ABSTRACT
Palestinian local contribution to writing the history of Palestine in the last century was very limited. The archaeological and historical narrative of Palestine, shaped by foreign archaeologists and biblical scholars, has been much influenced by ideological and political motivations. This situation often led to ideological and political misuse of data and a tendentious interpretation of their significance, without objective scientific controls. The new situation, following the transfer of responsibility to the Palestine Authority in 1994, gave the Palestinians an independent role in exploring the history of Palestine from its primary sources, a task reserved until recently to foreign and Israeli archaeologists and historians. This chapter reviews the local historical narrative in comparison with alternative narratives.
