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CIAO DATE: 03/05
Autumn 2004 (Volume XXXIV, Number 1, Issue 133)
From the Editor
Articles
Grass-roots Commemorations: Remembering the Land in the Camps of Lebanon by Laleh Khalili
The Oslo negotiations-and the specter of a Palestinian renunciation of the right of return-greatly increased the insecurities of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The new uncertainties in turn triggered the emergence in the refugee camps of commemorative practices different from those previously sponsored by the Palestinian leadership. The new forms of commemoration, centered on the villages left behind in Palestine in 1948 and including popular ethnographies, memory museums, naming practices, and history-telling using new technologies, have become implicit vehicles of opposition and a means of asserting the refugees' membership in the Palestinian polity. Beyond reflecting nostalgia for a lost world, the practices have become the basis of the political identity of the younger generations and the motivation for their political mobilization
The Stone at the Top of the Mountain: The Films of Rashid Masharawi by Nurith Gertz
The films of Rashid Masharawi, one of the leading Palestinian "exilic" directors of the younger generation, are set almost entirely in the occupied territories, especially in refugee camps, and unfold in a seemingly timeless present shaped by a past catastrophe (1948) never explicitly evoked. The author examines Masharawi's some dozen films, both documentary and feature, thematically and technically, showing how the films' structure and camera work emphasize the sense of confinement, narrowing horizons, and psychological siege depicted. The author concludes that though almost relentlessly bleak and stripped of any hint of romanticism, the films also convey a stubborn will to survive and endure, and together present a powerful allegory of life in the occupied territories.
Reports from Nablus
Scenes from Daily Life: The View from Nablus by Beshara Doumani
The picture of everyday life in besieged Nablus that emerges from this essay is one of simultaneous fragmentation and social cohesion: fragmentation in the class and generational tensions, factional power struggles, estrangement between townsmen and camp dwellers; social cohesion in the enduring family and solidarity networks, well-organized grassroots committees, and the unifying impact of Israeli military pressures. While shedding light on the radical cultural, demographic, and structural transformations underway, this closely observed personal narrative also conveys the sense of imprisonment that characterizes this virtually sealed off town subjected to individual and collective punishments, from targeted assassinations to selective curfews and the intentional destruction of infrastructure and architectural patrimony.
Surviving Siege, Closure, and Curfew: The Story of a Radio Station by Amer Abdelhadi
Nablus's first radio station-the second in the Palestinian territories-was founded in 1997 as a mostly music broadcasting venue. This personal account by TMFM's founder/manager describes its evolution-mainly under the impact of the intifada-into a diversified community-oriented station that became an important information conduit for Palestinians confined to their homes during frequent curfews. While describing the station's tribulations and struggles to survive-including the studio's shelling and Israeli confiscation of transmitters and equipment-a picture emerges of a town's daily life under extreme conditions.
Essay
Palestine, Apartheid, and the Rights Discourse by Raef Zreik
Since the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa, the oft-made analogy between the South African and Israeli cases has been extended to suggest the applicability to the Palestinian quest for justice through the rights discourse, arguably the most effective mobilizing tool in the anti-apartheid struggle. This essay explores the suitability of the rights approach by examining the South Africa-Israel analogy itself and the relevance of the anti-apartheid model to the three main components of the Palestinian situation: the refugees, the Palestinians of the occupied territories, and the Palestinian citizens of Israel. It concludes that while the rights discourse has many advantages, it cannot by its very nature-the focus on law at the expense of historical context-address the complexity of the Palestinian problem.
Recent Books
Masalha: The Politics of Denial: Israel and the Palestinian Refugee Problem reviewed by Ilan Pappé
Wagner: Dying in the Land of Promise: Palestine and Palestinian Christianity from Pentecost to 2000 reviewed by Bernard Sabella
Brown: Palestinian Politics After the Oslo Accords: Resuming Arab Palestine reviewed by Jamil Hilal
Shehadeh: When the Birds Stopped Singing and Oikonomides: Bienvenue à Ramallah [Welcome to Ramallah] reviewed by Nubar Hovsepian
Haddad: The Palestinian Impasse in Lebanon and Klaus: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon-Where to Belong? reviewed by Laleh Khalili
Dieckhoff: The Invention of a Nation: Zionist Thought and the Making of Modern Israel reviewed by Gabriel Piterberg
Zittrain Eisenberg et al: Traditions and Transitions in Israel Studies reviewed by Nur Masalha
Kidron: Refusenik! Israel's Soldiers of Conscience reviewed by Amnon Kapeliuk
Ron: Frontiers and Ghettos: State Violence in Serbia and Israel reviewed by Darius Rejali
Jones: 500 Dunam on the Moon (film) reviewed by Sherene Seikaly
Arab Views (cartoons from al-Hayat)
From the Hebrew Press
Photos from the Quarter
Quarterly Update on Conflict and Diplomacy
Settlement Monitor
Documents and Source Material
International
A1. United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), "Rafah Humanitarian Needs Assessment," Gaza, 6 June 2004 (excerpts)
A2. World Bank, "Disengagement, the Palestinian Economy, and the Settlements," Washington, DC, 23 June 2004 (excerpts)
A3. International Court of Justice, "Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," the Hague, 9 July 2004 (excerpts)
Arab
B. Palestinian Council Special Committee, Report on the Political and Security Situation in the Palestinian Territories, Ramallah, 24 July 2004 (excerpts)
Israel by Anders Strindberg
C1. Israeli High Court, Ruling on the Separation Fence, Jerusalem, 30 June 2004 (excerpts)
C2. Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, "The Jewish People 2004: Between Thriving and Decline," Jerusalem, July 2004 (excerpts)
United States
D1. Top-Ranking Retired U.S. Diplomats and Military Commanders, Statement on Current U.S. Policies, 16 June 2004
D2. International Court of Justice (ICJ) Judge Thomas Buergenthal, Dissenting Opinion to the ICJ's Findings on Israel's Separation Wall, The Hague, 9 July 2004 (excerpts)
D3. 9/11 Commission Report, Excerpts Touching on the Role of U.S. Policy toward Israel in the 9/11 Attacks, Washington, DC, 28 July 2004
D4. Ralph Nader, Letter to Anti-Defamation League Director Abraham Foxman concerning U.S. Policy in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, Washington, DC, 5 August 2004
Chronology
Bibliography of Periodical Literature
Letter to the Editor