Erasures

New Left Review

Volumn , Issue 10, 2001, Pages 31-46

  Piterberg, Gabriel ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0035610476     PISSN: 00286060     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (45)

1. This article is based on part of a longer essay, entitled 'Can The Subaltern Remember? A Pessimistic View of the Victims of Zionism', to appear in a volume edited by Ussama Makdisi and Paul Silberstein on memory and violence in the Middle East and North Africa. My definition of the foundational myths is obviously critical. It is informed by Boas Evron, National Reckoning [Hebrew], 1986; Yitzhak Laor, Narratives with no Natives: Essays on Israeli Literature [Hebrew], 1995; David Myers, Re-Inventing the Jewish Past, Oxford 1995; Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, 'Exile within Sovereignty' [Hebrew], 2 parts, Theory and Criticism, 4, 1993, pp. 23-56 and 5, 1994, pp. 113-32; see also my 'Domestic Orientalism', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 23, 1996, pp. 125-45.
2. This article is based on part of a longer essay, entitled 'Can The Subaltern Remember? A Pessimistic View of the Victims of Zionism', to appear in a volume edited by Ussama Makdisi and Paul Silberstein on memory and violence in the Middle East and North Africa. My definition of the foundational myths is obviously critical. It is informed by Boas Evron, National Reckoning [Hebrew], 1986; Yitzhak Laor, Narratives with no Natives: Essays on Israeli Literature [Hebrew], 1995; David Myers, Re-Inventing the Jewish Past, Oxford 1995; Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, 'Exile within Sovereignty' [Hebrew], 2 parts, Theory and Criticism, 4, 1993, pp. 23-56 and 5, 1994, pp. 113-32; see also my 'Domestic Orientalism', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 23, 1996, pp. 125-45.
3. This article is based on part of a longer essay, entitled 'Can The Subaltern Remember? A Pessimistic View of the Victims of Zionism', to appear in a volume edited by Ussama Makdisi and Paul Silberstein on memory and violence in the Middle East and North Africa. My definition of the foundational myths is obviously critical. It is informed by Boas Evron, National Reckoning [Hebrew], 1986; Yitzhak Laor, Narratives with no Natives: Essays on Israeli Literature [Hebrew], 1995; David Myers, Re-Inventing the Jewish Past, Oxford 1995; Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, 'Exile within Sovereignty' [Hebrew], 2 parts, Theory and Criticism, 4, 1993, pp. 23-56 and 5, 1994, pp. 113-32; see also my 'Domestic Orientalism', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 23, 1996, pp. 125-45.
4. This article is based on part of a longer essay, entitled 'Can The Subaltern Remember? A Pessimistic View of the Victims of Zionism', to appear in a volume edited by Ussama Makdisi and Paul Silberstein on memory and violence in the Middle East and North Africa. My definition of the foundational myths is obviously critical. It is informed by Boas Evron, National Reckoning [Hebrew], 1986; Yitzhak Laor, Narratives with no Natives: Essays on Israeli Literature [Hebrew], 1995; David Myers, Re-Inventing the Jewish Past, Oxford 1995; Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, 'Exile within Sovereignty' [Hebrew], 2 parts, Theory and Criticism, 4, 1993, pp. 23-56 and 5, 1994, pp. 113-32; see also my 'Domestic Orientalism', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 23, 1996, pp. 125-45.
5. This article is based on part of a longer essay, entitled 'Can The Subaltern Remember? A Pessimistic View of the Victims of Zionism', to appear in a volume edited by Ussama Makdisi and Paul Silberstein on memory and violence in the Middle East and North Africa. My definition of the foundational myths is obviously critical. It is informed by Boas Evron, National Reckoning [Hebrew], 1986; Yitzhak Laor, Narratives with no Natives: Essays on Israeli Literature [Hebrew], 1995; David Myers, Re-Inventing the Jewish Past, Oxford 1995; Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, 'Exile within Sovereignty' [Hebrew], 2 parts, Theory and Criticism, 4, 1993, pp. 23-56 and 5, 1994, pp. 113-32; see also my 'Domestic Orientalism', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 23, 1996, pp. 125-45.
6. This article is based on part of a longer essay, entitled 'Can The Subaltern Remember? A Pessimistic View of the Victims of Zionism', to appear in a volume edited by Ussama Makdisi and Paul Silberstein on memory and violence in the Middle East and North Africa. My definition of the foundational myths is obviously critical. It is informed by Boas Evron, National Reckoning [Hebrew], 1986; Yitzhak Laor, Narratives with no Natives: Essays on Israeli Literature [Hebrew], 1995; David Myers, Re-Inventing the Jewish Past, Oxford 1995; Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, 'Exile within Sovereignty' [Hebrew], 2 parts, Theory and Criticism, 4, 1993, pp. 23-56 and 5, 1994, pp. 113-32; see also my 'Domestic Orientalism', British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 23, 1996, pp. 125-45.
7. The literature on this question is substantial. For notable examples, see Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, ed., The Transformation of Palestine, Evanston 1971; Christopher Hitchens and Edward Said, eds, Blaming the Victims, Verso: London and New York 1988; Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-49, Cambridge 1987 and 1948 and After, Oxford 1990; Yigal Elam, The Executors [Hebrew], 1990, pp. 31-53; Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of 'Transfer' in Zionist Political Thought 1882-1948, Washington, DC 1992, and 'A Critique of Benny Morris', in Ilan Pappé, ed., The Israel/Palestine Question, London 1999, pp. 211-20. For a recent and qualitative addition, see Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim, eds, The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, Cambridge 2001.
8. The literature on this question is substantial. For notable examples, see Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, ed., The Transformation of Palestine, Evanston 1971; Christopher Hitchens and Edward Said, eds, Blaming the Victims, Verso: London and New York 1988; Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-49, Cambridge 1987 and 1948 and After, Oxford 1990; Yigal Elam, The Executors [Hebrew], 1990, pp. 31-53; Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of 'Transfer' in Zionist Political Thought 1882-1948, Washington, DC 1992, and 'A Critique of Benny Morris', in Ilan Pappé, ed., The Israel/Palestine Question, London 1999, pp. 211-20. For a recent and qualitative addition, see Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim, eds, The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, Cambridge 2001.
9. The literature on this question is substantial. For notable examples, see Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, ed., The Transformation of Palestine, Evanston 1971; Christopher Hitchens and Edward Said, eds, Blaming the Victims, Verso: London and New York 1988; Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-49, Cambridge 1987 and 1948 and After, Oxford 1990; Yigal Elam, The Executors [Hebrew], 1990, pp. 31-53; Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of 'Transfer' in Zionist Political Thought 1882-1948, Washington, DC 1992, and 'A Critique of Benny Morris', in Ilan Pappé, ed., The Israel/Palestine Question, London 1999, pp. 211-20. For a recent and qualitative addition, see Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim, eds, The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, Cambridge 2001.
10. The literature on this question is substantial. For notable examples, see Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, ed., The Transformation of Palestine, Evanston 1971; Christopher Hitchens and Edward Said, eds, Blaming the Victims, Verso: London and New York 1988; Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-49, Cambridge 1987 and 1948 and After, Oxford 1990; Yigal Elam, The Executors [Hebrew], 1990, pp. 31-53; Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of 'Transfer' in Zionist Political Thought 1882-1948, Washington, DC 1992, and 'A Critique of Benny Morris', in Ilan Pappé, ed., The Israel/Palestine Question, London 1999, pp. 211-20. For a recent and qualitative addition, see Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim, eds, The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, Cambridge 2001.
11. The literature on this question is substantial. For notable examples, see Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, ed., The Transformation of Palestine, Evanston 1971; Christopher Hitchens and Edward Said, eds, Blaming the Victims, Verso: London and New York 1988; Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-49, Cambridge 1987 and 1948 and After, Oxford 1990; Yigal Elam, The Executors [Hebrew], 1990, pp. 31-53; Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of 'Transfer' in Zionist Political Thought 1882-1948, Washington, DC 1992, and 'A Critique of Benny Morris', in Ilan Pappé, ed., The Israel/Palestine Question, London 1999, pp. 211-20. For a recent and qualitative addition, see Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim, eds, The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, Cambridge 2001.
12. The literature on this question is substantial. For notable examples, see Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, ed., The Transformation of Palestine, Evanston 1971; Christopher Hitchens and Edward Said, eds, Blaming the Victims, Verso: London and New York 1988; Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-49, Cambridge 1987 and 1948 and After, Oxford 1990; Yigal Elam, The Executors [Hebrew], 1990, pp. 31-53; Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of 'Transfer' in Zionist Political Thought 1882-1948, Washington, DC 1992, and 'A Critique of Benny Morris', in Ilan Pappé, ed., The Israel/Palestine Question, London 1999, pp. 211-20. For a recent and qualitative addition, see Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim, eds, The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, Cambridge 2001.
13. The literature on this question is substantial. For notable examples, see Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, ed., The Transformation of Palestine, Evanston 1971; Christopher Hitchens and Edward Said, eds, Blaming the Victims, Verso: London and New York 1988; Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-49, Cambridge 1987 and 1948 and After, Oxford 1990; Yigal Elam, The Executors [Hebrew], 1990, pp. 31-53; Nur Masalha, Expulsion of the Palestinians: The Concept of 'Transfer' in Zionist Political Thought 1882-1948, Washington, DC 1992, and 'A Critique of Benny Morris', in Ilan Pappé, ed., The Israel/Palestine Question, London 1999, pp. 211-20. For a recent and qualitative addition, see Eugene Rogan and Avi Shlaim, eds, The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948, Cambridge 2001.
14. Zeev Sternhell, The Founding Myths of Israel, Princeton 1998, pp. 3-47.
15. Morris, Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, pp. 203-12.
16. Haya Bombaji-Sasportas, 'Whose Voice is Heard/Whose Voice is Silenced: the Construction of the Palestinian Refugee Problem in the Israeli Establishment, 1948-52', unpublished MA thesis, 2000. I am deeply grateful to the author for making the documents available to me.
17. Elam, The Executors, p. 31; emphasis added.
18. Elam, The Executors, p. 43.
19. See Morris, 1948 and After, pp. 89-144.
20. See especially Morris's careful attempt to classify each and every case on which he could gather information, in the maps, appendix and invaluable index to the maps, in Morris, Birth, pp. ix-xx.
21. See Bombaji-Sasportas, 'Whose Voice is Heard', pp. 17-22; Joel Beinin, 'Know Thy Enemy, Know Thy Ally', in Ilan Pappé, ed., Arabs and Jews during the Mandate [Hebrew], 1995, pp. 179-201; Gil Eyal, 'Between East and West: The Discourse on "the Arab Village" in Israel' [Hebrew], Theory and Criticism, 3, 1993, pp. 39-55; Dan Rabinovich, Anthropology and the Palestinians [Hebrew], 1998.
22. See Bombaji-Sasportas, 'Whose Voice is Heard', pp. 17-22; Joel Beinin, 'Know Thy Enemy, Know Thy Ally', in Ilan Pappé, ed., Arabs and Jews during the Mandate [Hebrew], 1995, pp. 179-201; Gil Eyal, 'Between East and West: The Discourse on "the Arab Village" in Israel' [Hebrew], Theory and Criticism, 3, 1993, pp. 39-55; Dan Rabinovich, Anthropology and the Palestinians [Hebrew], 1998.
23. See Bombaji-Sasportas, 'Whose Voice is Heard', pp. 17-22; Joel Beinin, 'Know Thy Enemy, Know Thy Ally', in Ilan Pappé, ed., Arabs and Jews during the Mandate [Hebrew], 1995, pp. 179-201; Gil Eyal, 'Between East and West: The Discourse on "the Arab Village" in Israel' [Hebrew], Theory and Criticism, 3, 1993, pp. 39-55; Dan Rabinovich, Anthropology and the Palestinians [Hebrew], 1998.
24. See Bombaji-Sasportas, 'Whose Voice is Heard', pp. 17-22; Joel Beinin, 'Know Thy Enemy, Know Thy Ally', in Ilan Pappé, ed., Arabs and Jews during the Mandate [Hebrew], 1995, pp. 179-201; Gil Eyal, 'Between East and West: The Discourse on "the Arab Village" in Israel' [Hebrew], Theory and Criticism, 3, 1993, pp. 39-55; Dan Rabinovich, Anthropology and the Palestinians [Hebrew], 1998.
25. Bombaji-Sasportas, 'Whose Voice is Heard', pp. 31-3.
26. Israeli State Archives/Foreign Office/Corpus of the Minister and Director General 19-2444, vol. II, p. 6: henceforth SA/FO/CMDG.
27. SA/FO/CMDG, 3/2445. This particular file contains documents of the period August-November 1948, including the report of the Transfer Committee, so named by Weitz.
28. Comparison between the official narrative and the confidential papers of the period strongly suggest deliberate deceit; Yaacov Shimoi, a high-ranking functionary of the time, admitted in 1989 that a 'fraudulent version' had been concocted. See Elam, The Executors, endnote 17, pp. 48-9.
29. Zvi Yavetz, 'On the First Days of Tel Aviv University: Memories', Alpayim, 11, 1995, pp. 101-29.
30. See Morris, Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, p. 133. The translation of Meir's words is mine, from the 1991 Hebrew edition of Morris's book, p. 185.
31. For more details on Shamai Kahane, see Bombaji-Sasportas, 'Whose Voice is Heard', pp. 100, 119 and 163-8.
32. SA/FO/CMDG 18/2402.
33. SA/FO/CMDG 18/2406.
34. SA/FO/CMDG 19/4222, vol. II; for the identification of the authors, see Morris, Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, p. 255 and Bombaji-Sasportas, 'Whose Voice is Heard', p. 148.
35. SA/FO/CMDG 19/4222, vol. II; for the identification of the authors, see Morris, Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, p. 255 and Bombaji-Sasportas, 'Whose Voice is Heard', p. 148.
36. The haunting nature of this term was also noticed by David Grossman, who duly entitled his Hebrew book on the Palestinian Israelis Present Absentees (1992). The English translation is Sleeping on a Wire.
37. The haunting nature of this term was also noticed by David Grossman, who duly entitled his Hebrew book on the Palestinian Israelis Present Absentees (1992). The English translation is Sleeping on a Wire.
38. See especially her discussion of 'the construction of a body of knowledge and the framing of the refugees as a scientific object', and 'the categorization of the refugees', pp. 44-99.
39. The text of this law is rather long, but is accessible in any official collection of Knesset legislation. For critical comments on the law, see Alina Korn, The Arab Minority in Israel during the Military Government (1948-1366), unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1991, pp. 91-6, and Tom Segev, 1949: The First Israelis, Jerusalem 1984, pp. 93-5 [both in Hebrew].
40. The text of this law is rather long, but is accessible in any official collection of Knesset legislation. For critical comments on the law, see Alina Korn, The Arab Minority in Israel during the Military Government (1948-1366), unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1991, pp. 91-6, and Tom Segev, 1949: The First Israelis, Jerusalem 1984, pp. 93-5 [both in Hebrew].
41. SA/FO/A/2/2445 (a-948 II).
42. SA/FO/CMDG 2/2445 A (a-948 II).
43. Ma'abarot: the transition camps built for the massive Jewish immigration of the 1950s - transitory for Ashkenazi arrivals, less so for Sephardi; emphasis added.
44. Cited in Yitzhak Laor, Narratives with no Natives, p. 132. Laor's critical work is the most sensitive attempt to date to show how the literary establishment has been co-opted by the Israeli state to write the hegemonic script that deletes the memories of the Palestinians. See especially 'The Sex Life of the Security Forces: On Amos Oz', and 'We Write Thee Oh'Homeland', pp. 76-105, 115-71.
45. Cited in Yitzhak Laor, Narratives with no Natives, p. 132. Laor's critical work is the most sensitive attempt to date to show how the literary establishment has been co-opted by the Israeli state to write the hegemonic script that deletes the memories of the Palestinians. See especially 'The Sex Life of the Security Forces: On Amos Oz', and 'We Write Thee Oh'Homeland', pp. 76-105, 115-71.