Hidden Histories

Basem L. Ra'ad

Description

For thousands of years, Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean have been subject to constant colonial interference, which has disenfranchised the indigenous population from their own history. Basem L. Ra'ad uncovers this history and begins the process of reconnecting it with its rightful owners.



Orientalist ideologies, colonial projects and Zionist cultural takeovers have contributed profoundly to the revisionism of Palestine's history. Drawing upon research in archaeology, linguistics and history, Ra'ad dispels many of the myths relating to religions, languages, peoples and sites. What emerges from this recovery is the presence of native people, a forgotten, submerged and subaltern, who stubbornly endure, from ancient Canaan to contemporary Palestine. Demanding that we 'unlearn' whitewashed, colonial histories, Hidden History is a process of recovery, de-colonization, revision and inclusivity.
Figures

Preface

Introduction: Understanding the History of the Eastern Mediterranean

Part One: Ancient Myths, Religions, and Cultures

1. 'Canaan Nails': Idealised Perceptions and Their Uses

2. Origins of Monotheistic Religions

3. Sacred Sites, Pagan Roots

4. Ugaritic Revelations: What an Ancient City Tells Us

5. Wheels of Fortune: The Alphabet

Part Two: Modern Myths and (De)Colonised History

6. 'Last of the Phoenicians': Identity Questions

7. Appropriation: Zionist Cultural Takeover

8. Self-Colonisation: Its Symptoms and Outcomes

9. Cats of Jerusalem

10. Politics of Place Names

11. Epilogue: Retrieving the Ancient Subaltern

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Political Ideologies
• Middle Est
• HISTORY
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Histoire
• Canaán
• Eastern Mediterranean
• Balfour Declaration
• Ze'ev Herzog
• Canaanite religion
• Greater Syria
• Judaization
• Mount Zion
• History of the Middle East
• Christian Zionism
• General officer
• Military
• Dead Sea Scrolls
• Dome of the Rock
• Ethnic cleansing
• Israelites
• Ancient history
• Zionism
• West Bank
• Phoenicia
• Nationalism
• Jerusalem
• History of religions
• List of former sovereign states
• Aramaic language
• Palestine
• General
• Holy Land
• Ancient
• Canaan

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 04 juin 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849645454
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 12 Mo

Extrait

Hidden Histories

HIDDEN HISTORIES

Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean

Basem L. Ra‛ad

First published 2010 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010

www.plutobooks.com

Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010

Copyright © Basem L. Ra‛ad 2010

The right of Basem L. Ra‛ad to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 0 7453 2831 7 ISBN 978 0 7453 2830 0

Hardback Paperback

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services Ltd, 33 Livonia Road, Sidmouth, EX10 9JB, England Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Printed and bound in the European Union by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne

From A to Z

Contents

List of Illustrations Credits Preface

Introduction: Understanding the History of the Eastern Mediterranean

PART ONE ANCIENT MYTHS, RELIGIONS, AND CULTURES  1 “Canaan Nails”: Idealized Perceptions and Their Uses  2 Polytheistic Origins of Monotheism  3 Sacred Sites, Pagan Roots  4 Ugaritic Revelations: What An Ancient City Tells Us  5 Wheels of Fortune: The Alphabet

PART TWO MODERN MYTHS AND (DE)COLONIZED HISTORY  6 “Last of the Phoenicians”: Identity Questions  7 Appropriation: Zionist Cultural Takeover  8 Self-Colonization: Symptoms and Outcomes  9 Cats of Jerusalem 10 Politics of Place Names 11 Epilogue: Retrieving the Ancient Subaltern

Notes References Index

viii x xi

1

15 47 67 88 98

111 123 142 160 175 196

219 244 255

List of Ilustrations

1.1

1.2

1.3 2.1 2.2

2.3

2.4

3.1

3.2 4.1 4.2 5.1 6.1 7.1 7.2

7.3

8.1

8.2 8.3 9.1 9.2 9.3 10.1

10.2 11.1

Lid of a pyxis, Mistress of the Wild Animals, thirteenth century BCE , Ugarit Triangular pediment, sign of Tanit/‛Anat, second century BCE , Constantina, North Africa “Capture,” 1870 - Supreme God Il (El), from Ugarit - Stele of king paying homage to Il (El), Ugarit, thirteenth century BCE Adam and Eve or “Temptation” seal, Mesopotamia, twenty-third century BCE - ‛Asherah, mother goddess and consort of Il (El), clay figurine, circa eighth-century BCE Stele of the God Ba‛al, Ugarit, fifteenth–thirteenth century BCE Rachel’s Tomb: then and now Entrance to the city of Ugarit Ugaritic alphabet (left to right) Evolution of the alphabet signs ABKLMORT - I, Isma‛ıl Palestinian woman’s village dress, Ramallah, 1880s Special plaque, Pater Noster Church, Mount of Olives, Jerusalem Terraces in Palestine, with invisible Palestinian farmer plowing Palestinian cities embroidered in Arabic calligraphy Wall in the Head Untitled, or How to Be Hanged Alive Cat on Tombstone, Jerusalem Jerusalem cat at the École Biblique, 2009 Cat and Jet ‛Akka in hieroglyphic and Tal el‛Amarneh cuneiform – ‛Aqrun in a Philistine dedicatory inscription Nizam‛Ashour plowing around an olive tree on – a terrace, Al-J ı b, Palestine, 2009

viii

2

3

25 33 51

5

2

5

5

5

8

68 81 89 93 100 117 127

134

137

143 145 158 166 171 173

177 180

202

11.2

11.3

11.4

FIGURES ix

Bethlehem peasant traveling to Jerusalem to sell grapes (1877) Village women selling vegetables and fruits inside Damascus Gate, east Jerusalem, Palestine (2009) The Palestinian village of Deir Samet, Hebron region

203

211 214