Remembering Palestine in 1948
Beyond National Narratives

This book examines the memories of those affected by the Palestinian war of 1948, and how it has been mythologized over time.

Efrat Ben-Ze'ev (Author)

9781107685970, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 March 2014

266 pages, 13 b/w illus. 9 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.4 kg

The war of 1948 in Palestine is a conflict whose history has been written primarily from the national point of view. This book asks what happens when narratives of war arise out of personal stories of those who were involved, stories that are still unfolding. Efrat Ben-Ze'ev examines the memories of those who participated and were affected by the events of 1948, and how these events have been mythologized over time. This is a three-way conversation between Palestinian villagers, Jewish-Israeli veterans, and British policemen who were stationed in Palestine on the eve of the war. Each has his or her story to tell. These small-scale truths shed new light on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as it was then and as it has become.

Part I. Constructing Palestine: National Projects: 1. The framework
2. The British cartographic imagination and Palestine
3. Cartographic practices in Palestine: British, Jewish, and Arabs, 1938–48
Part II. Palestine-Arabs Memories in the Making: 4. 1948 from a local point of view: the Palestinian village of Ijzim
5. Rural Palestinian women: witnessing and the domestic sphere
6. Underground memories: collecting traces of the Palestinian past
Part III. Jewish-Israeli Memories in the Making: 7. Palmach fighters: stories and silences
8. The Palmach women
Part IV. British Mandatory Memories in the Making: 9. Carrying out the mandate: British policemen in Palestine
Conclusion and implications.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1]