This is the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel and the Nakba of Palestine. Both are two ends of the same continuum. This issue attempts to highlight these events and show how they are assimilated within Israeli society. To this avail, publications authored by Ben-Gurion himself are reviewed and translated. The translated text does not reflect diaries written in 1948 about that time, but was produced at a later stage by Ben-Gurion. A book on the logic of partitions is about to be published by Stanford University. Edited by historians Arie M. Dubnov and Laura Robson, the book seeks to understand the “solution” of partition as part of a colonial intellectual
system, which the English employed in several colonies. In this publication, Uri Ram provides an in-depth treatise on the various policies adopted by Israel so that Israeli society forgets about the Nakba and Israel’s role and responsibility in this context. Omar Al-Ghabari presents a comprehensive review of the role played by Zochrot, which attempts to keep the Nakba file open through activities and events that commemorate the Nakba. This NGO is primarily active within the Israeli Jewish community. Wadee’ Awawdeh reviews a new and interesting book on the Kafr Qasim massacre, spelling out its underlying causes and ensuing moot court. The review demonstrates that the logic of displacement never came to an end in 1948. The Kafr Qasim massacre was part and parcel of the this logic, which prevailed throughout 1948 – year of the Nakba.
The issue also includes another article by Abdul Ghani Salameh on the Israeli society and conflict over the identity of the state and society. Hilla Dayan analyses the current nature of Zionism, highlighting the movement’s distinctive characteristics, recent transformations, and methods of hegemony in a neoliberal world. Anas Hassouneh explores violence among Palestinians of the 1948 territory. The issue also features regular sections on books and archives, presented this time by Mahmoud Fataftah and Weam Baloum.
