Palestinian Women

“The wound is still open”: the Nakba experience among internally displaced Palestinians in Israel

“…Many times during my childhood I heard the story of my family’s expulsion from the village and their return a few weeks later. For the past six decades stories like this were recounted in Palestinian families and passed down from one generation to another, but they usually stayed in the privacy and secrecy of their homes (Abu-Lughod and Sa’di, 2007; Kassem, 2011).…”

“…While Palestinian refugees in camps of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria were expected to “remember” their experiences of the Nakba, their villages and lives back in Palestine (Feldman, 2008; Khalili, 2004; Richter-Devroe, 2013), Palestinians living in Israel are expected to “forget” their origins:Palestinian citizens living in the State of Israel have seen their own history and memory transformed into a security threat. Therefore, this history and memory is not only forbidden, but subject to systematic destruction, distortion and erasure (Kassem, 2011, p. 7).…”

“…Palestinian citizens living in the State of Israel have seen their own history and memory transformed into a security threat. Therefore, this history and memory is not only forbidden, but subject to systematic destruction, distortion and erasure (Kassem, 2011, p. 7).…”

“…In recent years, more efforts have been dedicated to the documentation and study of the Nakba (Kabha, 2006; Ram, 2009) and the experiences of Palestinian refugees in Arab countries (Chatty, 2010; Feldman, 2008; Salih, 2013). The sparse research on IDPs in Israel was conducted from socio-historical perspectives and mostly investigated the integration of the IDPs in their new host villages (Al-Haj, 1986; Kabha and Barzilai, 1996; Kassem, 2011). The present research is in all probability the first to use phenomenological qualitative inquiry to explore the subjective experiences and psychological effects of the Nakba and the uprooting among the IDP population of Israel.…”

“I need you to listen to what happened to me”: Personal narratives of social trauma in research and peace-building.

“…In the Israeli–Palestinian context, there have been many autobiographies and memoirs (e.g., Amiry, 2004; Bar-On, 2006; Habib, 2007; Kaniuk, 2010; Nusseibeh, 2009; Shehadeh, 2007), research studies (e.g., Armbruster & Emery, 2004; Bar-On & Kassem, 2004; Bucaille, 2004; Chaitin et al, 2009; Gorkin & Othman, 1996; Hammack, 2009; Kassem, 2011; Lieblich, 1994; Lomsky-Feder, 2004; Nets-Zehngut, 2011; Sa’di, 2002) and peace-building initiatives (e.g., Chaitin, 2011; Gordon, Gordon, & Shriteh, 2003; Kaufman-Lacusta, 2010; Kidron, 2004; Salomon, 2004) that have collected, reflected on, and analyzed personal narratives connected to the conflict. Unfortunately, many of the testimonies are characterized by suffering and victimization (e.g., Vollhardt, 2009), and at times, nonacceptance of the “other,” which do little to defuse the conflict.…”