Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine: The Politics of National Commemoration (Cambridge Middle East Studies, Series Number 27)

"The history of the Palestinians over the last half century has been one of turmoil, a people living under occupation or exiled from their homeland. Theirs has been at times a tragic story, but also one of resistance, heroism, and nationalist aspiration. Laleh Khalili's fascinating and unsettling book is based on her experiences in the Lebanese refugee camps, where ceremonies and commemorations of key moments in the history of the struggle are a significant part of their political life. It is these commemorations of the past, according to Dr. Khalili, that have helped to forge a sense of nationhood and strategies of struggle amongst the disenfranchised Palestinian people, both in Lebanon and beyond. She also analyzes how, in recent years, as discourses of liberation and rights have changed in the international community, and as the character of local institutions has evolved, there has been a shift in the representation of Palestinian nationalism from the heroic to the tragic mode. This trend is exemplified through the commemoration of martyrs and their elevation to tragic yet iconic figures in the Palestinian collective memory."--Jacket

Many decades have passed since the Palestinian national movement began its political and military struggle. In that time, poignant memorials at massacre sites, a palimpsest of posters of young heroes and martyrs, sorrowful reminiscences about lost loved ones, and wistful images of young men and women who fought as guerrillas, have all flourished in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine tells the story of how dispossessed Palestinians have commemorated their past, and how through their dynamic everyday narrations, their nation has been made even without the institutional memory-making of a state. Bringing ethnography to political science, Khalili invites us to see Palestinian nationalism in its proper international context and traces its affinities with Third Worldist movements of its time, while tapping a rich and oft-ignored seam of Palestinian voices, histories, and memories.

This volume looks at a recent shift in the representation of Palestinian nationalism from the heroic to the tragic mode, as exemplified by the elevation of martyrs to iconic figures