Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-65tv2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-26T15:32:52.191Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From Taboo to the Negotiable: The Israeli New Historiansand the Changing Representation of the Palestinian RefugeeProblem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 May 2007

Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch
Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, E-mail: michal@mit.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the last round of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at the TabaConference (January 2001), Israeli negotiators went where no Israeliofficials went before: they considered the right of return ofPalestinian refugees, and a quasi-statement that acknowledges thePalestinian tragedy and Israel's share of historical responsibility.This paper argues that at least in part this shift in thenegotiations' framework can be traced back to the public debateinstigated by the work of Israeli New Historians.Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch is a Ph.D. candidate inthe Department of Political Science at the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology (michal@mit.edu). She thanks BoazAtzili, Naomi Chazan, Orit Gal, Eran Kaplan, Daniel Levy, RanLevy, Gil Merom, Clair Moon, Melissa Nobles, Jeremy Pressman,Stephen Van Evera, Amos Zehavi, and two anonymous reviewers fortheir insightful and helpful comments and suggestions. She alsothanks Kezia Avieli-Tabibyan from the Center of EducationalTechnology (MATAH, Israel) for her valuable assistance withIsraeli history textbooks.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , June 2007 , pp. 241 - 258
Copyright
© 2007 American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

1948–1998 in the eyes of two peoples: A special round table discussion. 1998. Palestine-Israel Journal 5 (2): 23–34.Google Scholar
A correspondence, and debate over the 1948 Exodus. [1991]. Journal of Palestine Studies 21 (1): 66–89.Google Scholar
Alpher, Joseph, and Khalil Shikak et al. 1999. The Palestinian refugee problem and the right of return. Middle East Policy 6 (3): 67–189.Google Scholar
Apple, M. W. 1990. Ideology and Curriculum. New York: Rutledge.Google Scholar
Arian, Alan. 1995. Security Threatened: Surveying Israeli Opinion on Peace and War. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Artz, Donna E. 1997. Refugees into Citizens. Washington, DC: Council on Foreign Relations.Google Scholar
Avieli-Tabibyen, Kezia. 1999. Masa El Ha-Avar (Journey to the Past: The Twentieth Century; For the Right of Liberty—Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Center for Educational Technologies.Google Scholar
Avieli-Tabibyen, Kezia. 2001. Idan Ha-Eyma ve Ha-Tikva (1870–1970: Age of Horror and Hope—Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Center for Educational Technologies.Google Scholar
Bar Joseph, Uri. 1987. The Best of Enemies: Israel and Transjordan in the War of 1948. London, UK: Frank Cass.Google Scholar
Barnett, Michael N. 1996. The politics of uniqueness: The status of the Israeli case. In Israel in Comparative Perspective: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom, ed. Michael N. Barnett. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Bar Tal, Israel. 1996. The quiet revolution: Myth, science and what is between. Cathedra 81 (September) [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Baskin, Gershon, and Zakaria Al Qaq. 1999. Creating a Culture of Peace. Jerusalem: Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information. www.ipcri.orgGoogle Scholar
Daneels, Isabelle. 2001. Palestinian Refugees and the Peace Process: An Analysis of Public Opinion Surveys in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Jerusalem: Jerusalem Media and Communication Center.Google Scholar
Dror, Yehezkel. 1996. On the uniqueness of Israel: Multiple readings. In Israel in Comparative Perspective: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom, ed. Michael N. Barnett. Albany: State University of New York.Google Scholar
Eldar, Akiva. 2000. Taba document—First exposure. Haaretz February 14 [Hebrew] www.haaretz.co.il.Google Scholar
Farsoun, Samih K., and Christina E. Zacharia. 1997. Palestine and the Palestinians. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Finkelstein, Norman G. 1995. Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict. London and New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Flapan, Simha. 1987. The Birth of Israel: Myth and Realities. London: Chroom Helm.Google Scholar
Focus on refugees. [1995] Palestine-Israel Journal 2 (4) Special Issue: 6–78.Google Scholar
Frid, Shelly. 2001. “Israeli Policy on the Refugee Problem, 1947–1956.” Presented at the Conference on the Refugee Problem and the Peace Process, The Davis Center for International Relations. Hebrew University, Jerusalem, November 13.Google Scholar
Gazit, Shlomo. 1995. The Palestinian Refugees Problem. Final Status Issues: Israel-Palestine, Study No. 2. Tel Aviv: Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Gertz, Nurith. 2000. Myths in Israeli Culture: Captives of a Dream. London, UK and Portland, OR: Valentine Mitchell.Google Scholar
Gillis, John R., ed. 1994. Commemorations: The Politics of National Identity. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gurani, Yossef. 1994. Arrogance and totalitarianism. Haaretz weekly edition, July 22, 7 [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Hazony, Yoram. 2001. Antisocial Texts: Who Removed Zionism from Israel's Textbooks? June 29 [Hebrew] www.shalem.org.il.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, Eric, and Terence Ranger, eds. 1983. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hosking, Geoffrey, and George Schopelin, eds. 1997. Myths and Nationhood. London, UK: Hurst & Company.Google Scholar
Israeli historiography revisited. [1995]. History, and Memory 7 (1) Special Issue, ed. Gulie Ne'eman Arad.Google Scholar
Karsh, Efraim. 1997. Fabricating Israeli History: “The New Historians.” London, UK and Portland, OR: Frank Kass.Google Scholar
Kelman, Herb. 1995. Contributions of an unofficial conflict resolution effort to the Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough. Negotiations Journal 11 (1): 19–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimmerling, Baruch. 1983. Zionism and Territory: The Socio-Territorial Dimensions of Zionist Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Kimmerling, Baruch. 1995. Academic history in the cross-fire: The case of Israeli-Jewish historiography. History and Memory 7 (4): 41–65.Google Scholar
Kleinberg, Aviad. 1998. T'kuma: The First 50 Years. Jerusalem: Keter and the Ministry of Defense Publication [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Kolat, Shifra. 1985. Ha-Rayon Ha-Ziyoni (The Zionist Dream and the Establishment of the State of Israel—Hebrew). Jerusalem: Ministry of Education and Culture.Google Scholar
Laqueur, Walter, and Barry Rubin, eds. 1995. The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict. 5th ed. London, UK: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Lisak, Moshe. 1999. The Zionist dream and its breaking. Haaretz book review edition, October 25, 14.Google Scholar
Lusin, Yigal. 1982. Pillar of Fire. Jerusalem: Shikmona in cooperation with The National Broadcasting Agency [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Mahler, Jonathan. 1997. Uprooting the past. Lingua Franca, August. www.linguafranca.com/9708/mahelr.Google Scholar
The Making of T'kuma: An Interview with Yigal Eilam. [1998]. Palestine-Israel Journal 5 (2): 18–22.Google Scholar
Margalit, Dan. 1994a. Old-new historians. Haaretz August 12: B1 [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Margalit, Dan. 1994b. And where is the Israeli interest? Haaretz August 28: B8 [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Megged, Aharon. 1994. The Israeli impulse of suicide. Haaretz weekly edition, June 10 [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Middle East: The faultline. [2001]. Le Monde Diplomatique, www.en.monde-diplomatique.fr, September 14.Google Scholar
Morris, Benny. 1987. The Birth of the Palestinian Refugees Problem, 1947–1948. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Morris, Benny. 1988. The new historiography: Israel confronts its past. Tikkun 3 (6): 19–23.Google Scholar
Morris, Benny. 1993. Israel's Border Wars, 1949–1956. Tel Aviv: Am Oved [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Morris, Benny. 1998. Refabricating 1948. Journal of Palestine Studies 27 (2): 81–95.Google Scholar
Mueller, John. 1989. Retreat from Doomsday: The Obsolescence of Major War. Rochester NY: University of Rochester Press.Google Scholar
Nave, Eyal. 1999. Olam Shel Tmurot (World of Change—Hebrew). Jerusalem: Ministry of Education and Culture.Google Scholar
Nave, Eyal, and Ester Yogev. 2002. Histories—Towards a Dialogue with the Yesterday. Tel Aviv: Babel [Hebrew].Google Scholar
The New Historians. [1996]. Teoria Ve-Bikoret. Special Issue (8) [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Offek, Yossef 1984. Lo Al Magash Sehl Kessef (Not on a Silver Platter: From a National Home to a Sovereign State 1939–1949—Hebrew). Jerusalem: Ministry of Education and Culture.Google Scholar
Olick, Jeffrey K., and Daniel Levy. 1997. The Holocaust: Collective memory and cultural constraint. American Sociological Review 62 (6): 921–36.Google Scholar
On Zionism, post-Zionism, and anti-Zionism. [1995]. Round table moderated by Dan Margalit. Haaretz October 15: B4.Google Scholar
The Palestinian exodus—1948: An interview with Benny Morris. [1995]. Palestine-Israel Journal 2 (4).Google Scholar
Palumbo, Michael. 1987. The Palestinians Catastrophe: The 1948 Expulsion of People from Their Home. New York: Olive Branch Press.Google Scholar
Pappe, Ilan. 1992. The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. London & New York: I.B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Pappe, Ilan. 1997a. Post-Zionist critique on Israel and the Palestinians—Part I: The academic debate. Journal of Palestine Studies 26 (2): 29–41Google Scholar
Pappe, Ilan. 1997b. Post-Zionist critique on Israel and the Palestinians—Part II: The media. Journal of Palestine Studies 26 (3): 37–43.Google Scholar
Pappe, Ilan. 1997c. Post-Zionist critique on Israel and the Palestinians—Part III: Popular culture. Journal of Palestine Studies 26 (4): 60–9.Google Scholar
Pappe, Ilan. 1998. Israeli Television's fiftieth anniversary “T'kuma” Series: A post-Zionist view? Journal of Palestine Studies 27 (4): 99–105Google Scholar
Podeh, Elie. 1997. The Portrayal of the Arab-Israeli Conflict in Israeli History and Civic Text Books, 1953–1995. Peace Studies #9. Jerusalem: The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Pressman, Jeremy. 2003. The Second Intifada: An early look at the background and causes of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Journal of Conflict Studies 22 (2): 114–41.Google Scholar
Pundak, Ron. 2001. From Oslo to Taba: What Went Wrong? Survival 43 (3): 31–45.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert. 1988. Diplomacy and domestic politics: the logic of two-level game. International Organization 42 (3): 427–60.Google Scholar
Rabin, Yitzhak. 1979. Pinkas Sherut. Tel Aviv, Sifriyat Maariv [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Ram, Uri. 1995. The Changing Agenda of Israeli Sociology: Theory, Ideology and Identity. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Ram, Uri. 1998. Postnationalist pasts: The case of Israel. Social Science History [Special Issue: Memory and the Nation] 22 (4): 513–47.Google Scholar
Sade, Sharon. 1997. The accusation: Fabricating history. Haaretz weekly edition, May 2: 16–18 [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Segev, Tom. 1994. The New Historians: Why are they so annoying? Haaretz September 16: B6 [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Segev, Tom. 1999. Palestine under the British. Jerusalem: Keter [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Segev, Tom. 2001. New Zionists. Jerusalem: Keter [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Selberstein, Laurance J. 2000. The Post-Zionism Debates: Knowledge and Power in Israeli Culture. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Shafir, Gershon. 1989. Land, Labor and the Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1812–1914. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shapira, Anita. 1995. Politics and collective memory: The debate over the “New Historians” in Israel. History and Memory 7 (1): 9ff.Google Scholar
Shapira, Anita. 1997. New Jews, Old Jews. Tel Aviv: Ofakim, Am Oved. [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Shapira, Anita. 1999. The past is not a foreign country. The New Republic. November 29, 26–36.Google Scholar
Shavit, Ari. 2004. Survival of the fittest. Haaretz weekly edition, January 9, http://www.haaretz.com.Google Scholar
Shavit, Uria, and Jalal Bana. 2001. Lets talk about it: Everything we don't want to know about the right of return. Haaretz weekly edition, July 6: 18–28 [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Shlaim, Avi. 1988. Collusion across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement and the Partition of Palestine. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Shlaim, Avi. 2001. The Iron Wall. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Slater, Jerome. 2001. What went wrong? The collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Political Science Quarterly 116 (2): 171–99.Google Scholar
Sontag, Deborah. 2001. Quest for mideast peace: How and why it failed. New York Times 26 July: A1.Google Scholar
Sureik, Elia. 1996. Palestinian Refugees and the Peace Process. Final Status Issues Paper. Washington, DC: Institute for Palestinian Studies.Google Scholar
Tessler, Mark. 1994. A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Teveth, Shabtai. 1989. Charging Israel with original sin. Commentary 88 (3): 24–33.Google Scholar
Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 2000. The Future of Israel as a Zionist State: A Debate Special Policy Forum Report. 259 (May 12). http://www.washingtoninstitute.org.Google Scholar
Yuchtman-Yaar, Ephraim, and Tamar Herman. 2001. The Palestinian refugees in the eyes of the Palestinian and Israeli-Jewish public. In The Palestinian Refugees: Old Problems and New Solutions, ed. Joseph Ginat and Edward J. Perkins. Norman OK: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Zahor, Zeev. 1994. Colonialist or colonizator. Haaretz December 12: B4 [Hebrew].Google Scholar
Zaks, Dan. 1996. Historiography and national identity. Teoria Ve-Bbikoret (8) [Hebrew]Google Scholar
Zerubavel, Yael. 1995. Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar