The historiography of the Palestinian press provides a useful example of both the recent progress made in the study of the broader history of Palestine over the past few decades, as well as continuing difficulties for the field. Recent studies have narrowed their focus to individual newspapers, themes, or selected time periods. I argue that this microhistorical approach should be reconsidered. Because of the overwhelming quantity of published material, this almost exclusive focus on the level of discourse has resulted in a fractured understanding of the Arabic press in Palestine and its role in the broader history. Perhaps more importantly, the focus on discourse has reinforced “1948” as a total rupture, naturalizing this endpoint as the end of Palestinian history. Of course, there are valid structural reasons for this approach; however, this also reflects a failure to move beyond the framework of nationalism, which subjugates history to political events. One possible avenue for future research is to highlight continuities with the period after 1948, by tracing what happened to these individuals and institutions. This paper focuses on scholarship covering the period of 1908-1948, and examines a number of historical accounts in Arabic and English that have attempted to document the role of the Arabic-language press in Palestine. It is essential here to note that the two strains of research, divided by language, have largely not been in conversation with one another. While some researchers publishing in English have occasionally drawn upon the rich Arabic literature, the reverse has occurred even less frequently, leading to a major gap between the two with respect to both focus and methodology. Since the mid-1970s, the Arabic language scholarship focusing specifically on the Palestinian press has mainly followed the pattern set by the fourth and final volume of Philippe de Tarazi’s landmark reference work, Tarikh al-Sihafa al-‘Arabiyya (The History of the Arab Press), published in 1933, resulting in a rich collection of indexes and annotated bibliographies, among other formats, documenting the pre-1948 Palestinian press. The dominant strand of research in Arabic, therefore, is primarily concerned with proving the very existence of the periodicals, and secondarily with documenting their contents. In the meantime, English-language research into the history of Palestinian newspapers has approached the press in the context of the broader political history, particularly by attempting to situate the role of the Palestinian press in the development of Palestinian nationalism prior to 1948.

This article analyzes the influence exerted by the Palestinian diaspora in El Salvador and Honduras during recognition process of the Palestinian State by these two countries in 2011. In 1947 the votes of Latin American countries were instrumental in the approval of Resolution 181 of the UN General Assembly which called for the partition of Palestine. From that year, the Middle East conflict would be increasingly regarded as a cold war confrontation with many countries in the region -aligned with the United States- reaffirming their support for the Zionist project. Thus, Israel found in several Latin American countries some of the most fervent and unconditional defenders of Zionism. However, since the late eighties, there has been a substantial change in the perspective of the Arab–Israeli conflict and an overwhelming majority of Latin American countries have as a consequence recognized Palestine as a State, with support for its membership as an observer State in United Nations. One of the reasons for this shift in the foreign policy of Latin American countries has been the intensive lobbying conducted by the Palestinian National Authority in the region per se. However, this article demonstrates the importance of another factor that has so far received little attention from analysts, i.e. the role of the Palestinian diaspora. In the early twentieth century Latin America welcomed thousands of Palestinian immigrants. In countries like Chile, Honduras and El Salvador, Palestinians prospered significantly and have been integrated successfully into the economic and political elites. The article demonstrates that despite being culturally assimilated into their host countries; Palestinian communities in El Salvador and Honduras have experienced in recent years a rediscovery of their identities and a growing political identification with Palestinian national aspirations. Based on existing documentation and interviews, we conclude that this process of identity rediscovery, together with political and economic influence of the Palestinian elites in these two countries has exerted a decisive influence in transforming a markedly pro-Israeli foreign policy into a direct support of Palestinian national aspirations, which is clearly expressed in the official recognition of the Palestinian State.

Much of the violence that defined The Troubles in Northern Ireland came to an end with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and the paramilitary ceasefire four years earlier. However, the animosity that has divided Unionist and Nationalist communities continues to thrive. This article explores how the appropriation of the Israeli-Palestinian narrative has perpetuated an “us” versus “them” mentality in the post-peace agreement era in Northern Ireland. Efforts made on behalf of the government to promote conflict resolution have shifted the “burden of peace” onto everyday people. Reconciliation is now a “peace from below” project and the people of Northern Ireland have been given that responsibility. A united Northern Ireland is now, more than ever, a struggle for and against the restructuring of identity. Through everyday rhetoric, education, and the urban landscape, the people of Northern Ireland are faced with the condition of humanizing the “other” in order to move towards “peace.” I argue that this restructuring of identity has been greatly influenced by Israeli and Palestinian narratives. I put forward the concept of adopted legitimacy, which is defined as the appropriation of another identity through comparison-making and is done with the intention to legitimate one’s own politics. Other scholars have made useful comparisons between the conflicts in Northern Ireland, Israel, and Palestine by addressing human rights violations, terrorism, and sovereignty. I move beyond comparisons, however, to illustrate that the Israeli-Palestinian struggle has become an important part of the conflict in Northern Ireland itself. I ask two central questions: How pervasive is the Israeli-Palestinian narrative in Northern Ireland? And, what have the people of Northern Ireland gained or lost as a result of the adoption of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?