ABSTRACT

Identity is said to emanate from the narrative of the self, based on acknowledgement of a common place or characteristics shared with another person or group, and on the natural association based on that acknowledgement. Intentional land expropriation process began in the nineteenth century and continued, through the Palestinian Nakba, to the deliberate territorial expropriation that has persisted since 1948. The mechanism for silencing Palestinian history expanded concurrently with the Jewish settlement of Palestine, serving as a means for diminishing and excluding the Palestinian's affinity to their land. The Zionist narrative structured a negative image of the Palestinians, who were presented as terrorists and as members of armed gangs wearing kefiyyehs and brandishing knives, ready and eager to attack Jewish settlements. An analysis of research discourse from that time indicates that the Bedouin Arabs were excluded from the historic discourse in general, and that of the Nakba in particular, because of their social structure and nomadic culture.