Theft of the Nakba Narrative - Left Curve

Is this a direct admission of Israel’s colonization of
Palestine? Probably only as a civilized veneer. The late
researcher Sara Hinski claims that the Kadima text is not
a critical text, as it may seem above, but a direct extension
of the Zionist colonial policy itself. Hinski says:
“The use of the term ‘Orientalism’ as was coined by
Edward Said, and as adopted by Tzalmona, in the context
of Israeli art, forces Tzalmona to admit implicitly
Art project 2:
Palestinian Art by Gannit Ankori
Publisher: Reaktion Books,
London, 2006.
The second project is
Palestinian Art, the book of
Gannit Ankori, Hebrew
University’s Art History
department chair.
Palestinian historian and
artist Kamal Boullata
recently claimed that
Ankori plagiarized the first
three chapters of her book
from his writings. Ankori v.
Boullata (2006) is not just a
legal case concerning this
plagiarism, but it is first
and foremost a case of the
appropriation of the
Palestinian voice, mainly the Nakba narrative, told to the
world from a Zionist Orientalist perspective. In this way,
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that the Israeli cultural-political space forms a culturalcolonial
web of links [...] Although Kadima flaunts its
critical maneuver of exposing and deconstructing Israeli
Orientalism, the exhibition itself operates as a typical
Orientalist representation [...]. The exhibit dialectically
and cunningly deploys the idea of colonialism: it reasserts
the Western-ness of the spectator, without hurting
his moral base.”
Ankori and scholars like her in Israeli academia portray
themselves as the courageous few Don Quixotes, fighting
the windmills of Zionism. Ankori masquerades the
book as a pro-Palestinian radical text. In the wake of this
case, the Association of Fine Artists of Palestine issued a
statement entitled: “They Do Not Only Steal Our Land,
But Also Our Blood, Sweat and Tears.” They affirmed
that the first three chapters of Ankori book are plagiarized,
and thus break basic academic ethical rules. They
continue: “We must realize that such insidious practices
are perpetuated by some Israeli researchers, who appoint
themselves to speak for Palestinians, claiming they can
only be understood in the context of colonialist framework.
At the same time, Israeli authorities are continuing
to seize the remaining lands in our country, and burying
its actual history in the process.” In 2007 Ankori
received the Polonski Award for creativity and innovation
in the field of humanities for this book.
Examples of Israeli Academics Appropriating the Nakba Story (Three Books):
While conducting my research I have encountered a
flood of Israeli academic publications that tell the Nakba
story, directly or indirectly. Many of them are Ph.D. or
MA dissertations. This organized and massive occupa-
Batya Disenchik in
“Maskit” Fashion show:
Dress, Gaza
embroidery on cotton,
the 70s.
Fashion design:
Penny Litersdorf
Embroidery design:
Marie-Therese Kagan
Loaned by Ruth Dayan
• • •
• • •
tion of the subject precludes Palestinian researchers from
writing their own dissertations on the Nakba.
I will discuss three books that have recently been
issued by the Israeli academic presses:
The first book: Maskit: A Local Fabric, 2003. Editor:
Batia Doner. Publisher: Eretz Yisrael Museum, Hebrew
and English. This book tells the history of Maskit.
Maskit was a textile company founded by Ruth
Dayan, wife of Moshe Dayan, IDF commander-in-chief
during the 1967 ethnic cleansing of Palestine and an
extensive collector of Palestinian local archaeological
artifacts, against UN conventions. Maskit employed the
Jews that Ashkenazi Zionists transferred to Palestine
from Arab and Muslim countries, as well as indigenous
Palestinians skilled in producing crafts from their own
heritage to produce folkoloric, expensive high fashion.
Maskit distributed Palestinian traditional embroidery
and Kufiya dresses all over the world, marketing
them as works of ancient Jewish heritage. It flourished
when the Zionists completed the 1967 occupation of all
of historic Palestine. Dayan’s assistant described this
occupation as a gold mine.
Doner is keen to add Sara Hinski’s writings to her
bibliography, usurping their contents in the process.