Bushnak
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Bushnaks
| image = Bosnian mosque in Caesarea.JPG
| caption = The mosque in Caesarea, Israel
| popplace = Syria, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan
| pop =
| poptime =
| rels = Sunni Islam
| related = Bosniaks in Turkey
Bosniaks in Syria
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| languages =
}}
Bushnak ({{langx|ar|بشناق}}, meaning "Bosnian", also transliterated Bushnaq, Boshnak, Bouchenak and Bouchnak) is a surname common among Levantines of Bosnian Muslim origin.{{cite web|author=Ibrahim al-Marashi|author-link=Ibrahim al-Marashi|title=The Arab Bosnians?: The Middle East and the Security of the Balkans|url=http://www.hks.harvard.edu/kokkalis/GSW3/Ibrahim_Al-Marashi.pdf|page=4|access-date=2008-11-12}} Those sharing this surname are the descendants of Bosnian Muslims, apprehensive of living under Christian rule after the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878, immigrated to Ottoman Syria.
While not originally from one family, most Bosnian Muslims who immigrated to the Levant adopted Bushnak as a common surname, attesting to their origins.{{cite web|author=Amira Hass|author-link=Amira Hass|title=It's the pits|publisher=Original in Haaretz, reprinted by Ta'ayush|url=http://www.taayush.org/new/yanun_haaretz_english.htm|date=25 October 2002|access-date=2008-11-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120044401/http://www.taayush.org/new/yanun_haaretz_english.htm#|archive-date=2008-11-20|url-status=dead}}
History
Some Bosnian movement to Palestine occurred when Bosnian Muslim soldiers were brought to Palestine in the late 1800s to provide reinforcements for the Ottoman army.
More substantial movement occurred after 1878, when the Austro-Hungarian empire, ruled by the House of Habsburg, occupied Bosnia. Bosnian Muslim emigration continued through this period, escalating after the Austro-Hungarian's 1908 annexation of Bosnia. Many immigrated to parts of what is now modern Turkey, while a smaller number settled in Ottoman Syria (modern Syria, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan).
Bosnian immigrants settled predominantly in villages in the parts of the present day West Bank and Israel: Caesarea, Yanun, Nablus and Tulkarem. Their descendants still live in these villages, their Bosnian heritage reflected in the Arab surname of Bushnak.
Notable people bearing the surname
=Bushnak=
- Ramez Bushnak (1976–2000), an Israeli Arab civilian shot dead by Israeli police during the Second Intifada
=Bushnaq=
- Ali Bushnaq, Palestinian Mount Everest climber
- Alia Bushnaq (born 2000), Jordanian athlete
- Suzan Bushnaq (born 1963), Kuwaiti painter, daughter of Mohammed Bushnaq
- Suad Bushnaq (born 1982), Jordanian-Canadian film composer
- Mohammed Bushnaq (1934–2017), Palestinian artist (painter and sculptor)
=Bouchnak=
- Lotfi Bouchnak (born 1952), Tunisian singer
- Hamid Bouchnak (born 1969), Moroccan raï singer
=Boushnak=
- Laura Boushnak (born 1976), Kuwaiti-born Palestinian photographer
See also
Notes and references
{{Reflist|2}}
=Bibliography=
{{refbegin}}
- {{Cite book|last=Khalifeh|first=Sahar|year=2005|title=The Inheritance|location=Cairo and New York, NY|publisher=American University in Cairo Press|isbn=978-977-424-939-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/inheritance0000khal}}
{{refend}}
{{Bosniak diaspora}}
{{ethnic groups in the State of Palestine}}
{{demographics of Israel}}
{{surname}}
Category:Surnames of Bosnian origin
Category:European diaspora in the Middle East
Category:European diaspora in Israel
Category:European diaspora in Lebanon
Category:European diaspora in Palestine