University of Texas Press, December 2024. ISBN: 9781477330418. 382 pages.

THE MODERN ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN DIASPORAS: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH

Exilic and diasporic experiences have become ubiquitous in recent decades. Jews, lacking a homeland, spread to various parts of the world, making the Jewish diaspora paradigmatic. But after the establishment of Israel in 1948, a different kind of diaspora emerged, as more than a tenth of Israeli citizens have chosen to leave their newly established state and resettle. Meanwhile, about half of all Palestinians, including Palestinian citizens of Israel, now reside in exile, predominantly as a result of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Recognizing that Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian-Arab societies coexist and are engaged in constant relations, Nahum Karlinsky has assembled an impressive array of contributors to explore these diasporas alongside one another and in dialogue with other diasporic communities. The collected essays cover such topics as Palestinian exiles and diasporas, the demographics of today’s Israeli diaspora, immigrant enterprises, transnationalism and development, the unique place of Israeli Jews in the United States, the literature of Palestinian transnationals, and the emergence of Berlin as a queer Israeli-Jewish immigrant enclave.

The Modern Israeli and Palestinian Diasporas challenges and reimagines the very notion of a homeland.

Nahum Karlinsky is a visiting associate professor at Boston University and former faculty member at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.