Late Modern Palestine


Book Description

Late Modern Palestine looks at the ways in which the relationship between the subject and representation and the political problematic of postcolonial late modernity is articulated in the context of the Palestinians’ struggle for liberation. Junko-Aikio provides a rich, theoretically and empirically, and in part also visually grounded study of the complex ways in which ordinary Palestinians face, negotiate and resist multiple regimes of power and desire in the context of everyday life in the West Bank and Gaza. The volume examines the early years of the second Palestinian uprising, an intifada, whose political status remains highly disputed. The book examines the ways in which Palestinian politics during the second intifada has been entangled with the broader social and political changes that are associated with postcolonial late modernity. It is argued that the dislocation between modern colonial and late modern/postcolonial regimes of power and subjectivity greatly complicates the map of power and resistance in contemporary Palestine, and also renders articulation of national unity and hegemonic political strategy increasingly unlikely. This work will be of great interest to students and scholars of Middle East Studies, Postcolonial Studies, International Relations, Political Sociology, Critical Security Studies, and Political Theory.




The Hundred Years' War on Palestine


Book Description

A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home in Palestine, wrote a letter aimed at Theodore Herzl: the country had an indigenous people who would not easily accept their own displacement. He warned of the perils ahead, ending his note, “in the name of God, let Palestine be left alone.” Thus Rashid Khalidi, al-Khalidi’s great-great-nephew, begins this sweeping history, the first general account of the conflict told from an explicitly Palestinian perspective. Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members—mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists—The Hundred Years' War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age. He highlights the key episodes in this colonial campaign, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the destruction of Palestine in 1948, from Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to the endless and futile peace process. Original, authoritative, and important, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. In reevaluating the forces arrayed against the Palestinians, it offers an illuminating new view of a conflict that continues to this day.




Palestine


Book Description

This rich and magisterial work traces Palestine's millennia-old heritage, uncovering cultures and societies of astounding depth and complexity that stretch back to the very beginnings of recorded history. Starting with the earliest references in Egyptian and Assyrian texts, Nur Masalha explores how Palestine and its Palestinian identity have evolved over thousands of years, from the Bronze Age to the present day. Drawing on a rich body of sources and the latest archaeological evidence, Masalha shows how Palestine’s multicultural past has been distorted and mythologised by Biblical lore and the Israel–Palestinian conflict. In the process, Masalha reveals that the concept of Palestine, contrary to accepted belief, is not a modern invention or one constructed in opposition to Israel, but rooted firmly in ancient past. Palestine represents the authoritative account of the country's history.




Haifa; or, Life in modern Palestine


Book Description

This book is an autobiographical account of the author's life in Haifa, which at the time was still part of Palestine. The writer of the book was Laurence Oliphant; a Member of Parliament, a South African-born British author, traveller, diplomat, British intelligence agent, Christian mystic, and Christian Zionist. He and his family settled in Palestine for most of their lives, dividing their time between a house in the German Colony in Haifa, and another in the Druze village of Daliyat al-Karmel on Mount Carmel. Oliphant's secretary Naftali Herz Imber, author of the Israeli national anthem, Hatikva, lived with them. Oliphant is regarded as having been "central" to "the establishment and survival" of Rosh Pinna and Zikhron Ya'akov.




A History of Modern Palestine


Book Description

Now in an updated and expanded third edition, this is a widely acclaimed history of Palestine centred on the experiences of everyday Palestinians.




"Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?"


Book Description

"Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?" This question has been posed as outside observers survey both what appears to be an intractable conflict in Palestine-Israel as well as what they see as the predominance of Palestinian violence as either cause of and/or response to Israeli military domination of Palestinian territory. The implication is that if there was a Palestinian leader who could lead a mass program of nonviolent direct action--like Gandhi performed in British colonial controlled India--Palestinians could finally be successful in ending Israeli military occupation and realizing their national dreams of political self-determination in the establishment of a state. This dissertation examines and problematizes the "Palestinian Gandhi" question and the discourse that produces it by identifying and exploring the contours of alternative Palestinian discourses of resistance--what I refer to as discourses of "political economies of resistance" and "transnational solidarities and resistance." By exploring these discourses, this dissertation addresses the problematic of representing political agency or subjectivity in areas of conflict and violence, in this case Palestine in the post-Oslo era (2000-present). Drawing particularly from discourse and postcolonial theory, this dissertation is an inquiry into the discursive construction and obfuscation of Palestinian political subjectivity by examining narratives and practices of nonviolence and resistance in and about Palestine--how certain forms of resistance are identified while other forms are obscured. Framed in the context of International Relations and Peacebuilding theory and practice, this dissertation gives greater attention to the constitutive role of marginalized people in the production of concepts and practices of resistance arguing that this could help us identify overlooked and seemingly everyday practices that have implications for peacebuilding policy and practice.




Haif


Book Description

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.




The Boundaries of Modern Palestine, 1840-1947


Book Description

Boundary limitation is a crucial issue in the Middle East, and the boundaries marked out during the years 1840 to 1947 are still one of the major issues in today's political discussions concerning Israel and its surrounding countries. This book, which is based on extensive archival research, deals with the first stage of the delimitation of the boundaries of modern Palestine, between the years 1840 and 1947. During this period, the boundaries of Palestine were staked out by foreign, imperial forces (Britain, France and the Ottoman Empire) which placed them according to their desires, without considering local needs or ideas. For the first time, thanks to the fascinating evidence revealed in archives, this invaluable book reveals the hidden ambitions; the motives of different agents; and the stories of those involved in the process as well as the eventual outcome of their work - the first delimitation of the Holy Land in the modern era.




Overthrowing Geography


Book Description

This landmark book offers a truly integrated perspective for understanding the formation of Jewish and Palestinian Arab identities and relations in Palestine before 1948. Beginning with the late Ottoman period Mark LeVine explores the evolving history and geography of two cities: Jaffa, one of the oldest ports in the world, and Tel Aviv, which was born alongside Jaffa and by 1948 had annexed it as well as its surrounding Arab villages. Drawing from a wealth of untapped primary sources, including Ottoman records, Jaffa Shari'a court documents, town planning records, oral histories, and numerous Zionist and European archival sources, LeVine challenges nationalist historiographies of Jaffa and Tel Aviv, revealing the manifold interactions of the Jewish and Palestinian Arab communities that lived there. At the center of the book is a discussion of how Tel Aviv's self-definition as the epitome of modernity affected its and Jaffa's development and Jaffa's own modern pretenses as well. As he unravels this dynamic, LeVine provides new insights into how popular cultures and public spheres evolved in this intersection of colonial, modern, and urban space. He concludes with a provocative discussion of how these discourses affected the development of today's unified city of Tel Aviv–Yafo and, through it, Israeli and Palestinian identities within in and outside historical Palestine.




Late Ottoman Palestine


Book Description

The decisive consequences of the Young Turk Revolution of 1908 had ramifications over the entire Ottoman Empire - and the Ottoman territory of Palestine was no exception. "Late Ottoman Palestine" examines the impact of Young Turk policies and reforms on local societies and administration, using Palestine as a prism through which to explore the impact of the Revolution in the provincial arena far from the administrative and political centre of the capital. It thus sheds light upon the last decade of Ottoman rule in Palestine, crucially dealing with the roots of Jewish-Arab conflict in the area and the early crystallization of Arab, Palestinian and Zionist identities, along with that of an Ottoman imperial identity. It will be a vital resource for students and researchers interested in the modern history of the Middle East, the Ottoman Empire and Palestine.