A Lunchtime Conversation

In a lunchtime conversation with Jewish Studies faculty member Professor Caroline Kahlenberg, Dr. Shay Hazkani spoke about his book, Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War (2021). Dr. Hazkani's book offers a new history of the 1948 war through the examination of hundreds of personal letters by Jewish, Palestinian, and Arab volunteers who fought in the war, or became its victims. It also examines previously unexplored propaganda, disseminated by Israel and Arab states during the war. In so doing, Dear Palestine offers two narratives—the official and unofficial, the propaganda and the personal letters—to flesh out the fissures between sanctioned nationalism and individual identity.

This event took place in-person in McLeod Hall 1004, as well as over Zoom.

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Shay Hazkani is an Assistant Professor of History and Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research and teaching focuses on social and cultural history of Palestine/Israel, and Middle Eastern Jews. He is the author of Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War (Stanford University Press, 2021). Shay received his PhD in History and Judaic studies from New York University, his Master’s in Arab Studies from Georgetown University, and his BA in Middle Eastern Studies from Tel Aviv University. He has been involved in various struggles over archival declassification policies in Israel. In 2019, he petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court together with the Association for Civil Rights, to compel the Israeli domestic intelligence service, the Shin Bet, to open its archives to the public. Prior to his academic career, Shay worked as a journalist covering the West Bank and Israeli military.