Origins of the Palestinian refugee problem: Changes in the historical memory of Israelis/Jews 1949-2004
| DOI | 10.1177/0022343310396112 |
| Date | 01 March 2011 |
| Published date | 01 March 2011 |
| Author | Rafi Nets-Zehngut |
Origins of the Palestinian refugee
problem: Changes in the historical
memory of Israelis/Jews 1949–2004
Rafi Nets-Zehngut
Political Science Department, Tel Aviv University
Abstract
The major historical issue in the Israeli–Arab/Palestinian conflict is the causes for the 1948 Palestinian exodus.
Among the Israelis/Jews there are two main narratives regarding this issue: the Zionist one – the refugees fled, for
various reasons; and the critical one – some fled while others were expelled by the Jewish/Israeli security forces.
This article explores the way the Israeli/Jewish historical memory (i.e. the Israeli/Jewish research community) related
to this historical issue from 1949 until 2004. According to the findings, until 1957 this memory exclusively pre-
sented the Zionist narrative. However, from 1958 to 1976 this Zionist trend largely continued but was accompanied
by considerable critical studies. Later, from 1977 to 2004, this memory was characterized by the almost exclusive
adoption of the critical narrative (with major increase in its significance since 1988). These findings contradict the
way the literature relates to this memory as almost exclusively Zionist until the late-1980s. Other aspects of this
memory are also discussed, such as the explanations for its characteristics, the significance of non-academic scholars,
the contribution of scholars who reside externally to the given country, state–research community relations, the
influence of present interests on the portrayal of the past, and gender issues. The findings have theoretical implica-
tions for collective and historical memories.
Keywords
1948 Palestinian refugees, collective memory, historical memory, Israeli academia, Israeli-Arab/Palestinian conflict
Introduction
Parties to intractable conflict develop a collective memory
of it, which plays an important role in the conflict.
It shapes the psychological and behavioral reactions of
each party dichotomously, positively towards itself and
negatively towards the rival. The realization of the impor-
tance of this memory has led to recent great interest in it
among politicians and scholars. One of the main sources
that influences this memory is the historical memory of
conflict – the way scholars view the events of the conflict
(Devine-Wright, 2003).
More specifically, the Israeli–Arab/Palestinian conflict
(hereafter ‘the conflict’) is by and large an intractable
conflict. The main historical issue in this conflict is the
causes for the exodus of the Palestinian refugees during
the 1948 War. This article explores the Israeli/Jewish
historical memory regarding the 1948 exodus between
1949 and 2004. Then, theoretical implications of the
findings are discussed.
Literature review
Collective and historical memories
Collective memory in general is defined as representa-
tions of the past that are collectively adopted by the
society (Kansteiner, 2002). The ‘collectives’ which
adopt these representations are usually discussed in the
literature as countries, or groups within them (e.g. eth-
nic or religious). During conflicts, the parties develop
collective memory composed of the way they perceive
the events that led to the eruption of the conflict and
those that occurred during the conflict. This memory
is usually rigid and biased, because it supports
Journal of Peace Research
48(2) 235–248
ªThe Author(s) 2011
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DOI: 10.1177/0022343310396112
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