Publisher's Synopsis
In this volume, scholars from the fields of literature, history, political science, and sociology come together to exchange new insights on the Arab Israeli conflict. They examine how events in the region since the 1940s have affected Israeli and Palestinian concepts of identity, on either side of the cease fire lines of 1949 and in exile communities in the region and abroad. As the Palestinian poet Fawaz Turki says, "history and history making is everyone's milieu in our part of the world", and the contributors reveal the extent to which politics and history inform the Israeli and Palestinian literary imagination. This multi disciplinary approach allows the essayists to interweave a variety of sources to form an integrated picture of Israeli and Palestinian national identities, including historical documents, public opinion surveys, film, fiction, and poetry. The essays conclude with a round table discussion, a rare opportunity for scholars in Israeli and Palestinian studies to share each other's understanding of what is central to the identities of each of these peoples.
