NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS AND TRANSLITERATIONS

This book is intended for specialist and nonspecialist readers alike. The text follows modified versions of the 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/ (‘ in both languages) and alif/ 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 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