A New Critical Approach to the History of Palestine discusses prospects andmethods for a comprehensive, evidence-based history of Palestine with acritical use of recent historical, archaeological and anthropological methods.This history is not an exclusive history but one that is ethnically andculturally inclusive, a history of and for all peoples who have lived in Palestine.After an introductory essay offering a strategy for creating coherenceand continuity from the earliest beginnings to the present, the volume presentstwenty articles from twenty-two contributors, fifteen of whom are ofMiddle Eastern origin or relation.Split thematically into four parts, the volume discusses ideology, nationalidentity and chronology in various historiographies of Palestine, and thelegacy of memory and oral history; the transient character of ethnicity inPalestine and questions regarding the ethical responsibilities of archaeologistsand historians to protect the multi-ethnic cultural heritage of Palestine;landscape and memory, and the values of community archaeology andbio-archaeology; and an exploration of the “ideology of the land” and itsinfluence on Palestine’s history and heritage.The first in a series of books under the auspices of the Palestine Historyand Heritage Project (PaHH), the volume offers a challenging new departurefor writing the history of Palestine and Israel throughout the ages. ANew Critical Approach to the History of Palestine explores the diverse historyof the region against the backdrop of twentieth-century scholarly constructionof the history of Palestine as a history of a Jewish homeland with rootsin an ancient, biblical Israel and examines the implications of this ancientand recent history for archaeology and cultural heritage. The book offers afascinating new perspective for students and academics in the fields of anthropological,political, cultural and biblical history.
