Palestinian Collective Memory and National Identity

This volume, written by Israeli researchers (only one chapter is written by a Palestinian Israeli) analyzes the evolution and cultivation of modern Palestinian collective memory and its role in shaping Palestinian national identity from its inception in the 1920s to the 2006 Palestinian elections.

While collective memory is central for any group feeling, it is particularly important for the Palestinians as a semi-diasporic people who are still engaged in the struggle for statehood.

Contents:

Introduction: Collective Memory and the Palestinian Experience (Meir Litvak)

The Evolution of a Founding Myth: The Nakba and Its Fluctuating Meaning (Esther Webman)

The Memory that Never Dies: The Nakba Memory and the Palestinian National Movement (Michael Milshtein)

Memory “from Below”: Palestinian Society and the Nakba Memory (Michael Milshtein)

Constructing a National Past: The Palestinian Case (Meir Litvak)

Historical Discourse in the Media of the Palestinian National Authority (Sariel Birnbaum)

Palestinian Women and Collective Memory (Hanita Brand)

A Dream of Severance: Crisis of Identity in Palestinian Fiction in Israel (Mahmud Ghanayim)