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Palestine
Cover of Palestine
Palestine
A Four Thousand Year History
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This rich and magisterial work traces Palestine's millennia-old heritage, uncovering cultures and societies of astounding depth and complexity that stretch back to the very beginnings of recorded history.
Starting with the earliest references in Egyptian and Assyrian texts, Nur Masalha explores how Palestine and its Palestinian identity have evolved over thousands of years, from the Bronze Age to the present day. Drawing on a rich body of sources and the latest archaeological evidence, Masalha shows how Palestine's multicultural past has been distorted and mythologised by Biblical lore and the Israel–Palestinian conflict.

In the process, Masalha reveals that the concept of Palestine, contrary to accepted belief, is not a modern invention or one constructed in opposition to Israel, but rooted firmly in ancient past. Palestine represents the authoritative account of the country's history.

This rich and magisterial work traces Palestine's millennia-old heritage, uncovering cultures and societies of astounding depth and complexity that stretch back to the very beginnings of recorded history.
Starting with the earliest references in Egyptian and Assyrian texts, Nur Masalha explores how Palestine and its Palestinian identity have evolved over thousands of years, from the Bronze Age to the present day. Drawing on a rich body of sources and the latest archaeological evidence, Masalha shows how Palestine's multicultural past has been distorted and mythologised by Biblical lore and the Israel–Palestinian conflict.

In the process, Masalha reveals that the concept of Palestine, contrary to accepted belief, is not a modern invention or one constructed in opposition to Israel, but rooted firmly in ancient past. Palestine represents the authoritative account of the country's history.

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About the Author-
  • Professor Nur Masalha is a Palestinian writer, historian and academic. He is currently a member of the Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS, University of London. He is editor of the Journal of Holy Land and Palestine Studies. His books include: Expulsion of the Palestinians (1992); A Land Without a People (1997); The Politics of Denial (2003); The Bible and Zionism (Zed 2007); The Palestine Nakba (Zed 2012); and An Oral History of the Palestinian Nakba (with Nahla Abdo, Zed 2018).

Table of Contents-
  • Introduction
  • 1. The Philistines and Philistia as a Distinct Geo-political Entity: Late Bronze Age to 500 BC
  • 2. The Conception of Palestine in Classical Antiquity and During the Hellenistic Empires (500‒135 BC)
  • 3. From Philistia to Provincia 'Syria Palaestina' (135 AD‒390 AD): The Administrative Province of Roman Palestine
  • 4. The (Three in One) Provincia Palaestina: The Three Administrative Provinces of Byzantine Palestine (4th‒Early 7th Centuries AD)
  • 5. Arab Christian Palestine: The Pre-Islamic Arab Kings, Bishops and Poets and Tribes of Provincia Palaestina (3rd‒Early 7th Centuries AD)
  • 6. The Arab Province of Jund Filastin (638‒1099 AD): Continuities, Adaption and Transformation of Palestine under Islam
  • 7. Between Egypt and al-Sham: Palestine during the Ayyubid, Mamluk and Early Ottoman Periods
  • 8. Palestinian Statehood in the 18th Century: Early Modernities and Practical Sovereignty in Palestine
  • 9. Being Palestine, Becoming Palestine: Rediscovery and New Representations of Modern Palestine and their Impact on Palestinian National Identity
  • 10. Settler-colonialism and Disinheriting the Palestinians: The Appropriation of Palestinian Place Names by the Israeli State
Reviews-
  • Publisher's Weekly

    August 13, 2018
    Masalha, a historian at SOAS University of London, unravels the convenient Western romanticization of Palestine before 1948 as “a land without a people for a people without a land,” a territory bursting with ancient Jewish artifacts whose few remaining residents were nomadic shepherds belonging to the Ottoman territory of Greater Syria. On the contrary, as this volume meticulously and methodically documents, “traditionally and throughout the Middle Ages, the name Filastin had indicated both an exact geographic location and the identity of the (predominantly, but not exclusively) Arab Muslim population.” Masalha sheds light on the quotidian realities of four millennia of continuous habitation, from the tradition of desert monasticism that first flourished in the centuries after Jesus’s death to the artistic, intellectual, and mercantile flowering of Mamluk Jerusalem. Opting for scholarly precision rather than fiery rhetoric, this volume laments that “history and collective memory are often a tapestry of stories woven by social elites, with a disregard for the voices of ordinary people” and celebrates its subjects’ “multicultural identity and diversity,” which stand “in sharp contrast to the anachronism of monocultural Zionism.” The result is a sharp, powerfully understated denunciation of Israel’s founding mythology. Masalha’s narratives provide ballast and backstory to the contemporary claims of the dispossessed.

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  • Copyright Protection (DRM) required by the Publisher may be applied to this title to limit or prohibit printing or copying. File sharing or redistribution is prohibited. Your rights to access this material expire at the end of the lending period. Please see Important Notice about Copyrighted Materials for terms applicable to this content.

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A Four Thousand Year History
Nur Masalha
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