Library Guides: Palestine Studies: Historical context

Bibliographies and handbooks

Reference sources like these will guide you through the recent scholarly thinking on a topic and then point you to related primary and secondary sources.

Oxford Bibliographies Online This link opens in a new window
Regularly updated annotated bibliographies. University of Chicago Library subscribes to many sections of Oxford Bibliographies Online such as African Studies, Anthropology, Art History, Atlantic History, Buddhism, Childhood Studies, Chinese Studies, Cinema and Media Studies, Classics, Environmental Science, Geography, International Law, International Relations, Islamic Studies, Latin American Studies, Medieval Studies, Military History, Music, Political Science, Renaissance and Reformation, Social Work, and Sociology.
Oxford Handbooks Online This link opens in a new window
Search all articles in all Handbooks regardless of whether or not the Library has purchased access to the electronic edition. If you need an article that is locked (abstract access only), try searching for the title of the handbook in the Library Catalog for a print copy.
Cambridge Histories Online This link opens in a new window
This unique historical reference compendium allows instant access to the renowned texts of the Cambridge Histories series. With access to the most up to date and authoritative scholarly content, Cambridge Histories Online is an invaluable resource, for undergraduates, graduates, lecturers and researchers alike.

All the available volumes are grouped into topics, making it quick and easy to search and browse through an array of historical subject areas. The extensive bibliographic referencing and other leading functionality, enhances usability and makes this resource ideal for any type of historical research.

WikiProject Palestine!
Includes information not found in most published reference sources. We recommend verifying information found here.

Encyclopedias, guides and maps

Palestine Studies is a highly interdisciplinary area of study. The following titles are examples of the kinds of specialized reference sources available for background and contextual research.

Compromising Palestine : a guide to final status negotiations
Klieman, Aaron S. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
Encyclopædia Palestinnica
Ghūshah, Muḥammad Hāshim Mūsá Dāwūd. Amman: The Encyclopaedia Palestinnica Foundation, 2018.
Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question
Camille Mansour, editor in chief, with support from the Institute for Palestine Studies and the Palestinian Museum.
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"Conceived by the Institute for Palestine Studies as part of a joint project with the Palestinian Museum, the Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question traces the history of modern Palestine, from the end of the Ottoman era to the present."
Mawsūʻat al-qaṣāʼid al-mukhtārah min al-shiʻr al-Filasṭīnī al-ḥadīth = Encyclopedia of selected modern Palestinian poems
Kittānī, Yāsīn, Fahd Abū Khaḍrah, Fārūq Muwāsī, ʻĀyidah Faḥmāwī, Rīmā Abū Jābir, Sāʼidah Abū al-Ṣaghīr, and Akādīmīyat al-Qāsimī Majmaʻ al-Qāsimī lil-Lughah al-ʻArabīyah. al-Ṭabʻah al-ūlá. Ḥayfā : Bāqah al-Gharbīyah: Maktabat Kull Shayʼ, 2014.
Palestine and the Palestinians : a social and political history
Farsoun, Samih K., and Naseer Hasan Aruri. 2nd edition. Boulder: Westview Press, 2006.
Palestine and the Palestinians in the 21st century
Davis, Rochelle, Mimi Kirk, and Gabriel Piterberg. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013.
Routledge handbook of state recognition
Visoka, Gëzim, John Doyle, and Edward Newman. New York: Routledge, 2020.
Subject search for "Palestine--Maps" @UChicago Library
Physical maps of Palestine, produced primarily by colonial powers.

Introductions to History & Theory

Forgotten Palestinians : a history of the Palestinians in Israel
Pappé, Ilan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2011.
History and politics of the Bedouin: reimagining nomadism in modern Palestine
Assi, Seraj. New York: Routledge, 2018.
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: a history of settler colonialism and resistance, 1917-2017
Khalidi, Rashid. New York: Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, 2020.
The Israel-Palestine Conflict: A History. 4th edition. Online
Gelvin, James L. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
The Palestine Chronology
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"Explore the day-to-day political and military events surrounding the Palestine Question, from 1982 to the present." Produced by the Institute for Palestine Studies.
Shī'īs in Palestine : from the medieval golden age until the present
Friedman, Yaron. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
Social justice and Israel/Palestine : foundational and contemporary debates
Hahn Tapper, Aaron J., and Mira Sucharov. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019.

Readings and Resources

Suggested Reading List on Palestine/Israel
Compiled by Kioumars Ghereghlou, Curator for Middle East Collections at Stanford University Library

Surveys & Papers

B'Tselem
Catalog search for reports published by B'Tselem

Global Think Tanks This link opens in a new window
Global Think Tanks indexes and links to more than 3.4 million reports, working papers, policy briefs, data sources, and media drawn from a curated directory of more than 24,000 think tanks, including IGOs, NGOs, and research centers across the globe. Delivered on the Policy Commons Platform, Global Think Tanks currently provides full text coverage of more than 8,500 organizations and includes more than 55,000 rescued reports from over 500 inactive organizations.
HeinOnline: Foreign Relations of the United States This link opens in a new window
Official US diplomatic record. 1861-present. Some coverage of more recent declassified docs from foreign affairs agencies.

Human Rights Watch
Catalog search for reports on Palestinians by Human Rights Watch
United Nations
Catalog search for reports and studies authored by the U.N.

Oral Histories

50 Stories of Palestinians Under Occupation
A project by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory
Homeland : oral histories of Palestine and Palestinians
Lynd, Staughton, Alice Lynd, and Sam Bahour. New York: Olive Branch Press, 1994.
Palestinian Oral History Archive
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"The Palestinian Oral History Archive is a project to digitize, index, catalog, preserve, and provide access (through a searchable digital platform) to an archival collection of around 1,000 hours of testimonies with first generation Palestinians and other Palestinian communities in Lebanon. POHA documents the life stories of Palestinians residing in refugee camps and different communities in Lebanon. The Archive's main focus is personal accounts surrounding the Nakba, a defining moment in Palestinian history and collective experience. Furthermore, the collection contains life narratives of the pre-Nakba period in pre-1948 Palestine, folktales and songs, as well as stories of the women in Ein el-Helwe camp after its destruction in 1982."
Palestinians in Syria : Nakba Memories of Shattered Communities
Al-Hardan, Anaheed. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2016.
Soraida: A Woman of Palestine
Abed Hussein, Soraida, New York, NY: Women Make Movies, 2004. (VHS)