A Microcosm of Palestine: Witnessing the 1967 Fall of Jerusalem

Abstract

This relative dearth of material is due to a number of obvious and some less obvious factors. 1948 is the marker of transformation in Palestine and the historic moment whose shadow hangs over everything, including scholarship, though the Nakba is an on-going colonial process of which the war in 1967 is a major aspect. For historians, working on the Nakba within the (narrow) lens of 1948 has been a duty of national importance. After all, the mere scope and size of Zionist mythology on the matter has taken decades to counter. If the victor tells the tale, Palestinians have been trying desperately for three generations, and at the very least, to proclaim: we did and do exist here. Within this colonial context it is even more troubling to reflect on Jerusalem in 1967 and think about how the important work of “recording” has taken a back seat relative to our other individual and collective concerns.

Israel-Arab War, 1967 - Jerusalem