1948: sixty years after. Vol. 15. No. 1 & 2 2008 Journal of politics, economics and culture

Editorial

# Nakba and Independence
Two Sides of the Same Coin
by Ziad AbuZayyad

# 1948 - Looking Backward, Looking Forward
by Hillel Schenker

Focus
# Commemorating the Nakba
Concurrence on the narrative of 1948 is a starting point towards genuine peace.
by Ahmad Qurei'

# Evaluating the 60 Years: The Half-Full and Half-Empty Glass
Despite its gains, Israel faces political, economic, diplomatic and societal failures.
by Daniel Bar-Tal

# Sixty Years into the Nakba: The Hopelessness of the Times?
The trajectory of the Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories since 1948 to date.
by Bernard Sabella

# The Evolution of Israeli Policy on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Israeli positions have undergone a possibly irreversible evolution.
by Galia Golan

# A Difficult Settlement
Only a just settlement to the conflict will gain legitimacy on the popular level.
by Azmi Bishara

# The United States and Israel at 60 Years
Pro-Israeli sentiment in the U.S. intensified with the second intifada and 9/11.
by Robert David Johnson

# Sixty Years of Israel and the Nakba: A Tale of Siamese Twins!
The Palestinians in Israel must not remain second-class citizens.
by Issam Makhoul

# Solving a 60-Year-Old Conflict
A culture of peace on both sides can be conducive to the resolution of the conflict.
by Ibrahim Bisharat

# Image of the Enemy: 1948-2008
The image of the other in Israeli society has had its ups and downs.
by Hillel Schenker

# Palestinian Contemporary Political Performance: A Bitter Harvest
External and internal factors must be considered in assessing the Palestinian performance.
by Walid Salem

# 1948
We cannot achieve peace without establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
by Uri Avnery

# The Discrimination against Palestinian Refugees Living in Lebanon
Among all the Palestinian refugees, those in Lebanon have the worst conditions.
by Jennifer Ibrahim

# Jerusalem: 1948-2008
Palestinian Jerusalemites: A slow process of displacement, a permanent refugee behavior.
by Riman Barakat

# 1948 - A Memoir
For a Canaanite who fought for liberation, Israel's independence is a broken dream.
by Boas Evron

# Some Personal Recollections: Sixty Years since 1948
Early memories of a Palestinian Jerusalemite refugee in East Jerusalem.
by Bernard Sabella

Interview
# We Must Negotiate until the Last Minute
interview with Rafiq Husseini

Roundtable
# 1948: Independence and the Nakba
Mustafa Abu Sway, Haim Baram, Lucy Nusseibeh and Sarah Ozacky-Lazar. Moderators: Benjamin Pogrund, Robert Terpstra.

Viewpoint
# The Israel Lobby
The lobby's power in U.S. politics limits serious debate on U.S. Middle East policy.
by Stephen Walt

# The U.S. Should Act as an Honest Broker
U.S. support for Israeli policies in the territories has served neither country's interests.
by John J. Mearsheimer

# Syria and Israel in a World of Changing Concepts
A Syrian-Israeli peace may call for an innovative redefinition of time-honored concepts such as sovereignty.
by Ziad AbuZayyad

# The U.S. Has Been Absent without Leave in the Middle East for Seven Years
A two-state deal brokered by the Quartet, not the U.S., must precede a confederation.
by Michael Dukakis

# The Last Chance Saloon
We must seize the opportunity to establish two viable states before it is too late.
by Tony Klug

# A Unilateral Declaration of Independence
Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence could be an example to follow.
by Ahmad Majdalani

# What If There Is No Agreement by the End of This Year?
Only painful decisions on both sides can lead to peace by the end of the year.
by Estephan Salameh

# The Two-State Solution: Old Standby, Perhaps, but Imperative
The alternative to the two-state solution is not one state, but rather no solution.
by Paul Scham

# The Next 60 Years for Palestine
One should look at the root causes of the Palestinian situation, not only the symptoms.
by Mazin Qumsiyeh

# Israel's Peace Offensive
Peace with Syria would change regional dynamics and prevent a clash with Iran.
by Alon Ben-Meir

Book Review
# 1948: The First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris
by Paul Scham

Economics
# The Hidden Treasure of the Palestinian Economy: The Economic Implications of Refugee Compensation
Refugee compensation could bring rapid development and stability to the future state.
by Izhak Schnell

Culture
# Dialogue with Nadine Gordimer, South African Nobel Laureate for Literature
"The Beginning of Finding Solutions Is That Both Sides Have to Talk to One Another"

# Palestinian Culture before the Nakba
There was a vibrant cultural life in Palestine before the Nakba.
by Ibrahim Nasrallah

# Return to Haifa Confronts Holocaust Victims with Palestinian Refugees
by Etty Diamant

# Returning to Haifa
Excerpts from the novella by the prominent Palestinian novelist.
by Ghassan Kanafani

Documents
# The "Citizens' Letter" to the Government of Israel, May 2008

Chronology of Events
# January 1, 2008 to July 1, 2008
Compiled by Najat Hirbawi