Mahmud Ghanayim: The Quest for a Lost Identity: Palestinian Fiction in Israel

The quest for understanding the Palestinian identity has long been at the centre of academic debate. In recent years this quest has begun to include the issue of Palestinian identity in Israel. The Palestinian minority in Israel is a very special case study, since its members were given Israeli identification cards soon after the establishment of Israel in 1948. With time, and especially after the lifting of the military rule under which they were governed until 1966, Palestinian citizens of Israel started to get more involved in Israeli society, economic markets and politics. They were educated in Israeli schools following an Israeli-designed curriculum, and had increasing social interaction with the Israeli society and culture. However, these processes were nevertheless limited. The Palestinians in Israel enjoyed limited integration into Israeli society and market: their say in affecting the public good in Israel was, and still is, minimal …