The Palestine Nakba: Decolonising History, Narrating the Subaltern, Reclaiming Memory

by Nur Masalha

2012 marks the 63rd anniversary of the Nakba - the most traumatic catastrophe that ever befell Palestinians. This book explores new ways of remembering and commemorating the Nakba. In the context of Palestinian oral history, it explores 'social history from below', subaltern narratives of memory and the formation of collective identity. Masalha argues that to write more truthfully about the Nakba is not just to practise a professional historiography but an ethical imperative. The struggles of ordinary refugees to recover and publicly assert the truth about the Nakba is a vital way of protecting their rights and keeping the hope for peace with justice alive.

This book is essential for understanding the place of the Palestine Nakba at the heart of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the vital role of memory in narratives of truth and reconciliation.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Middle East, Religion, Social Science, Israel

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 17, 2012

About the author

Professor Nur Masalha is a Palestinian historian and formerly Director of the Centre for Religion and History at St. Mary's University, Twickenham. He is Editor of “Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies”: http://www.euppublishing.com/journal/hls, published by Edinburgh University Press. He is the author of many books on Palestine-Israel. His current work focuses on religion and politics in the Middle East, oral history and social memory theory, subaltern studies, new Palestinian and Israeli historiography, the Bible and Zionism, Holy Land toponymy, Jerusalem archaeology, theologies of liberation in Palestine and Life-Long Learning in Palestine.

Reviews

[Meriem ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Their independence day is our Nakba’
4,5⭐️

[George Polley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The catastrophic event called “The Nakba” (Catastrophe) happened in 1948 when Jewish Zionist forces attacked Palestinian cities and villages throughout Palestine. When the war ended, 750,000 of Palestine's indigenous inhabitants had fled in terror into Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Gaza, taking with them what they could carry. Unlike the Holocaust in Europe which had a beginning and an end, the Nakba continues up to the present day for the people known as Palestinians. It is a story that Israel vehemently denies. The story that Dr. Nur Masalha documents may not be a pleasant one, but it is an important one, and I highly recommend it.

Dr. Nur Masalha is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Holy Land Research Project, St. Mary's College, University of Surrey, UK. He is Editor of “Holy Land Studies: A Multidisciplinary Journal”, published by Edinburgh University Press.

[Brigid · Rating 5 out of 5]

The premier book on the colonization of Palestine. If you want to understand the 1948 war, or the Palestine Nakba, read this book. He goes through an entire history of Israel's colonization of the Palestinian people and the ethnic cleansing.

[anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

i find this a good introduction book for someone who's only starting to learn abt palestine, its colonisation & occupation. first and foremost bc it's by a palestinian historian, while also supplementing quotation from numerous others (as well as some isntreali ones), and secondly bc it gives the reader a brief overview of the essential points in history, it places the ethnic cleansing of palestine in a context & talks abt its various forms (forestation projects, school curriculums, etc.)

that being said, personally i don't think it's very well written. it's extremely repetitive, explaining the same point in very similar format numerous times, which frankly makes it a chore to get through. and what seems to be the author's favourite device: giving us a long quote and then summarising it. like buddy, it's okay, i am here bc i can, in fact, read. and like i said, it's very much an introduction or maybe better an overview book; with the amount of quotes masalha uses it barely feels like he's telling us anything new.

also why isn't ghassan kanafani mentioned once in the whole book, not even in the chapter on palestinians recording their own history?

[Guillepg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Se centra en el aspecto cultural de la nakba, en la despalestinizacion del territorio y la judeizacion del mismo. Identidad y memoria colectiva. Negaciones y afirmaciones. Al final tiene capítulos hablando del auge e importancia de la historia oral palestina.

Sinceramente, no lo recomendaría como primera lectura sobre el tema porque es bastante específico.

A lo largo del libro, recopila la historia de decenas de aldeas palestinas arrasadas desde 1948. Si bien puede parecer y es sobrecogedor de leer, a la vez entiendes la importancia de poner esto por escrito cuando Israel atenta contra la memoria colectiva palestina (ej. transformando aldeas arrasadas en las que Israel mató cuentos de civiles en bosques europeizados que se convierten en lugares de picnic, encuentro los domingos y turismo).

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another masterpiece by Masalha. This one is especially interesting as it is more historiography than history. I think it would be equally engaging to a beginner as to the knowledgeable reader.

The entirety of the book is outstanding but the portion I appreciated the most was Chapter 5, which critiques the “New [Israeli] Historians” in depth. It is a very informative explanation of the context in which they emerged, the impact and limits of their work, and the differences between them (which have grown into yawning chasms over time).

This book’s bibliography is also an excellent source for further reading by other Palestinian historians. Even the main body itself (especially in Chapter 6) has in depth discussions of future works that are sure to be of interest.

[Annberniet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not finish the entire book. The intro was very (overly?) long. I was reading/listening to this audiobook specifically for the history of the origins of Zionism in what used to be Palestine, pre-Balfour declaration and then after. I felt as though some parts were repetitious; the last chapter seemed to go on forever with renaming details that might have been better handled more briefly and an appendix added for those wanting yet more examples of this well-made point. Maybe I was just impatient.

[Hedda Aliane Andersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book on the important history of the Palestinian Nakba and what happened before it. How the Nakba didn't start in 1948 and what happened after. I have used this book, and a few else, as a source for both my own enlightenment and in my papers on the decades old conflict and the misplacement of Palestininians.