Jewish Haifa denies its Arab past
2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13642529.2013.858451
ISSN1470-1154
Autores Tópico(s)Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration
ResumoAbstractHaifa developed from a small Arab town in the late Ottoman period into a Jewish-Arab urban centre in British Palestine. Today it is a Jewish city with a small Arab minority. In April 1948, following the Jewish conquest of the city, most of its Arab population fled. Israel's Zionist leadership took advantage of their flight and decided to demolish much of the old city, founded in 1761 by the Arab ruler of the Galilee, Daher el-Omar. In 2011, the municipality of the City of Haifa, as well as the majority of the city's Jewish population, all but ignored Haifa's 250th anniversary. The article critically discusses and contextualises the official, Zionist memory of the city's past and explores alternative Jewish attempts to commemorate Haifa's Arab heritage.Keywords:: HaifaIsraelPalestineNakbaZochrotmemorialisationZionismDavid Ben-Gurion Notes1. This ideal was expressed also in one of the most famous Zionist poems, 'Shir boker' ('Morning Song'), written by Nathan Alterman in 1935. In the poem, Alterman compares the land of Zion to a woman whose lovers promise to adorn her with beautiful garments: 'We will dress you in a gown of concrete and cement, and lay for you a carpet of gardens'.Additional informationNotes on contributorsGilad MargalitGilad Margalit is Professor of History at the University of Haifa. His most recent book is Guilt, Suffering, and Memory: Germany Remembers Its Dead in World War II (University of Indiana Press, 2010). He does research on post-war Germany's politics of memory, German-Turkish intellectuals and the history of Haifa.
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