the Italian side was Mariano de Angeles. Appointed consul in 1932, de Angeles served until 1936, openly and secretly working to transform anti-Italian sentiment among Arabs into sympathy.
At the same time, De Angeles was bullish on Jabotinsky and his hardline Zionists. Although Mussolini never met Jabodinsky, it would be interesting to learn more about the relationship. Many works deal with the emergence of an alliance between Mussolini and the Mufti in Jerusalem.
It was clear that Mussolini had to adopt a different policy in Libya and show a firmer commitment to Arabs and Muslims in order to win his friendship and change anti-Italian sentiment. By 1933, De Angelis had a good relationship with the Mufti, and we hope that the documents available in Rome will give us more details about how the transformation took place.
De Angeles also wrote a lot about the possibility of an agreement between Arabs and Zionists, and he wanted to see Mussolini as a peacemaker. De Angeles left from 1936 to the eve of the 1939 uprising, and Quinto Mazzolini succeeded him until the consulate was closed due to the outbreak of war between Italy and Great Britain.
The years of the intifada marked Italy's strong support for the Palestinian cause, but Italian propaganda ultimately failed to push the Palestinians against the British. The example of Radio Bari is instructive: Arabic-language broadcasts aimed at Palestine and Transjordan were heavily criticized by the British.
They feared that the local population would rebel against colonial power. But while Arab listeners like Arabic programming, it's also true that Radio Bari is not fulfilling its political mission effectively, as we will see in more detail later.