NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS AND TRANSLITERATIONS
This book is intended for specialist and nonspecialist readers alike. The text follows modified versions of the Arabic and Hebrew transliteration systems ac- cording to the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (IJMES) and the Library of Congress, respectively. I have eliminated all diacriticals and long- vowel markers except for the ayn/ayin (‘ in both languages) and alif/aleph with hamza (’). Names with common English spellings (for example, Gamal Abdel Nasser) are preserved as such. The spelling of place names in Israel and Palestine requires more delibera- tion, both because of the differences between Modern Standard Arabic and local pronunciations, and because in many cases choosing between the Arabic and Hebrew is a political act. With the occasional exception when I offer both spellings, I have used common English renderings for well-known places such as Acre, Nazareth, Jerusalem, and Beersheba. For the spelling of Palestinian vil- lages and towns that appear frequently in the text or in an oral interview, I have used the colloquial form. Thus Rama becomes Rame, ‘Arraba becomes ‘Arrabe, and Shafa ‘Amru becomes Shafa ‘Amr. In transcribing interviews I also spell the Arabic word for “mother,” Umm, as Imm (as in Imm Mahmud ). Some of the authors cited publish in two or more languages. I have deferred to the spell- ings they have chosen for their English-language publications (such as Elias Shoufani and Emile Habibi) but have maintained the IJMES system for the works they have published in Arabic (such as Ilyas Shufani and Imil Habibi). On occasion, Arabic- or Hebrew-language books include an official English translation in their front matter. Otherwise, and unless noted, all translations are my own. For the sake of brevity, I have translated but not transliterated ar- ticle titles from the Arabic- and Hebrew-language press. Because the rules for Arabic and Hebrew differ, I have used the same capitalization style (only the first word of a headline) for both languages.
xi