On the sides of the road and in the margins of consciousness - Noga Kadman
The displacement of the Arab villages emptied in 1948 from the Israeli discourse- Lifta, Tantura, Kastina and hundreds of other Arab villages, from thier hundreds of thousands inhabitants, who fled or were expelled. Israel prevented the return of the refugees to their homes, destroyed most of their villages, expropriated their property, and used their lands - and sometimes even their homes - to settle Jews.
The book discusses the additional complementary aspects of dispossession and destruction - the displacement of empty villages to the margins of Israeli discourse. The book also deals with the disappearance from the landscape- erasing or transcribing the names of the villages, the removing and blurring of their identity on the map and the circumstances of their uprooting of information provided on tourist sites that were built on half of the villages, and Jewish settlements built on about a quarter of the villages. All these are systematically examined based on tours of village sites and a variety of official sources.
The book points to the Judaization ideology that underlies the erasure, an ideology whose results are evident both in the demography and in the space of the country, and in the consciousness of its citizens. The return of the empty villages to the consciousness of the Israelis is seen essential first step in a genuine confrontation with the roots of the conflict in the present and to paving the way for future reconciliation.
"Kadman's research is pioneering and important ... She explores a fascinating geographical, political and psychological phenomenon that illuminates the mechanisms through which ethnic space is erased and replaced by another." Prof. Oren Yiftachel, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
"'On the sides of the Road and on the Margins of Consciousness' is a first-rate cultural event ... It is one of those precious cases in which academic action is a vital step in the culture surrounding it." Ariel Hirschfeld, Ha'aretz, 19.12.2008.
Also in the book:
List of 418 villages that were wiped out and details about them.
A map of the country that marks the villages.
Photographs of destroyed village sites today.
A survey of signs in JNF woods and national parks.
Excerpts from the discussions of the Government Names Committee and the publications of Kibbutzim and Moshavim.