About the Book

The 1948 Palestine War is known to Israelis as ‘the War of Independence‘. But for Palestinians, the war is forever the Nakba, the ‘catastrophe‘. The war led to the creation of the State of Israel and the destruction of much of Palestininan society by the Zionist forces. Foir all Palestinians, the Nakba has become central to history, memory and identity. This book focuses on Palestinian internal refugees in Israel and internally displaced Palestinians across the Green LIne. It uses oral history and interviews to examine Palestinian identity and memory, indigenous rights, international protection, the ‘right of return‘, and a just solution in Palestine/Israel.

Contributors include several distinguished authors and scholars such as William Dalrymple, Prof. Naseer Aruri, Dr. Ilan Pappe, Prof Isma‘il Abu Sa‘ad and Dr Nur Masalha.

Commendations

'In this remarkable book, twelve writers brilliantly evoke the spirit of Edward Said to tell the unvarnished truth about Palestine and Israel.' - John Pilger

'This is a work of enormous significance by distinguished scholars of singular courage and integrity. The spirit and legacy of Edward Said are embodied in these papers that seek to rectify grave historical omissions and distortions pertaining to the plight and rights of the Palestinians, particularly in their displacement and exile. Such a narrative of affirmation, authenticity, and rectification is the essential antidote to the mendacious accounts of exclusion and denial that have perpetuated, and even justified, the continued victimization of the Palestinian nation. The recognition of this grievous injustice, along with the admission of Israeli and global culpability, are the first steps in the quest for a just peace and hence for historical redemption.' - Dr Hanan Ashrawi, former Dean of Faculty of Arts, Bir Zeit University, Palestine; currently a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for Jerusalem

'An excellent reader on the subject, bringing together as it does a wide range of essays...Israel's arguments against its critics often include the claim that it is the Middle East's only democracy. This book illustrates why that claim is so shallow, based as it is on a situation which denies full rights to a significant portion of Israeli citizens, denying them everything from adequate water supplies to the validity of their memories and history.' - Peace News

"An important overview" - DannyReviews.com

"A valuable introduction… a timely and useful, if disturbing, contribution" - Midwest Jewish Studies Association

"Catastrophe Remembered makes a timely and useful … contribution to an important and unfinished discussion" - Neil Caplan, Midwest Jewish Studies Association

Contents

Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
Forward: Edward W. Said, Scholar-Activist - Naseer H. Aruri Introduction - Nur Masalha
Part I: Evolving Israeli Policies and Indigenous Resistance
1. Present Absentees and Indigenous Resistance - Nur Masalha
2. The State of Israel Versus the Palestinian Internal Refugees - Hillel Cohen
3. Patterns of Internal Displacement, Social Adjustment and the Challenge of Return
- Nihad Boqai‘
4. Forced Sedentarisation, Land Rights and Indigenous Struggle: The Palestinian Bedouin in the Negev - Isma‘el Abu Sa‘ad
Part II: Palestinian Oral History and Memory
5. "A Muted Sort of Grief": Tales of Refuge in Nazareth (1948-2005) - Isabelle Humphries
6. Kafr Bir‘im - William Dalrymple
7. The Nakba, Oral History and the Palestinian Peasantry: The Case of Lubya - Mahmoud ‘Issa
8. Unrecognised Villages: Indigenous ‘Ayn Hawd Versus Artists‘ Colony ‘Ein Hod - Jonathan Cook
9. The Nakba in Hebrew: Israeli-Jewish Awareness of the Palestinian Catastrophe and Internal Refugees - Eitan Bronstein
Part III: Human Rights and International Protection
10. The Real Roadmap to Peace: International Dimensions of the Internal Refugee Question - Ilan Pappé
11. International Protection and Durable Solutions - Terry Rempel

About the Editor

Nur Masalha is Senior Lecturer and Director of the Holy Land Research Project at St.Mary's College, University of Surrey. He is editor of the journal Holy Land Studies. His books include: Imperial Israel and the Palestinians (2000), The Politics of Denial (2003) and the forthcoming The Bible and Zionism: Invented Traditions, Archaeology and Post-Colonialism in Israel-Palestine (2007)