Abstract

In 2018, Palestinians mark the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, when over 750,000 people were uprooted and forced to flee their homes in the early days of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Even today, the bitterness and trauma of the Nakba remains raw, and it has become the pivotal event both in the shaping of Palestinian identity and in galvanising the resistance to occupation.

Unearthing an unparalleled body of rich oral testimony, An Oral History of the Palestinian Nakba tells the story of this epochal event through the voices of the Palestinians who lived it, uncovering remarkable new insights both into Palestinian experiences of the Nakba and into the wider dynamics of the ongoing conflict. Drawing together Palestinian accounts from 1948 with those of the present day, the book confronts the idea of the Nakba as an event consigned to the past, instead revealing it to be an ongoing process aimed at the erasure of Palestinian memory and history. In the process, each unique and wide-ranging contribution leads the way for new directions in Palestinian scholarship.

Nahla Abdo is professor of sociology at Carleton University, Canada. She has previously worked as a consultant on gender and women’s rights for the United Nations, the European Union, and the Palestinian Ministry for Women’s Affairs. Her previous books include Captive Revolution (2014) and Women in Israel: Gender, Race and Citizenship (Zed 2011).

Nur-eldeen (Nur) Masalha is a Palestinian historian and a member of the Centre for Palestine Studies at SOAS, University of London. He was previously a professor of religion and politics at St Mary's University, and a research fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies in Washington D.C. His previous books include The Palestine Nakba (Zed 2012) and The Bible and Zionism (Zed 2007).

‘A passionate and ambitious work of politically engaged scholarship that positions itself as an actor in the fight to change the world. This is cultural activism at its best.’
Ahdaf Soueif, author of Cairo: My City, Our Revolution

'An impressive collection and a very significant contribution to the scholarly work on the oral history of the Nakba.'
Ilan Pappé, co-editor of Israel and South Africa: The Many Faces of Apartheid

‘Breathtaking in scope, its compelling essays complicate our understanding of the Nakba, rendering it both more visceral and historically profound. It is an invaluable contribution to oral history, gender studies and the broader genre of genocide studies.’
Sherna Berger Gluck, Director Emerita of the Oral History Program, California State University

‘Moving and acutely observed, this timely and necessary anthology is an indispensable addition for all readers concerned with the Israeli colonisation of Palestine.’
Ronit Lentin, author of Thinking Palestine

‘Reveals the full magnificence of Palestinian responses to Israel’s systematic post-1948 programme of memoricide. Abdo and Masalha are here establishing a new interdisciplinary field, Nakba Studies, in which Palestinians become subjects and agents in their own history.’
John Docker, University of Western Australia

‘A wide-ranging collection by leading oral historians, its moving first person narratives confirm the reparative force of listening to voices which have been silenced in the ongoing colonization of Palestine.’
Lila Abu-Lughod, Columbia University

‘A landmark intervention, this cross-disciplinary book provides innovative analytical frameworks for studying the persistent erasure of Palestine. This insightful and comprehensive work proposes alternative ways of knowing and telling, rearticulating the Nakba as an ongoing process of dispossession.’
Ella Shohat, NYU, and author of On the Arab-Jew, Palestine, and Other Displacements

'Apart from its prestige as an academic work that stays authentic to the voice of the Palestinian people, the book is also home to a simple truth…: “I am Palestinian, and I do not have another land".'
Middle East Monitor