Journal Article

Contrasting Narratives of Palestinian Identity

Khalidi, Rashid

2025

Overview

Khalidi argues that Palestinian identity is shaped by uncertain boundaries, overlapping histories, and constant negotiation with others, especially Israel, Arab neighbors, and broader narratives of Arabism, Islam, and Zionism. Rather than being defined solely by territory or chronology, Palestine emerges through relationships with competing \"others,\" as argued by Stuart Hall and Edward Said. Palestinians have experienced unusually intense pulls from transnational, local, familial, and national loyalties because they have never achieved full sovereignty in their homeland. Lacking an independent state, they have been denied consistent control over institutions--education, media, archaeology, and symbols--that typically consolidate national identity. Partial exceptions, such as the PLO's presence in Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority after the 1990s accords, remained non-sovereign and constrained. Palestinians thus resemble other peoples denied self-determination after WWI, notably the Kurds and Armenians, though these groups have since gained more autonomy or statehood. Studying Palestinian identity therefore illuminates processes of nation formation, fragmentation, and contested narratives, both within the Middle East and beyond.

• Publisher: Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales,Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
• Subject: Accords / Anniversaries / Archaeology / Autonomy / Boundaries / Exceptions / identidad palestina / Islam / Kurdish people / Land settlement / Middle Eastern cultural groups / Narrativas contrastantes / Narratives / Nation states / National identity / Palestinian people / Segmentation / Self determination / Sovereignty / Statehood / World War I / Zionism