2012 marks the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba - the most traumatic catastrophe that ever befell Palestinians. This book explores new ways of remembering and commemorating the Nakba. In the context of Palestinian oral history, it explores 'social history from below', subaltern narratives of memory and the formation of collective identity. Masalha argues that to write more truthfully about the Nakba is not just to practise a professional historiography but an ethical imperative. The struggles of ordinary refugees to recover and publicly assert the truth about the Nakba is a vital way of protecting their rights and keeping the hope for peace with justice alive. This book is essential for understanding the place of the Palestine Nakba at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the vital role of memory in narratives of truth and reconciliation.
2012 marks the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba - the most traumatic catastrophe that ever befell Palestinians. This book explores new ways of remembering and commemorating the Nakba. In the context of Palestinian oral history, it explores 'social history from below', subaltern narratives of memory and the formation of collective identity. Masalha argues that to write more truthfully about the Nakba is not just to practise a professional historiography but an ethical imperative. The struggles of ordinary refugees to recover and publicly assert the truth about the Nakba is a vital way of protecting their rights and keeping the hope for peace with justice alive. This book is essential for understanding the place of the Palestine Nakba at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the vital role of memory in narratives of truth and reconciliation.
Introduction 1. Zionism and European Settler-Colonialism 2. The Memoricide of the Nakba: Zionist-Hebrew Toponymy and the De-Arabisation of Palestine 3. Fashioning a European Landscape, Erasure and Amnesia: The Jewish National Fund, Afforestation, and Green-washing the Nakba 4. Appropriating History: The Looting of Palestinian Records, Archives and Library Collections (1948-2011) 5. New History, Post-Zionism, the Liberal Coloniser and Hegemonic Narratives: A Critique of the Israeli 'New Historians' 6. Decolonising History and Narrating the Subaltern: Palestinian Oral History, Indigenous and Gendered Memories 7. Resisting Memoricide and Reclaiming Memory: The Politics of Nakba Commemoration among Palestinians inside Israel Epilogue: The Continuity of Trauma
Explores ways of remembering and commemorating the Nakba, dealing with the issue within the context of Palestinian oral history, 'social history from below', narratives of memory and the formation of collective identity.
Nur Masalha is Professor of Religion and Politics and Director of the Centre for Religion and History at St. Mary's University College, UK. He is also Editor of "Holy Land Studies: A Multidisciplinary Journal" (published by Edinburgh University Press).
Nur Masalha has a distiguished and deserved reputation for
scholarship on the Nakba and Palestinian refugees. Now, with his
latest book, his searching analysis of past and present makes for a
powerful combination of remembrance and resistance.
*Ben White, journalist and author of Israeli Apartheid: A
Beginner's Guide*
As a meticulous scholar, historian and above all Palestinian, Nur
Masalha is eminently suited to write this excellent book. He has
produced a marvellous history of the Nakba which should be
essential reading for all those concerned with the origins of the
conflict over Palestine.
*Ghada Karmi, author of Married to Another Man: Israel's Dilemma in
Palestine*
This book is the most comprehensive and penetrating analysis
available of the catastophe that befell Arab Palestine and its
people in 1948, known as the Nakba. It shows how the expulsion and
physical obliteration of the material traces of a people was
followed by what Masalha calls 'memoricide': the effacement of
their history, their archives, and their place-names, and a denial
that they had ever existed.
*Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies Department
of History, Columbia University*
Nur Masalha's 'The Palestinian Nakba' is a tour de force examining
the process of transformation of Palestine over the last century.
One outstanding feature of this study is the systematic manner in
which it investigates the accumulated scholarship on the erasure of
Palestinian society and culture, including a critical assessment of
the work of the new historians. In what he calls 'reclaiming the
memory' he goes on to survey and build on a an emergent narrative.
Masalha's work is essential and crucial for any scholar seeking
this alternate narrative.
*Salim Tamari, Visiting Professor of History, Georgetown
University*
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