"A magisterial study by the leading Israeli scholar of Palestine."—New York Review of Books
Description
The simplistic attitude that reduces the various conceptions in the modern Palestinian national thinking into stereotypical dictums, such as “the overall aim of all the Palestinians is to liquidate the state of Israel,” instills perhaps a superfluous sense of meaning but it does not accomodate with the development of the historical reality. The reader of this book will find that the Palestinian national attitudes have departed from the original unanimity as far as means and aims are concerned. A discrepancy has emerged between their ideal aspirations and their perceptions of what can be achieved.
Based mainly on primary Arabic sources, this book delves into the cognitive dissonances created since the 1967 War and their bearing on the Palestinans’ self-images and on their perceptions vis a vis Israel as the intimate adversary. It shows that in spite of the authenticity of the Palestinian transformations, they might be reversible if they are not acknowledged and responded to by Israel and the international community.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Palestinian National Consciousness in Transition
Chapter 2: The Origins of Fatah’s Pragmatic Conception: Khalid al-Hassan as Parable
Chapter 3: Shifting Perceptions of Armed Struggle
Chapter 4: Yasser Arafat’s Pangs of Transposition: The Personification of Collective Identity
Chapter 5: Nationalism and Marxism—The Worldview of Habash’s ‘Popular Front’
Chapter 6: When Ideology Fails: The Waning of Marxism in the Popular Front's Conception
Chapter 7: Accommodative Marxism: The World view of Hawatmeh’s Democratic Front
Chapter 8: The Waning of Palestinian Pan-Arabism: Abu Nidal’s Organization as a Test-Case
Chapter 9: Disjunction and Conjunction: The Dialectic between the PLO ‘ Inside’ and ‘Outside’
Chapter 10: The PLO and Palestinian Islamic Fundamentalism
Chapter 11: Precept and Practice in the World view of Barnas
Chapter 12: The Modus Operandi of Hamas in the First Intifada: By AU Means?
Chapter 13: Critical Masses: The Activation of the Palestinian Collectivity during the Second Intifada (2000-2004)
Chapter 14: The Significance of the Demographic Factor in Palestinian National Consciousness
Chapter 15: The Decline of the Two State Paradigm: Is it Inevitable?
Chapter 16: The Road Taken (by Default): Versions of the One State Paradigm
Epilogue: Beware “The Angel of History”
Appendix: Yasser Arafat (1929-2004): A Brief Biography
Bibliography
Indexes: People and Places and Terms and Topics
About the Author
Matti Steinberg lectured in Israel at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and abroad at Princeton University and at Heidelberg University. Between the years 1996-2003 he served as senior advisor to the heads of various intelligence branches in Israel.
Related Interest
November 2016