A Tale of Two Narratives
The Holocaust, the Nakba, and the Israeli-Palestinian Battle of Memories

Explores the transmission - and perpetuation - of conflict narratives in Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian society since the signing of the Oslo Accords.

Grace Wermenbol (Author)

9781108794404, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 March 2023

412 pages
22.7 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.6 kg

'… [This book] would be of interest to students and scholars of Middle East and Memory studies, identity politics, the creation of nation-states, and settler colonialism. Finally, [it] is of the utmost importance for those interested in examining the interaction of the media, press, and state in fomenting a national identity based on collective memory.' Christina Bouri, Arab Studies Quarterly

The Holocaust and the Nakba are foundational traumas in Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian societies and form key parts of each respective collective identity. This book offers a parallel analysis of the transmission of these foundational pasts in Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian societies by exploring how the Holocaust and the Nakba have been narrated since the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords. The work exposes the existence and perpetuation of ethnocentric victimhood narratives that serve as the theoretical foundations for an ensuing minimization – or even denial – of the other's past. Three established realms of societal memory transmission provide the analytical framework for this study: official state education, commemorative acts, and mass mediation. Through this analysis, the work demonstrates the interrelated nature of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the contextualization of the primary historical events, while also highlighting the universal malleability of mnemonic practices.

Introduction
The post-oslo period: a historical overview
Part I. The Textbook of Memory: 1.The holocaust in Israeli textbooks: death and deliverance
2.Teaching the nakba: old wounds, new textbooks
Part II. The Landscape of Memory: 3. Recreating and reclaiming the lost homeland
4. A past that does not pass
Part III. Scoop on the Past: 5. Never forget and never again
6. Preserving the past, mobilizing the past
Conclusion
Bibliography
Interviews.

Subject Areas: Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], Regional & national history [HBJ], General & world history [HBG], History [HB], Humanities [H]