"What It Means to be Palestinian" is a narrative of narratives, a collection of personal stories, remembered feelings and reconstructed experiences by different Palestinians whose lives were changed and shaped by history. Their stories are told chronologically through particular phases of the Palestinian national struggle, providing a composite autobiography of Palestine as a landscape and as a people. The book begins with the 1936 revolt against British rule in Palestine and ends in 1993, with the Oslo peace agreement that changed the nature and form of the national struggle. It is based on in-depth interviews and conversations with Palestinians, male and female, old and young, rich and poor, religious and secular, in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and the Occupied Territories. Presented as remembered personal narratives and as 'social' histories, these conversations provide a deep & intimate account of what it means to be Palestinian in the 21st century.
Dina Matar is a Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, UK. She is the Chair of the SOAS Centre of Palestine Studies. She is Series Editor of the series Political Communication and Media Practices in the Middle East and North Africa, and SOAS Palestine Studies.
Introduction
Chapter One: Palestine as a Landscape and a People: On the road to Nakba
Chapter Two: Living the Nakba: In the Perilous Territory of not-Belonging
Chapter Three: Between Romance and Tragedy
Chapter Four: Living the Revolution: Living the Occupation
Chapter Five: Children of the Stone: Living the first intifada
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index