The term conflict has often been used broadly and uncritically to talk about diverse situations ranging from street protests to war, though the many factors that give rise to any conflict and its continuation over a period of time vary greatly. The starting point of this innovative book is that it is unsatisfactory either to consider conflict within a singular concept or alternatively to consider each conflict as entirely distinct and unique; Narrating Conflict in the Middle East explores another path to addressing long-term conflict. The contributors set out to examine the ways in which such conflicts in Palestine and Lebanon have been and are narrated, imagined and remembered in diverse spaces, including that of the media. They examine discourses and representations of the conflicts as well as practices of memory and performance in narratives of suffering and conflict, all of which suggest an embodied investment in narrating or communicating conflict. In so doing, they engage with local, global, and regional realities in Lebanon and in Palestine and they respond dynamically to these realities.

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.

1 Approaches to narrating conflict in Palestine & Lebanon - Dina Matar & Zahera Harb
I PRACTICES
2 Just a few small changes: The limits of televisual Palestinian representation of conflicts
3 Mediating internal conflict in Lebanon and its ethical boundaries - Zahera Harb
4 Negotiating representation, re-making war - Hanan Toukan
5 Narratives in conflict: Emile Habibi's al-Waqa'i al-Ghariba and Elia Suleiman's Divine Intervention - Refqa Abu-Remaileh
II DISCOURSES
6 Islam in the narrative of Fatah & Hamas - Atef Alshaer
7 Al-Manar: Cultural Discourse and Representation of Resistance - Rounwah Adly Riyadh Bseiso
8 The Battle over Victimhood: Roles and Implications of Narratives of Suffering in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Kirkland Newman Smulders
9 The 'I Love...' Phenomenon in Lebanon - Carole Helou
III MEMORIES
10 Making Sense of War News among Adolescents in Lebanon - Helena Nassif
11 Narrating the Nakba: Palestininian Filmmakers Revisit 1948 - Nadia Yacoub
12 Bearing Witness to Al Nakba in a Time of Denial - Teodora Todorova
Index