Nakba and Survival - (New Directions in Palestinian Studies) by Adel Manna (Paperback)

About the Book

"This book carries with it various forms of renovations on numerous levels: theoretical, methodological, as well as in the sources and references of knowledge. The study dusts off a fundamental epic in the history of Palestinians who remained in Haifa and the Galilee after the Nakba (1948-1956). It also includes narratives of humanitarian and personal stories of marginalized groups, contradictory to the elite historical narrations. The causes and circumstances of their remaining in Palestine after the year 1948 were still blurred, as few historians highlighted the issue. This study sheds light on some cases of "non expulsion" in Nazareth and the majority of villages within the same district, in addition to Druze villages and others. The research also includes narrations from those who weren't expelled, and others who had been exterminated then returned back to their homeland. It documents the struggle for survival and its circumstances since the Nakba till the Suez war and Kafar Kassem massacre, based on publications and manuscripts rarely inspected by researchers. And in order to convey the voices of the marginalized groups in North Palestine at that time, the research does not overlook the oral documents obtained through interviews conducted with people who experienced those events and were eyewitnesses of them"--

Book Synopsis

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org.

Beginning in 1948, Israeli paramilitary forces began violently displacing Palestinian Arabs from Palestine. Nakba and Survival tells the stories of Palestinians in Haifa and the Galilee during, and in the decade after, mass dispossession. Manna uses oral histories and Palestinian and Israeli archives, diaries, and memories to meticulously reconstruct the social history of the Palestinians who remained and returned to become Israeli citizens. This book focuses in particular on the Galilee, using the story of Manna's own family and their village Majd al-Krum after the establishment of Israel to shed light on the cruelties faced by survivors of the military regime. While scholars of the Palestinian national movement have often studied Palestinian resistance to Israel as related to the armed struggle and the cultural struggle against the Jewish state, Manna shows that remaining in Israel under the brutality of occupation and fighting to return to Palestinian communities after displacement are acts of heroism in their own right.

The Institute for Palestine Studies extends our sincere appreciation to Samir Abdulhadi for his generous support of the translation and publication of this book.
Translation by Jenab Tutunji.

From the Back Cover

"In contrast with the majority of works on the war of 1948 and its refugees, this book attempts to answer on major question: why did a substantial number of Palestinian Arabs manage to remain in their homes, or in neighboring villages in the Galilee, while the rest of their countrymen where dislocated and expelled? Manna's Nakba and Survival utilizes a combination of archival and oral historical approaches, including warts and all, and is bound to be the standard authoritative study of the 1948 war in the city of Haifa and the Galilee."--Salim Tamari, coauthor of Camera Palaestina: Photography and Displaced Histories of Palestine

"This is a meticulously researched, beautifully written account of Palestinians who fought tenaciously to remain in their homeland and to survive under the new Israeli regime. By foregrounding the detailed testimonials of Palestinian Nakba survivors, Adel Manna's vivid account uncovers their agency in the midst of great trauma. Nakba and Survival is essential reading for anyone wishing to understand how the events of 1948 continue to shape the Palestinian condition today"--Maha Nassar, author of Brothers Apart: Palestinian Citizens of Israel and the Arab World

"Nakba and Survival looks at Israel's Palestinian citizens as survivors who faced great traumas connected with dispossession, displacement, and loss. Adel Manna presents a rich and complex study of the people of the Galilee, their silenced histories, and their roles as historical actors. The empathy for--and solidarity with--Manna's historical subjects shapes the book's narratives, as well as the questions it asks and its deft use of oral histories. A must-read for all those who want to understand daily lives under settler colonial rule."--Orit Bashkin, coeditor of Jews and Journeys: Travel and the Performance of Jewish Identity

"A hugely significant, powerful, and long overdue history of the Nakba that centers the Palestinian experience of survival."--Ussama Makdisi, author of Age of Coexistence: The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of the Modern Arab World

About the Author

Adel Manna is a historian who specializes in the history of Palestine. He is the author and editor of several books on Ottoman Palestinian history published in Arabic in Beirut including The Palestinians in the Twentieth Century: A View from Within and Society and Administration in Jerusalem during the Middle Ottoman Period.