Remembering the Palestinian Nakba: Commemoration, Oral History and Narratives of Memory.

This year Palestinians commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba – the most traumatic catastrophe that ever befell them. The rupture of 1948 and the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the Nakba are central to both the Palestinian society of today and Palestinian social history and collective identity. This article explores ways of remembering and commemorating the Nakba. It deals with the issue within the context of Palestinian oral history, ‘social history from below’, narratives of memory and the formation of collective identity. With the history, rights and needs of the Palestinian refugees being excluded from recent Middle East peacemaking efforts and with the failure of both the Israeli state and the international community to acknowledge the Nakba, ‘1948’ as an ‘ethnic cleansing’ continues to underpin the Palestine-Israel conflict. This article argues that to write more truthfully about the Nakba is not just to practice a professional historiography; it is also a moral imperative of acknowledgement and redemption. The struggles of the refugees to publicise the truth about the Nakba is a vital way of protecting the refugees’ rights and keeping the hope for peace with justice alive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR

El problema de los refugiados palestinos sesenta años después de la Nakba

The Palestinian Refugee Problem 60 years after the Nakb

The Islamic Republic of Iran and the GCC states: revolution to realpolitik?

This paper looks at the current state of relations between Iran and the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and places these relations in their recent historical context, aiming to tease out their underlying dynamics and likely future evolution. In particular, the paper examines the impact of Iraq; the part played by the nuclear issue; the consequences of the developing broader regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia; the complications arising from the presence in certain of the GCC states of significant Shia communities; territorial disputes; and, finally, the role played by trade and finance in partially neutralizing these sources of conflict

Present absentees and indigenous resistance

Israeli policies during the post-Nakba period: the military administration (1948-1966) -- Dispossession by land expropriation: the Absentees' Property Law of 1950 -- The struggle for "return" of Kafr Bir'im and Iqrit (1948-2005) -- "Politics from below" and direct action: ADRID -- Nakba memory and commemoration -- Conclusio

The politics of denial: Israel and the Palestinian refugee problem

The 1948 war ended in the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their villages and homes. Israeli settlers moved in to occupy their land and the Palestinian refugees found themselves in refugee camps, or in neighbouring Arab countries. Today there are nearly four million Palestinian refugees -- and they want the right to go home. Their problem is the greatest and most enduring refugee problem in the world. Since 1948 Israeli refugee policy has become a classic case of denial: the denial that Zionist "transfer committees" had operated between 1937 and 1948; denial of any wrong-doing or any historical injustice; denial of the "right of return"; denial of restitution of property and compensation; and indeed denial of any moral responsibility or culpability for the creation of the refugee problem. The aim of this book is to analyse Israeli policies towards the Palestinian refugees as they evolved from the 1948 catastrophe (or nakba) to the present. It is the first volume to look in detail at Israeli law and policy surrounding the refugee question. Drawing on extensive primary sources and previously classified archive material, Masalha discusses the 1948 exodus; Israeli resettlement schemes since 1948; Israeli approaches to compensation and restitution of property; Israeli refugee policies towards the internally displaced ('present absentees'); and Israeli refugee policies during the Madrid and Oslo negotiations. Masalha asks what rights Palestinians possess under international law? How can a refugee population be compensated, and will they ever be able to return to their homes? Masalha questions the official Israeli position that the only solution to the problem is resettlement of the refugees in Arab states or elsewhere. This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the subject that lies at the heart of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East

Jordan: History

Now in its fifty-third edition, this title continues to provide the most up-to-date geo-political and economic information for this important world area. The volume covers: the Middle East and North Africa from Algeria to Yemen; offers quick access to a wide range of data; accurately and impartially records the latest political and economic developments; and, provides comprehensive data on all major organizations in the region. General Survey - Introductory essays cover topics relating to the region as a whole, including: "Arab-Israeli Relations 1967-2003; The Jerusalem Issue; Documents on Palestine; The Removal of Saddam Hussein and the 'Deconstruction' of Iraq; The Islamist Movement in the Middle East and North Africa; Natural Gas in the Middle East and North Africa; Oil in the Middle East and North Africa; Islamic Banking and Finance "and "The Religions of the Middle East and North Africa". Country Surveys - Individual chapters on each country containing: articles on geography, recent history and economy; an economic and demographic survey using all the latest available statistics on population, agriculture, industry, finance, trade, transport, tourism, and education; directory sections with names, addresses and contact numbers covering the constitution, government, legislature, judiciary, political organizations, diplomatic representation, religious groups, the media, finance, trade and industry (including petroleum), and tourism. Regional Information - includes all major international organizations active in the region, their aims, activities, publications and principal personnel; research Institutes specializing in the region; and, bibliographies of books and periodicals covering the Middle East and North Africa

La Biblia y el sionismo: Invención de una tradición y discurso poscolonia

The Bible and zionism: invention of a tradition and postcolonial discourse. Para los sectores tanto laicos como religiosos del movimiento sionista, la Biblia se convirtió en un texto fundacional, por cuanto expresa con nitidez la idea doble de un pueblo elegido y una tierra prometida. Para ello les ha sido preciso adoptar una lectura del libro que parte de su historicidad: dado que establece unos derechos –sean históricos o por donación de la divinidad– absolutos y exclusivos, la legitimidad de la ocupación de la región es indiscutible y se sobrepone a cualesquiera otros derechos, incluido por supuesto el de los habitantes de la región a lo largo de los últimos casi dos mil años. Esta obra reveladora rastrea los mecanismos por los que un texto de carácter sagrado ha pasado a ser un libro de historia. Para ello ha necesitado dar la espalda a buena parte de la crítica bíblica e incluso la arqueología contemporáneas, acudiendo a interpretaciones literalistas del Libro y a la utilización sesgada de los escasos datos documentales: desde el papel de la Biblia para justificar la Nakba de 1948 hasta la consolidación del sionismo religioso de carácter fundamentalista, pasando por las aportaciones del mesianismo cristiano, La Biblia y el sionismo ofrece el ejemplo más acabado y actual de una interpretación que en muchos aspectos ha sido la base de una trágica impostura, cuya superación –eliminando el etnocentrismo que es el corolario de la visión bíblica– es la única salida a una situación que clama a la conciencia universa

The Palestine Nakba: Decolonising History, Narrating the Subaltern, Reclaiming Memory

In 2009 Palestinians commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba - the most traumatic catastrophe that ever befell them. The book 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. Masalha argues that to write more truthfully about the Nakba is not just to practice a professional historiography but a moral imperative. The struggles of the ordinary refugees to publicise the truth about the Nakba is a vital way of protecting the refugees' rights and keeping the hope for peace with justice alive. ----- With the history, rights and needs of the Palestinian refugees being excluded from recent Middle East peacemaking efforts and with the failure of both the Israeli state and international community to acknowledge the Nakba, '1948' as an 'ethnic cleansing' continues to underpin the Palestine-Israel conflict. This book is vital for a real understanding of the Israel-Palestine conflict