Masalha, Nur. The Politics of Denial: Israel and the Palestinian refugee Problem

Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), Summer, 2004

Masalha, Nur. The Politics of Denial: Israel and the Palestinian refugee Problem. London, U.K.: Pluto Press, 2004. Paper $24.95.

The book is meticulously documented and demonstrates the way in which "transfer" is deeply embedded in Zionist ideology and its racist colonial roots. The Zionist project, its maintenance and development rest on an essential need to deny the existence of the Palestinian people and deny responsibility for creating the 1948 refugees. Masalha debunks those myths by showing how the land was cleared of the indigenous population. Plan Dalet served as a blueprint to expel Palestinians from Lydda and Ramie, Deir Yassin, Almajdal, the Negev and the Galilee. Masalha also discusses the contributions of the Israeli "New Historians" and their shortcomings. He takes issue with Benny Morris and clearly exposes his racist Zionist ideology that led him to incomplete or false conclusions about the refugee problem.

Masalha not only discusses Israeli 1948 resettlement plans and attempts to reintegrate refugees in the West Bank and Gaza, which proved to be difficult, but he also examines the lack of seriousness the Israeli "approaches" to restitution of property and compensation. From 1948-1956 Israeli governments refused to admit to any responsibility for monetary compensation to the Palestinian refugees.

The "Present Absentees," the internally displaced Palestinians are a live example of Israeli cruelty. Land confiscation, a repressive military administration and a state of emergency that has not been lifted completely show the threat that Zionism as a movement perceives in the "Present Absentees." Masalha also discusses the 1967 transfer of refugees. Expulsions, transfer to Jordan, and secret transfers to South America all show the machinations of Israel in trying to rid itself of the refugee problem.

In the negotiations that took place since Madrid 1991, Israeli policy remained essentially unchanged: it rejected any responsibility to the creation of the refugee problem and the "right of return." The Israeli position remained firm in asking for the resettlement of the refugees in the Arab countries. In the Declaration of Principles (DoP), the Palestinian negotiators failed to link the refugee problem to the UNGA Resolution 194 and in further negotiations diluted the essence of that resolution, making Israeli maneuvers so much easier to perform.

Masalha is of the opinion that Israel's acknowledgement of its role in creating the refugee problem is "a precondition for genuine negotiations and reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis and the achievement of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East" (p. 266).