ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book synthesizes, interprets, and scrutinizes the rules of construction of the Palestinian discourse and the justifications it rests upon. The transformation in the Palestinian discourse is obvious to engaged observer; yet it remains a lacuna in the literature. There is abundant literature on Israel-Palestine, yet an exhaustive examination of the Palestinian discourse remains largely an uncharted field of inquiry. Since 1948, Palestinian identity and experience have acquired three forms: refugees; the Arabs of Israel; and the occupied people in the West Bank and Gaza. To be a Palestinian refugee, unequal citizen in Israel, or occupied/colonized involves the mediation of an entire network of regulations, political and legal judgments, language, and social practices to constitute each classificatory subject position. The Palestinian perception of Palestine as the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River was discontinued in the Palestinians own political calculations.
