Der Spiegel interviews Lila Abu-Lughod on her and Ahmad Sa’di’s new book Nakba:
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The Nakba and the founding of the State of Israel can’t be separated from one another. What does this mean for relations between Israelis and Palestinians today?
Abu-Lughod: Palestinians and Israelis are tightly entangled. Any resolution must involve a recognition of the fact that Israel was founded on the expulsion of Palestinians. Then we can think and talk together about restitution, redress, compensation, or whatever it takes for a more just way forward. In Israel and Palestine we have an amazing opportunity — to think about changing history by considering a democratic state with a living future for everyone.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: In your book you point out that the children of those Palestinians who lived through the Nakba and the children of the Jews who were persecuted in Europe and made it to Israel both have to deal with the traumatic experiences of their parents.
Abu-Lughod: My colleague Ahmad Sa’di, who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel and has both studied the history and been subjected to the painful reality of living in a state based on race, writes in our book, “Nakba,” about the terrible irony of a people who had suffered so much becoming the perpetrators of violence.