Israel’s Founding in Words: Israeli Speeches at the UN and the Palestinian Refugee Crisis

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: The state of Israel was founded on May 14, 1948. For those who had fought for the creation of a Jewish state, 1948 represented a triumph after centuries of Jewish experiences of oppression, displacement, and most recently, genocide. However, in most Palestinian narratives, Israel’s founding is called the Nakba, or ‘catastrophe,’ due to the resulting displacement of around 700,000 Palestinians and the creation of an ongoing refugee issue. This thesis seeks to understand how the Israeli collective memory of 1948 was communicated politically in the early years of Israeli statehood. In particular, the thesis examines how Israeli leaders portrayed the refugee crisis to the international community through speeches to United Nations General Assembly. I examine the speeches of Golda Meir and Abba Eban, two important orators and politicians in Israel’s early history. In doing so, this thesis will examine the formation of narratives to describe the outset of the Palestinian refugee crisis still in use today.

Type of resource	text
Date created	2018

Author	Goldblum, Zoe
Primary advisor	Zipperstein, Steven
Degree granting institution	Stanford University, Program in International Relations

Subject	Program in International Relations
Subject	Collective Memory
Subject	Abba Eban
Subject	Golda Meir
Genre	Thesis

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/nw827jb5927

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License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

Preferred Citation: Goldblum, Zoe. (2018). Israel’s Founding in Words: Israeli Speeches at the UN and the Palestinian Refugee Crisis. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/nw827jb5927

Stanford University, Program in International Relations, Honors Theses

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