Palestinian Identity

Rating:
Summary: Propaganda
Review: Bla bla bla. This is full of propaganda. It misses the main fact that there is no such thing as "Palestinian" identity. It is a made up name, which isn't even Arab, but taken from the Romans who came up with that name.

It is nothing but propaganda to destroy Israel. It's funny they finally "remembered" their "identity" right after the 1967 War.

They are nothing but Arabs who have over 20 countries to go to, Jews have only one.

Oh, and another thing, if you care just about the "West Bank" and Gaza why is it that when you had it between 1948 and 1967, there was no move for you to establish a state, and you had eastern Jerusalem too? And why was the PLO established in 1964, if "Palestine" was in your hands at that very year? What was it aiming to "liberate"?

The fact is when you mean "end of occupation" you mean end of Israel.

But you will never suceed. The truth is on Israel's side.

Rating:
Summary: Seth Frantzman -- didn't read it
Review: I'm pretty sure Seth Frantzman didn't read Khalidi's book. It doesn't even begin to approach any of the claims he makes in his "review." In fact, it is mostly about how Palestinian identity first developed in the 1920's, under the British Mandate, not after 1967. Watch out for biased reviews.

Rating:
Summary: Propaganda and a lousy thesis
Review: If my eleventh grade son had written this book, I would have given it a D-.

When Rashid Khalidi write it, it gets a triple F.

The logic is not there, the facts are wrong.

Can't Palestinians do more than hate Israelis?

Rating:
Summary: Achieves its goal eloquently
Review: Khalidi's goal is to make a case for Palestinian Nationalism's existence as not necessarily presuppossing the existence of Zionism; therefore, he places the locus of its origin before the *nakba* of 1948. To be specific, Khalidi situates the crucial years during the late and post-Ottoman period in Palestine. The author is not a primordialist, but rather, he is a constructivist. Taking nationalism as peculiar phenomenon to modernity, it locates him in a precarious position in which to create room for his argument, for he insists that Palestinian identity can be seen as a process which could have potentially evolved w/o Zionism as its interlocutor (though, of course, it did not). His arguments and presentation are masterful.

Recommended for anyone who studys the area and/or conflict, essential read.

Rating:
Summary: Propaganda
Review: Rashid Khalidi's book Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness attempts to surmise the modern history of Palestinian identity. The fomented Palestinian identity as seen through its development over the last 120 years or so is a vast and difficult undertaking. Khalidi tackles this question with a plethora of footnotes and references, but not as convincingly as it could be. Through a large array of references Khalidi is able to create a distinct Palestinian narrative that creates parameters for the evolution of Palestinian identity.

The idea of a national identity takes its foundation in a number of ways, but the least of which, Khalidi wants to attribute to some sort of Romantic European identity. Khalidi wants to paint the Palestinian narrative as a amalgamation of outside influences over the course of 120 years, and a common memory, tradition, custom, and feeling as evidenced in their collective past and reproduced in print media. Khalidi argues that the constructed national identity of Palestine is based on a number of factors, resulting in a shared "national consciousness" as Anderson would call it.

The introduction and first chapter of the book thoroughly outline just how important Palestinian identity has become and how it has not only been shaped by print capitalism, but that its constant revolution is a result of the modern Zionist/Palestine dynamic. In this dynamic the Palestinian is simply regarded as the other, and his/her subsequent identity is a response at best, but more accurately designed and shaped by Israeli discourse. "The fierce conflict between Palestinian and Zionist narratives which developed at an early stage in the history of both is among the reasons why Palestinian identity is so poorly understood (6)." Khalidi contends that the multi-layered Palestinian identity with all its factors is too complex to understand in light of the conflict. The Palestinian identity is a result of not only their relationship with the Israelis, but with the Arab nation as a whole, the Ottoman Empire, and the influence of the three primary Western monotheistic religions.

The biggest shortcoming in defining Palestinian identity on the national scene is a result of these contending and competing factions that overlap to create the Palestinian identity. The Palestinian identity has been quantified as a result, or in opposition, of the primary identities that exist in the Middle East (the Arab, Ottoman and Israeli identities and religious identities). The Palestinian identity has existed as a comparison to be made with these primary Middle East identities. The international community has come to embrace the Jewish names and ideas that surround Israel and Jerusalem. The Palestinian and Arab entities that exist in these same spatial areas are most often ignored because the Western Zionists have the ability to create the one-dimensional framework that is the "complex modern reality (15)" of the region.

Khalidi continues on this path of demonstrating the difficulty in conveying a shared "imagined" Palestinian identity. The foremost difficulty came at the hands of the Zionists, who already had a shared collective identity and the political clout of Europe. The Palestinians had to not only assert a national identity, they had to compete with the colonial minded Europeans and already "imagined community" of Zionists, therefore having their national identity relegated to a role of "other;" in juxtaposition to these two primary identities where Palestinian identity simply seemed like a response. These other national identities were not only establishing themselves as legitimate airs to Palestine, but were stultifying the attempt at Palestinian national consciousness. An important added element of Palestinian nationalism as identified by Khalidi is that the identity was not simply a response, the Palestinians reality was complex and shifting, but rooted in Palestinian patriotism as a result of history and Jerusalem, prior to the encroachment of the Zionist and European Colonial powers.

In addition to the encroaching nationalist entities the lack of internal structure made "imagining" a Palestinian community all the more difficult. As Palestine existed, in the Ottoman Empire, before the European Zionist enterprise of the late 1800s the Palestinian identity was laden with complex notions and only seemed to be united by Jerusalem and shari'a (Muslim law). The infringing Zionists created an added element, a response for Palestinian identity. Which is best illustrated through the treatment of Palestinian identity in early twentieth century literature where, "the society is being treated as an object rather than a subject of history (92)." The documentation that does exist in response to the Zionist enterprise shows a common thread of disapproval not only from the elites, but from the peasants as well. The land that was purchased by Zionists for Zionists, most of which was sold by absentee landlords that were not Palestinians, caused the locals (fellahin) that worked the land to exercise resistance and battle for their right to labor the land-which the Ottoman empire did not uphold. The question of Palestinian identity at this point took on added dimension. They were Arabs (elites and workers) in opposition to Zionists, and with the Ottoman Empire's approval of the land sales, they became anti-Ottoman government, therefore shedding that aspect of their identity. The Arab newspapers in Transjordan were instrumental in this building of an anti-Zionist base. As illustrative of Anderson this shared conveyed fear of Zionists as disseminated through newspapers created a shared sense of consciousness and knowledge to link the Palestinian people, yet not as distinct from the Arab community at large.

Rating:
Summary: Slanted History
Review: Rashid Khalidi's book Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness attempts to surmise the modern history of Palestinian identity. The fomented Palestinian identity as seen through its development over the last 120 years or so is a vast and difficult undertaking. Khalidi tackles this question with a plethora of footnotes and references, but not as convincingly as it could be. Through a large array of references Khalidi is able to create a distinct Palestinian narrative that creates parameters for the evolution of Palestinian identity.

The idea of a national identity takes its foundation in a number of ways, but the least of which, Khalidi wants to attribute to some sort of Romantic European identity. Khalidi wants to paint the Palestinian narrative as a amalgamation of outside influences over the course of 120 years, and a common memory, tradition, custom, and feeling as evidenced in their collective past and reproduced in print media. Khalidi argues that the constructed national identity of Palestine is based on a number of factors, resulting in a shared "national consciousness" as Anderson would call it.

The introduction and first chapter of the book thoroughly outline just how important Palestinian identity has become and how it has not only been shaped by print capitalism, but that its constant revolution is a result of the modern Zionist/Palestine dynamic. In this dynamic the Palestinian is simply regarded as the other, and his/her subsequent identity is a response at best, but more accurately designed and shaped by Israeli discourse. "The fierce conflict between Palestinian and Zionist narratives which developed at an early stage in the history of both is among the reasons why Palestinian identity is so poorly understood (6)." Khalidi contends that the multi-layered Palestinian identity with all its factors is too complex to understand in light of the conflict. The Palestinian identity is a result of not only their relationship with the Israelis, but with the Arab nation as a whole, the Ottoman Empire, and the influence of the three primary Western monotheistic religions.

The biggest shortcoming in defining Palestinian identity on the national scene is a result of these contending and competing factions that overlap to create the Palestinian identity. The Palestinian identity has been quantified as a result, or in opposition, of the primary identities that exist in the Middle East (the Arab, Ottoman and Israeli identities and religious identities). The Palestinian identity has existed as a comparison to be made with these primary Middle East identities. The international community has come to embrace the Jewish names and ideas that surround Israel and Jerusalem. The Palestinian and Arab entities that exist in these same spatial areas are most often ignored because the Western Zionists have the ability to create the one-dimensional framework that is the "complex modern reality (15)" of the region.

Khalidi continues on this path of demonstrating the difficulty in conveying a shared "imagined" Palestinian identity. The foremost difficulty came at the hands of the Zionists, who already had a shared collective identity and the political clout of Europe. The Palestinians had to not only assert a national identity, they had to compete with the colonial minded Europeans and already "imagined community" of Zionists, therefore having their national identity relegated to a role of "other;" in juxtaposition to these two primary identities where Palestinian identity simply seemed like a response. These other national identities were not only establishing themselves as legitimate airs to Palestine, but were stultifying the attempt at Palestinian national consciousness. An important added element of Palestinian nationalism as identified by Khalidi is that the identity was not simply a response, the Palestinians reality was complex and shifting, but rooted in Palestinian patriotism as a result of history and Jerusalem, prior to the encroachment of the Zionist and European Colonial powers.

In addition to the encroaching nationalist entities the lack of internal structure made "imagining" a Palestinian community all the more difficult. As Palestine existed, in the Ottoman Empire, before the European Zionist enterprise of the late 1800s the Palestinian identity was laden with complex notions and only seemed to be united by Jerusalem and shari'a (Muslim law). The infringing Zionists created an added element, a response for Palestinian identity. Which is best illustrated through the treatment of Palestinian identity in early twentieth century literature where, "the society is being treated as an object rather than a subject of history (92)." The documentation that does exist in response to the Zionist enterprise shows a common thread of disapproval not only from the elites, but from the peasants as well. The land that was purchased by Zionists for Zionists, most of which was sold by absentee landlords that were not Palestinians, caused the locals (fellahin) that worked the land to exercise resistance and battle for their right to labor the land-which the Ottoman empire did not uphold. The question of Palestinian identity at this point took on added dimension. They were Arabs (elites and workers) in opposition to Zionists, and with the Ottoman Empire's approval of the land sales, they became anti-Ottoman government, therefore shedding that aspect of their identity. The Arab newspapers in Transjordan were instrumental in this building of an anti-Zionist base. As illustrative of Anderson this shared conveyed fear of Zionists as disseminated through newspapers created a shared sense of consciousness and knowledge to link the Palestinian people, yet not as distinct from the Arab community at large.

Rating:
Summary: The creation of Palestinians
Review: The Palestinian Identity was created by the resistance to Israel. This is the most interesting revelation that comes from this study. Before Israel the Palestinians were a group of Bedouins, Druze, immigrants, Nouvo riche families(Nashashibis) and effendis(Husaynis). Palestine had been an Ottoman backwater. In the beginning it was grafted onto Jordan. But today's Palestinians don't think of themselves as Jordanian. This is an irony since in 1948 it was not the Israel that invaded Palestinian lands but rather the Egyptians and Jordanians that `occupied' Palestine from 1948-1967. In a sense the true identity of Palestine came about only after 1967 in the opposition to being government by Dhimmis or non-Muslims. It was at this point that the Palestinians, who had no real identity, suddenly found themselves, in opposition. Arafat, a minor character, gained fame among the refugees and the rest is history. Now the Palestine `identity' has tried to graft itself onto the Israeli-Arabs, especially the Bedouins and Druze who support Israel because they were suppressed by the `Palestinians' and their fellow Arabs by being denied land. This is an ironic identity, almost as amazing as the Zionist creation of a `New Jew' identity in the 1930s. If anything this book is a testament to how history can be invented, and how people who had no idea they belonged to a political unit 60 years ago suddenly feel like `brothers' due to their shared experiences. An extraordinary account.

Seth J. Frantzman

Rating:
Summary: The creation of Palestinians
Review: The Palestinian Identity was created by the resistance to Israel. This is the most interesting revelation that comes from this study. Before Israel the Palestinians were a group of Bedouins, Druze, immigrants, Nouvo riche families(Nashashibis) and effendis(Husaynis). Palestine had been an Ottoman backwater. In the beginning it was grafted onto Jordan. But today's Palestinians don't think of themselves as Jordanian. This is an irony since in 1948 it was not the Israel that invaded Palestinian lands but rather the Egyptians and Jordanians that 'occupied' Palestine from 1948-1967. In a sense the true identity of Palestine came about only after 1967 in the opposition to being government by Dhimmis or non-Muslims. It was at this point that the Palestinians, who had no real identity, suddenly found themselves, in opposition. Arafat, a minor character, gained fame among the refugees and the rest is history. Now the Palestine 'identity' has tried to graft itself onto the Israeli-Arabs, especially the Bedouins and Druze who support Israel because they were suppressed by the 'Palestinians' and their fellow Arabs by being denied land. This is an ironic identity, almost as amazing as the Zionist creation of a 'New Jew' identity in the 1930s. If anything this book is a testament to how history can be invented, and how people who had no idea they belonged to a political unit 60 years ago suddenly feel like 'brothers' due to their shared experiences. An extraordinary account.

Seth J. Frantzman

Rating:
Summary: Not only Palestian Nationalism, all Nationalisms are Lost
Review: The preface of this book really seals the concepts of the previous text: "Nations as a natural, God-given way of classifying men, as an inherent ... political destiny, are a myth; (this is really what Frontier Fictions' author intended to say)." Nationalism takes pre-existing cultures, modifies or destroys them. This seems solid. For me, the word Persian inspires a sense of long, deep culture; Iran implies conflict and confusion. Similarly, in Khalidi's discussion of Palestinian Identity, the word Arab strikes a cord of long-standing culture and Palestine seems connected only with a sense of confusion. Khalidi attempts to clear this confusion and does really, quite a good job. He is trying to dismantle many myths about the Palestinian-Israeli identity creation by taking the discussion to pre-WWII. He is combating the idea that as a result of the events of 1948, Israel came into being and with it, and/or in reaction to this, Palestinian identity was manufactured as a kind of cultural, political counter assault. However, while the gist of his text is to convince the reader that Palestinian identity has long roots and is therefore "real," the sense I have after reading his text is that not only Palestinian identity is merely a constructed fiction, so is every other identity on the planet. While I agree with his assertion that Palestinian identity is no less real than the French example he uses in the seventh chapter, I feel that French, Japanese, American and other identities as equally as fictitious as the pro-Zionist writers claim Palestinian identity is. Just as he promised, the author brings into clear relief, not only discussions of Palestine and Israel, but of national and regional identity construction. The final description of the "reemergence of Palestinian identity" brought me to question more than ever before the global construction of national identities everywhere. While the same powerful emotional, even common psychological bond shared by Palestinians as a result of the misery they experienced together strengthened the "reality" of the identity, according to Rashid Khalidi, because this same technique is used consciously and intentionally by American military advisers today to create a sense of military unit identity and exaggerated patriotism, I wonder about the validity of it altogether.

Rating:
Summary: Enlightening
Review: This book is enlightening not only in what it says but what isn't said. During the course of reading the book the proverbial "light" goes on and suddenly I have a much clearer understanding. The book is scrupulously documented but written in a dry academic style and isn't lacking in what could be described as Palestinian propaganda. The book tries, not successfully in my mind, to establish that there has always been this "identity" that the Palestinians have, separating them from the Arabs and Jews.

But the Palestinians apparently have little history prior to 1850; establishment of the author's theory comes largely from period newspaper accounts and editorials, a few speeches and unfinished manuscripts. Palestinians seem to lack early written history or leaders to write about; even contemporary history is glossed over. Being dispossessed, poor or homeless does not establish a unique national "identity".

The author describes how the land the Palestinians occupied (but didn't own) was purchased from the Ottoman Empire by their Arab brethren and then sold to the Zionists who populated the land with European Jews. For the Palestinian people it continues to go downhill from there; with British occupation after the First World War, establishment of Israel after the Second with continuing Jewish immigration and Palestinian relocation, finally losing wars to the Israelis in the late 40's, and 60's. I saw parallels to Native Americans.

Possessing an "identity" will not replace poor education, poor leadership and just plain bad luck; which seem to me the reasons the Palestinian people are in the predicament they find themselves. These are points that the author should have stressed.