Books
The history of the Palestinian refugee in Lebanon and elsewhere has been documented by many reputable authors. Below are some notable books that provide a wealth of information on the topic.
Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War
Robert Fisk
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001
With the Israeli-Palestinian crisis reaching wartime levels, where is the latest confrontation between these two old foes leading? Robert Fisk’s explosive Pity the Nation recounts Sharon and Arafat’s first deadly encounter in Lebanon in the early 1980s and explains why the Israel-Palestine relationship seems so intractable. A remarkable combination of war reporting and analysis by an author who has witnessed the carnage of Beirut for twenty-five years, Fisk, the first journalist to whom bin Laden announced his jihad against the U.S., is one of the world’s most fearless and honored foreign correspondents. He spares no one in this saga of the civil war and subsequent Israeli invasion: the PLO, whose thuggish behavior alienated most Lebanese; the various Lebanese factions, whose appalling brutality spared no one; the Syrians, who supported first the Christians and then the Muslims in their attempt to control Lebanon; and the Israelis, who tried to install their own puppets and, with their 1982 invasion, committed massive war crimes of their own.
It includes a moving finale that recounts the travails of Fisk’s friend Terry Anderson who was kidnapped by Hezbollah and spent 2,454 days in captivity. Fully updated to include the Israeli withdrawl from south Lebanon and Ariel Sharon’s electoral victory over Ehud Barak, this edition has sixty pages of new material and a new preface. “Robert Fisk’s enormous book about Lebanon’s desperate travails is one of the most distinguished in recent times.” – Edward Said
Besieged: A Doctor’s Story of Life and Death in Beirut
Chris Giannou
New York Olive Branch Press, 1992
Giannou was the primary surgeon and medical resource for the Shatila camp in Beirut from October 1985 until January 1988. During those 26 months of duty, he performed nearly 700 operations (200 major procedures) under some of the most primitive wartime conditions imaginable. Shatila, “a self-sufficient, isolated community of 3,500 people living in 200 yards by 200 yards, under attack, under siege,” was surrounded by elements of Amal (a Syrian-backed Lebanese faction) for nearly three years. During Giannou’s tour of duty, the camp endured a four-day battle in January 1986, a 20-day battle in April 1986, and an incredible 134 days of nonstop attack that accounted for 765 wounded and 110 dead residents. Besieged is a well-written work that will bring home the horrors that abound when a country unravels: particularly a country beset as Lebanon is with internecine and international warfare. Highly recommended for all collections.
- David P. Snider, Casa Grande P.L., Ariz.
Too Many Enemies: The Palestinian Experience in Lebanon
Rosemary Sayigh
London: Zed Books, 1994
This is the story of the Palestinians living in refugee camps in Lebanon, one of the most vulnerable communities in a country torn apart by armed factions. Drawing on oral history, it presents a compelling portrait of their experience of attack and aggression, air raids, massacres and summary executions, how they organized to defend themselves and how they related to one another during these successive crises.
Rosemary Sayigh explains the origins and history of the refugee camps, the rise of the Amal militia and the Palestinians’ relationship with Syria and with the various Lebanese groups. She makes the complex maze of Lebanese politics intelligible and brings to life a communal experience essential for understanding Palestinian attitudes towards other developments in the region.
Sanctuary and Survival: The PLO in Lebanon
Rex Brynen
Boulder: Westview Press, 1990
Expulsion of the Palestinians
Nur Masalha
Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992 In this meticulous work, based almost entirely on Hebrew archival material, Nur Masalha examines the Zionist concept of “transfer,” or the expulsion of the Palestinian population to neighboring Arab lands. Masalha establishes the extent to which “transfer” was embraced by the highest levels of Zionist leadership, including virtually all the Founding Fathers of the Israeli state.
The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem 1947-1949
Benny Morris
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987 This book is the first full-length study of the birth of the Palestinian refugee problem. Based on recently declassified Israeli, British and American state and party political papers and on hitherto untapped private papers, it traces the stages of the 1947-9 exodus against the backdrop of the first Arab-Israeli war and analyses the varied causes of the flight. The Jewish and Arab decision-making involved, on national and local levels, military and political, is described and explained, as is the crystallisation of Israel’s decision to bar a refugee repatriation. The subsequent fate of the abandoned Arab villages, lands and urban neighbourhoods is examined. The study looks at the international context of the war and the exodus, and describes the political battle over the refugees’ fate, which effectively ended with the deadlock at Lausanne in summer 1949. Throughout the book attempts to describe what happened rather than what successive generations of Israeli and Arab propagandists have said happened, and to explain the motives of the protagonists.
Palestinian Refugees: The Right of Return
Naseer Aruri (Editor)
London: Pluto Press, 2001 With major contributions from a range of international experts, including Edward W. Said, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappe and Alain Grosh, this volume examines the Palestinians’ right of return. Chapters cover the historical roots of the Palestinian refugee question; the rights of the refugees under international law; the special case of Lebanon; Israeli perceptions of the refugee question; the practical feasibility of the return; the role of the United States and the European Community and the Refugee Question; the value of the refugee property; the principles of compensation; and a program for an Independent Rights Campaign.
All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948
Walid Khalidi (Editor)
Washington: Institute for Palestine Studies, 1992
This authoritative reference work describes in detail the more than 400 Palestinian villages destroyed or depopulated during the 1948 war. The body of the text is devoted to the villages themselves: each village entry comprises statistical data and several narrative sections. Field research by former residents and guides is used to pinpoint the precise location of village sites. A wide variety of Arab and Western sources is used to summarize village history before 1948 and to synthesize information about its topography, architecture, institutions and economic activity. Israeli and Arab accounts focus on the military operations that led to the conquest of the village. Entries also contain a description of the current status of the site, including post-1948 Israeli settlements established on confiscated village lands. Several hundred photographs, a number of informative maps and five appendices enhance the text prepared by more than thirty participants over a period of nearly six years.
