“The war of 1948 is known to Israelis as the “War of Independence”. But for Palestinians, the war is forever the Nakba, “The Catastrophe”. The conflict led to the creation of the state of Israel and resulted in the destruction of much of Palestinian society by Zionist forces. Approxi- mately 90 per cent of the Palestinians who lived in the major part of Palestine upon which Israel was established became refugees. The minority of Palestinians – 160,000 – who remained behind, are one of the main subjects of this book. Many of them were forced out of their homes and became second-class citizens of the state of Israel. As such, they were subject to a system of military administration between 1948 and 1966 by a government that confiscated the bulk of their lands. 

For the Palestinians, both refugees and non-refugees, the traumatic events of 1948 have become central to Palestinian history, memory and identity. Moreover, in recent years Palestinians have been producing memories of the Nakba, compiling and recording oral history and holding annual commemorations designed to preserve the memory of the catastrophe, while emphasising the link between refugee rights, identity and memory. In the absence of a rich source of Palestinian docu- mentary records, oral history and interviews with internally displaced Palestinians are a critical and natural source for constructing a more com- prehensible narrative of their experiences. 

This collection is dedicated to the memory of Edward W. Said (1935– 2003), whose voice articulated the aspirations of the disenfranchised, the oppressed and the marginalised, and whose message was humanist and universal, extending beyond Palestine to touch wide audiences. “

-Nur Masalha