Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine
The Politics of National Commemoration

By examining commemorations of key moments, this book traces transformations in Palestinian nationalism.

Laleh Khalili (Author)

9780521106382, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 April 2009

276 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.41 kg

Review of the hardback: 'This eloquent, engaging, well-researched book ... is an essential volume in any collection on Palestinian politics and society.' Amahl Bishara, International Journal of Middle East Studies

Many decades have passed since the Palestinian national movement began its political and military struggle. In that time, poignant memorials at massacre sites, a palimpsest of posters of young heroes and martyrs, sorrowful reminiscences about lost loved ones, and wistful images of young men and women who fought as guerrillas, have all flourished in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine tells the story of how dispossessed Palestinians have commemorated their past, and how through their dynamic everyday narrations, their nation has been made even without the institutional memory-making of a state. Bringing ethnography to political science, Khalili invites us to see Palestinian nationalism in its proper international context and traces its affinities with Third Worldist movements of its time, while tapping a rich and oft-ignored seam of Palestinian voices, histories, and memories.

1. Introduction
2. Transnational movements and discourses
3. Palestinian lives and local institutions in the camps of Lebanon
4. Forms of commemoration
5. Contents of commemoration: narratives of heroism, suffering, and Sumud
6. Guerrillas and martyrs: evolution of national 'heroes'
7. Between battles and massacres: commemorating violent events
8. Commemoration in the occupied Palestinian territories
9. Conclusions
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], Anthropology [JHM], Islam [HRH], Asian history [HBJF]