------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Tue, 16 Mar 1999 12:13:16 +0200
Subject:       For moderation - from BADIL: New Book on Jerusalem 1948
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BADIL & IJS Announce Publication of New Book

JERUSALEM 1948 - THE ARAB NEIGHBORHOODS AND THEIR FATE IN THE WAR

For Immediate Release
16 March ~1999
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BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights and the 
Institute for Jerusalem Studies (IJS) announce the publication of a new book,
JERUSALEM 1948 - THE ARAB NEIGHBORHOODS AND THEIR FATE IN THE WAR.  
This joint project was launched four years ago to study the events which 
transformed the western parts of Jerusalem into a Jewish city as well as the 
fate of the Palestinian communities evicted in this process. 
JERUSALEM 1948 is an attempt to provide a reconstruction of this process of 
displacement and expulsion and to account for the fate of Arab Palestinians who 
lost not only their property and homes, but also a whole world that exemplified 
Jerusalem and Palestine before 1948.

JERUSALEM 1948 addresses in detail the atmosphere that preceded the war, and the 
military operations that accompanied the dislocation of the Palestinian Arab 
communities from the Western suburbs and villages, as well as the relocation of 
the inhabitants of the Jewish quarter to Israeli-held territory. It also 
addresses the question of land loss and property claims in light of the findings 
of the Palestine Conciliation Commission. 

The introduction to Jerusalem 1948 concludes:

"Since many exiles continue to live either in the annexed Eastern part of the 
city, or in its immediate vicinity-their claims for the return of their property 
(and residence) are particularly poignant since Israel has already established 
(and expanded several folds) Jewish private residencies in the old city (Jewish 
Quarter), in Silwan, Ras al-Amud, Neve Ya'coub, Atarot, Abu Tor, etc.-all areas 
in which Jews had some property and residence claims before 1948-and in more 
than a dozen newly established colonies in areas where no Jewish claims existed 
before. Palestinian claims for their properties in the Western city (and its 
rural hinterland) are fully substantiated, both in records derived from the land 
registry (whether in Tabu or land tax records), as well as in the records of the 
Palestine Conciliation Commission discussed here. The fact that Israel continues 
to claim the city to be united and indivisible, subject to the same 
administrative laws of the state, makes these claims all too obvious, and their 
denial equally ludicrous."

Jerusalem 1948 includes photos and maps (304 pages).  The book can be ordered 
from BADIL Resource Center in Bethlehem.  Please send your order to: BADIL 
Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights, PO Box 728, 
Bethlehem, Palestine.  Email: [log in to unmask] or 
Fax: 972-2-274-7346 or 277-7086.
For additional information on this book, please check our website: www.badil.org



Sharon Westlake
Refugee Studies Programme
Queen Elizabeth House
21 St Giles
Oxford, OX1 3LA, UK

T: 44 (0)1865 270722
F: 44 (0)1865 270721


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