Erased and written over: How Nakba villages sunk into Israeli landscape

Tracks a key element of the history of the Nakba: The absorption of the remains of over 400 Palestinian villages scattered across historic Palestine into the Israeli geographical and emotional landscape. She shares with us two excerpts from the book: The introduction, describing the work she’s done to track the process; and a part from Chapter Five of the book, listing quotes from the memoirs and journals books of the Jewish communities planted near or on top depopulated Palestinian villages – often within days or weeks of the original inhabitants’ departure. Some of these Israelis appear to be more honest about the facts and moral aspects of the Nakba then their descendants 63 years on. An article based on this chapter is due to appear in an upcoming compilation of article to be published by the Van Leer Institute; the book itself is currently looking for an English publisher.

Travelling in Israel, it’s almost impossible to avoid piles of stones, ruins, remnants of walls and structures overgrown with almond fig and trees, rolling terraces crumbling with disuse, and long hedges of prickly cactuses. These integral parts of the Israeli landscape are all that remains of Arab communities that existed before the war of 1948.

After the war, the new State of Israel contained over 400 depopulated villages and 11 cities emptied of all or most of their Arab residents. Israel prevented these residents, who escaped or were expelled across the border from returning home, making the majority of Palestinians refugees.

Most of the villages were demolished by Israel either during the war or in its aftermath; many of them today are but scant remains, and many more still were razed to the ground, with no trace remaining in the landscape. Israel confiscated the vast lands of the villages and the belongings left by the refugees in their flight. The new state established new Jewish communities on confiscated land, and granted old ones extensive tracts of lands. The depopulated Arab cities and dozens of depopulated villages were inhabited with Jews, many of them refugees in their own right, survivors of the war in Europe or exiles from Arab countries. The state of Israel, then, was largely built and grown upon Palestinian lands and the ruins of their villages and cities.

Growing up in Jerusalem, I was taken on many a tour with my school or youth movement to Lifta is ancient, a ruin that has always been like this – desolated, slightly mysterious, beautiful and in some way intimidating, with its silence and the norrow paths winding among the heavy-set houses and walls.

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Israel and Palestine: who owns what?
Israel and Palestine: who owns what?

The Working Group also launched the West Bank and East Jerusalem Searchable Map, where all information was converted into regularly updated interactive Google maps. The Working Group proposal is now in the hands of Israelis, Palestinians,



Erased and written over: How Nakba villages sunk into Israeli landscape

I have also reviewed trail maps of the Survey of Israel to investigate which of the villages' sites and names feature on official, up-to-date maps in current use in Israel. In order to examine the Israeli encounter with the physical remains of the



'Holding the world in the middle'

A municipal spokesman said the anarchy and rapid construction made it impossible for the city to keep up with requests for sidewalks, road paving or improvements – or even to know the names of the streets and update maps. The Jerusalem police are



It took a village
It took a village

Pinhas Aptekmann (Yoeli ), the head of the maps division, who took part in planning the scouts course (and was later president of the Israel Society of Cartography), said in testimony that he gave to staff at the Archives of the History of the Haganah



From Star To Sun, Great Wargames On Special In June!

Additionally, everything one would expect from a ProSIM title is present, such as scenario maps based on real world maps, robust multiplayer capabilities, and full compatibility with other ProSIM titles. The Star and the Crescent is available for




American Power: Yigal Allon — 'Israel: The Case for Defensible ...

It is impossible to plumb the depths of the Arab-Israeli conflict, not to speak of formulating proposals for its solution, if no true understanding exists of the full significance of its cardinal characteristic-the extreme asymmetry of its two sides. This asymmetry is manifest not merely in one or two, but in all, of its aspects. It is obvious in such objective data as the comparison between Arab and Israeli territories (of the Arab League states 8,500,000 square miles; of Israel, including presently administered areas, about 28,500); or of the relative population statistics (of the Arab League states 134,000,000; of Israel 3,500,000 citizens); not to mention their contrasting actual and potential wealth. These diverse objectives have determined the war aims of both sides. It is within this context that we should mention the chain of terrorist acts that was designed not merely to sow death and destruction in Israel but also to extend the conflict, and thus embroil the Arab states in full-scale wars. It is almost superfluous, and certainly tiresome, to quote the legion of statements of Arab leaders that represent this aim, ranging from the "Palestine Covenant" to current governmental declarations. As opposed to this total Arab goal, Israel's war aims have been confined to repelling the offensives of the Arab armies as determined by strategic and political circumstances, whether by reactive counter-offensives such as those of 1948 and 1973 or by preemptive counter-offensives as those of 1956 and 1967. Military defeats, indeed, cost the Arab states losses in lives, destruction of equipment, political setbacks, and damage to national prestige-and perhaps even danger to their regimes. However, such defeats have never been, nor ever will be, a threat to their very existence as sovereign states or to the lives of their civilian populations. In contrast, a military defeat of Israel would mean the physical extinction of a large part of its population and the political elimination of the Jewish state. In highly realistic and clear terms, therefore, the Arab states can permit themselves a series of military defeats while Israel cannot afford to lose a single war. Nor does this reflect a historical trauma in any sense. To lose a single war is to lose everything, and this is a most real and stark fact . One does not have to be a military expert to easily identify the critical defects of the armistice lines that existed until June 4, 1967.


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Travel Israel for Smartphones and Mobile Devices - Illustrated Guide, Phrasebook, and Maps

Travel Israel for Smartphones and Mobile Devices - Illustrated Guide, Phrasebook, and Maps

Geography of Israel View the map Physical geography | Geology | Rivers and lakes | Artificial waterways | Coastline | Topography | Mediterranean Coastal ...

The HarperCollins Study Bible--New Testament

The HarperCollins Study Bible--New Testament

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The HarperCollins Study Bible--Old Testament

The HarperCollins Study Bible--Old Testament

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Teacher's manual for The religion of Israel

Teacher's manual for The religion of Israel

PHYSICAL FACTORS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ISRAEL'S RELIGION THE PREPARATION OF THE LESSON The Biblical Material The study of a physical map of Palestine will ...

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This work was supported by NINDS (to I. Fried), Israel Science Foundation (to ... Physical maps are essential for high-quality sequence assembly regardless ...

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