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Nakba: The Struggle to Decolonise Israel
In 1948 three-quarters of a million Palestinians were expelled from their land and and some 615 villages were destroyed in order to establish the state of Israel. This is known as the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic). It is it is something which was, for a long time, not discussed in Israel. This was, essentially, the front line of a battle against an established colonial narrative which started at the end of the 19th century and which continues to this day. This important book explores the experience of Eitan Bronstein, a leading voice for political change in Israel. How did this young Israeli kibbutznik, once a left-wing Zionist, become a radical anti-Zionist? This account draws together a moving personal story with the unrolling of an epic section of history. It highlights how Israelis see the Nakba and explores their responses to Palestinian insistence on the right of return. In essence, it is a window on Israeli society itself. What emerges is the hope that a new generation of Israelis will free themselves from a collective colonial identity and will conceive of a way of cohabiting on this land legitimately, in a way that will be fair for all.
335 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2023
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November 4, 2025
There are many books about the Nakba. This one is unique in that it is written by Israelis, by a spousal team of two. I am no expert on anything Nakba. In fact, before reading the Bronsteins’s co-authored book, I’d never given much thought to Zionism or the Nakba, beyond journalistic reports of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sure, I'd seen a couple films, kept up to speed on social media, but nothing in-depth, and nothing cutting edge. This book opened my eyes to what social justice can look like in Israel when dedicated activists team up with more and more educated others. Social justice is part of the legacy of Judaism. But the Bronsteins and their like-minded friends and colleagues wish to take this legacy further. Transforming the Israel of today from the military state saturated with a racist Zionist ideology is no cake walk, that's for sure.
Nakba: The Struggle to Decolonize Israel is an in-depth account of first-hand, personal involvement. It began with personal insight and personal change, and it blossomed into the drive to change Israeli society from within. It is written as a dialogue between Eitan Bronstein Aparicio, the founder of Zochrot, an NGO that educates Israelis about the Nakba through research and inventive actions, and his partner, Eleonore Merza Bronstein, a French-born anthropologist of mixed Jewish-Syrian (Circassian) heritage who has joined Eitan in his project, while working in her field.
Quick bio: Eitan Bronstein was born in Argentina and was 5 when his parents exercise the right of return. The family lived and worked on a kibbutz and Eitan grew up Israeli, and proud. He studied Hermeneutics, did his mandatory army service, and became more and more disillusioned with the violence inherent in the Israeli state. After serving in Lebanon in the early 80s, he refused military service. It was in prison that he learned the art of political resistance. Here he created a network of like-minded people, and back in society he became political, and increasingly active, involved in creating dialogue between Israelis from Arab and Jewish backgrounds.
After 10 years of building bridges, he founded Zochrot, with a view to educating Israelis through research, political and social actions, demonstrations and guided tours of destroyed Palestinian towns. Plus the creation of maps to show the reality of who Israel belongs to, to show how Israel's legacy of colonialism strives ever more to erase the Palestinian presence. At one of Zochrot's early political events, he met Eleonore Merza. She joined the movement. And together with many others De-colonizer was born.
By mapping Palestinian villages back into existence, the hundreds of Palestinian villages obliterated by the IDS have found renewed meaning. Some of that meaning is merely theoretical, but Zochrot and De-colonizer's mission is to fight for Palestinians' right to return. They are on a mission to make Israelis remember what successive governments have striven to erase: that the land they are on was taken by force. That, if they would stop acting as if it was solely theirs, they would be better off. That to go back to co-existing with Palestinians would mutually benefit both people.
This book is thought-provoking, rigorous and highly relevant.
A knockout of a book. And more than a book— Zochrot lives outside its pages, in actions, online, in organizing, creating dialogue, in educating and building the foundation for a different culture and a different politics.
Nakba: The Struggle to Decolonize Israel is an in-depth account of first-hand, personal involvement. It began with personal insight and personal change, and it blossomed into the drive to change Israeli society from within. It is written as a dialogue between Eitan Bronstein Aparicio, the founder of Zochrot, an NGO that educates Israelis about the Nakba through research and inventive actions, and his partner, Eleonore Merza Bronstein, a French-born anthropologist of mixed Jewish-Syrian (Circassian) heritage who has joined Eitan in his project, while working in her field.
Quick bio: Eitan Bronstein was born in Argentina and was 5 when his parents exercise the right of return. The family lived and worked on a kibbutz and Eitan grew up Israeli, and proud. He studied Hermeneutics, did his mandatory army service, and became more and more disillusioned with the violence inherent in the Israeli state. After serving in Lebanon in the early 80s, he refused military service. It was in prison that he learned the art of political resistance. Here he created a network of like-minded people, and back in society he became political, and increasingly active, involved in creating dialogue between Israelis from Arab and Jewish backgrounds.
After 10 years of building bridges, he founded Zochrot, with a view to educating Israelis through research, political and social actions, demonstrations and guided tours of destroyed Palestinian towns. Plus the creation of maps to show the reality of who Israel belongs to, to show how Israel's legacy of colonialism strives ever more to erase the Palestinian presence. At one of Zochrot's early political events, he met Eleonore Merza. She joined the movement. And together with many others De-colonizer was born.
By mapping Palestinian villages back into existence, the hundreds of Palestinian villages obliterated by the IDS have found renewed meaning. Some of that meaning is merely theoretical, but Zochrot and De-colonizer's mission is to fight for Palestinians' right to return. They are on a mission to make Israelis remember what successive governments have striven to erase: that the land they are on was taken by force. That, if they would stop acting as if it was solely theirs, they would be better off. That to go back to co-existing with Palestinians would mutually benefit both people.
This book is thought-provoking, rigorous and highly relevant.
A knockout of a book. And more than a book— Zochrot lives outside its pages, in actions, online, in organizing, creating dialogue, in educating and building the foundation for a different culture and a different politics.
Displaying 1 of 1 review