Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation
The IHJR seeks to dispel public myths about historic legacies
in societies divided by ethnic conflict
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Related news: Haifa Historical Memory Project, February 14 to 19, 2010
Case Study of Haifa
Haifa is an excellent example of the clash between history and memory among Palestinian and Jewish Israelis. Most Jewish Israelis and especially the Jewish residents of Haifa, call Haifa “The City of Coexistence”, an image which is being cultivated and propagated by the city government of Haifa. For most Palestinians, however, Haifa is a symbol and icon for the Palestinian Nakhba (disaster). This manifested gap between the Palestinian and the Jewish perceptions of Haifa's history and presence is the point of departure for this project.
The project on Haifa will apply the IHJR model of “shared narrative” to a specific case in which there are currently conflicting historical narratives and public perceptions. There is an extensive body of literature on the historiography of Haifa, based on archival documents, newspapers, memories and biographies, but with few exceptions, Jewish writings on Haifa are based on Hebrew and English documents, while the Palestinians' writings are based on Arabic and English sources.
The project aims to identify commonalities and differences, and to dispel respective myths that plague conversation between the sides both at the level of civil society, and in peace talks.
To reach this aim, the project will facilitate the creation of a joint narrative on Haifa centered around 1948 in the form of a published work, and will involve researchers and historians with expertise on Haifa.
The joint narrative will be based on public and archival information, and will include oral history. It will incorporate scholarship and analysis undertaken by respected Palestinian and Israeli experts and other relevant third party authorities. The publication of the book will be followed by public events. An initial meeting between researchers and historians with expertise on Haifa is being convened in Salzburg in February 2009, followed by a working meeting hosted by the Hamburg Institute for Social Research in August 2009.
Teams are currently researching and writing shared narratives on interactions between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews from socio-historical perspectives.
A selection of topics from the Case Study of Haifa includes:
- Immigration and Exodus – two narratives from Haifa in the late 30’s and 40’s;
- Communities in Times of Crisis, and Narratives of Exodus –Haifa’s mixed neighborhoods, November 1947 – May 1948;
- Remembering the winter of 1950;
- Socio-cultural Change in the Mandate and Post-Mandate Period;
- Production and Marketing of Oil in Haifa during the Mandate Period – competition between the Arab
Recent Activities
Haifa Workshop August 16-21, 2009 at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research, Hamburg
The meeting related to the Case Study of Haifa was held August 16-21 at the Hamburg Institute of Social Research in Hamburg. Continuing with the work begun earlier this year in Salzburg, mixed teams of Palestinian and Israeli scholars with expertise on Haifa worked to discuss, research, and write shared narratives under the topics identified earlier this year. The meeting was convened by Elazar Barkan from the IHJR and hosted by the Hamburg Institute for Social Research.
Haifa Workshop February 16-21, 2009 at the Salzburg Global Seminar, Salzburg
A team of Israeli and Palestinian scholars met to develop a shared narrative that examines the city of Haifa as a multi-ethnic city or symbol of the “Nakba” or disaster. A group of 15 scholars met to discuss the following main themes:
- Re-examination of the Mandate Period
- Re-evaluation of the war of 1948
- Reconstruction of postwar period
Within these topics, participants examined questions including: what is the proper periodization of the developments in Haifa, and how far they coincide with the general periodization of the Jewish-Palestinian conflict? How can the Haifa experience be generalized and how specific was it? Should one try to write a counterfactual history of the city, and how will such a version look like?
During this meeting, groups were formed to write shared narratives on the interactions between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews from socio-historical perspectives.
