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ePalestine.ps - Sam Bahour

News & opinions from a Palestinian-American
living & working in Ramallah/Al-Bireh, Palestine

BY TOPIC: 1948

30 post/s found with this tag.



“Stranger in My Own Land: Palestine, Israel and One Family’s Story of Home” by Fida Jiryis [Book Review]

“Stranger in My Own Land: Palestine, Israel and One Family’s Story of Home” by Fida Jiryis [Book Review]

I am ecstatic to be able to share with you the first review of the forthcoming book, Stranger in My Own Land: Palestine, Israel and One Family’s Story of Home, by Fida Jiryis. It was published in Le Monde diplomatique (English edition), September 2022 Issue, as part of their Palestine special report. For over a decade, I witnessed the making of this landmark memoir from concept to publishing. All I can say is R-E-S-P-E-C-T to the author and publisher. Order your copy today; this is not one to be missed!


“Tantura” documentary meticulously documents a 1948 Israeli massacre

“Tantura” documentary meticulously documents a 1948 Israeli massacre

When Israeli graduate student Teddy Katz meticulously documented a massacre of Palestinian civilians surrounding Israel’s independence, he was initially celebrated for his groundbreaking work. But soon, he was stripped of his degrees and was publicly shamed as a fraudulent traitor. Decades later, incendiary new evidence emerges to corroborate Teddy’s initial findings, not just vindicating him, but raising profound questions about how Israelis — and we all — deal with the darker chapters of history.


Perpetual Turmoil: A man-made holy pandemic that never ends [Book Review]

Perpetual Turmoil: A man-made holy pandemic that never ends [Book Review]

Before Israel prohibited me from having free access to Jerusalem, I would meet up for lunch in East Jerusalem with Avner, a Jewish Israeli friend of mine, at the Ambassador Hotel, owned by a mutual friend of ours. Our political arguments always ended on the same note. I would claim that Israel has, and always had, a master plan and acts with full intention. Avner would counter that claim saying I’m giving the Israeli side too much credit and that much of what we are facing are a hodgepodge of haphazard missteps that have created an unfortunate reality on the ground. Enter Lives in Common: Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Hebron by Menachem Klein, another Jewish Israeli friend of mine. The book unintentionally offers Avner and myself an answer to our ongoing debate. It turns out we are both correct. How so? Read on.


“God does not exist, and he promised us this land” [Book Review]

“God does not exist, and he promised us this land” [Book Review]

Few countries provoke as much passion and controversy as Israel. What is Modern Israel? convincingly demonstrates that its founding ideology – Zionism – is anything but a simple reaction to antisemitism. Dispelling the notion that every Jew is a Zionist and therefore a natural advocate for the state of Israel, Yakov Rabkin points to the Protestant roots of Zionism, in order to explain the particular support Israel musters in the United States. (Publisher’s Review)


“1948: Creation & Catastrophe” documentary

“1948: Creation & Catastrophe” documentary

Through riveting and moving personal recollections of both Palestinians and Israelis, 1948: Creation & Catastrophe tells the story of the establishment of Israel as seen through the eyes of the people who lived it. This documentary was the last chance for many of its Israeli and Palestinian characters to narrate their first-hand accounts of the creation of a state and the expulsion of a nation.  


“The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge” by Ilan Pappe [Book Review]

“The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge” by Ilan Pappe [Book Review]

Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe, takes the reader through the maze of knowledge creation in Israel and how that journey has interacted with power. The invaluable intellectual contribution and framing that Professor Pappe provides cannot be overstated. He documents for all serious researchers who follow how the dust (or more like blood) of Israel’s foundational moment has yet to settle. The events in and around 1948 that led to the creation of Israel and the colossal loss of Palestine were such a historic tragedy that even the well-oiled Israeli and Zionist public relations machines have been unable get traction to settle the historic account.