Mapping Exile and Return: Palestinian Dispossession and a Political Theology for a Shared Future PDF
Preview Mapping Exile and Return: Palestinian Dispossession and a Political Theology for a Shared Future
Mapping a peaceful and shared future for Palestine and Israel— A l a i n One of the most persistent, if vexing, issues facing not just theology but also political theory, Ep p sociology, and other disciplines, is the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. For theology, the W problem is especially nettlesome on account of the church’s shared history and tradition with e a the Jewish people. Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians, bear the brunt of suffering v e r and dispossession in the current situation, yet are burdened even more by Christian political appropriation of Zionism. Through an analysis of Palestinian refugee mapping practices for returning to their homeland, Alain Epp Weaver takes up the troubled issue of Palestinian dis- possession and argues against the political theology embedded in Zionist cartographic prac- tices that refuse and seek to eliminate evidence of coexistence. Instead, Alain Epp Weaver offers a political theology of redrawing the territory compatible with a binational vision for a shared Palestinian-Israeli future. Praise for Mapping Exile and Return “Maps and trees: good God—is it all about maps and trees? It is about maps and trees if Alain Epp Weaver’s brave and no doubt controversial reading of the Palestinian exile and return is close to M being right. Agree or disagree with Epp Weaver, no one will come away from reading this book A P without a better understanding of the complex relationship between Israel and the Palestinians. P But more important is that Epp Weaver’s philosophical and theological suggestions give one hope. I N I hope this book will be widely read by all sides of these difficult issues.” G Stanley Hauerwas E Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics X I Duke Divinity School L E A “This beautifully conceived and beautifully written book ought to convince many Jews and many N friends of the Jews that we not only need Palestinian aspirations for justice not be a threat to D R Jewish existence but even more, that it is only through the recognition of the claims of Palestinians E and the seeking of justice for Palestine that a worthwhile Jewish existence can be secured for the T future as well.” U R Daniel Boyarin N Hermann P. and Sophia Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture University of California, Berkeley Alain Epp Weaver is the Director for Strategic Planning at the Mennonite Central Committee. He served previously as corepresentative for Palestine, Jordan, Iraq at the Mennonite Central Committee and was a project coordinator in the Gaza Strip. He earned a PhD in theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School and is the author of States of Exile: Visions of Diaspora, Witness, and Return (Herald, 2008). He has edited or coedited six books, including A Table of Sharing (Cascadia, 2011), The Work of Jesus Christ in Anabaptist Perspective (Cascadia, 2008), and Under Vine and Fig Tree: Biblical Theologies of Land and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (Cascadia, 2007), as well as authoring several articles, essays, and chapters in journals and edited publications. RELIGION \ THEOLOGY MAPPING EXILE AND RETURN MAPPING EXILE AND RETURN PALESTINIAN DISPOSSESSION AND A POLITICAL THEOLOGY FOR A SHARED FUTURE ALAIN EPP WEAVER Fortress Press Minneapolis MAPPING EXILE AND RETURN Palestinian Dispossession and a Political Theology for a Shared Future Copyright © 2014 Fortress Press. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Visit http://www.augsburgfortress.org/copyrights/ or write to Permissions, Augsburg Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440. Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989bytheDivisionofChristianEducationoftheNationalCounciloftheChurchesof Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Cover image:Olive Branches and Israeli Separation Barrier © Thinkstock Cover design: Rob Dewey Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Print ISBN:978-1-4514-7012-3 eBook ISBN:978-1-4514-7968-3 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American NationalStandardforInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary Materials, ANSI Z329.48-1984. Manufactured in the U.S.A. This book was produced using PressBooks.com, and PDF rendering was done by PrinceXML. For Sonia K. They scattered us on the wind to every corner of the earth, but they did not eradicate us. –—Fr. (Abuna) Manuel Musallam, Jenin Camp,September 8, 1993 CONTENTS Praise forMapping Exile and Return xi Acknowledgements xiii Note on Transliteration xv Introduction 1 1. “Homecoming Is Out of the Question” 25 Palestinian Refugee Cartography and Edward Said’s View from Exile 2. Reclaiming the Place of Exile for Political Theology 59 3. Kafr Bir‘im, Elias Chacour, and the Arboreal Imagination 91 4. Return Visits to ‘Imwas and the Liturgical Subversion of 127 Ethnocratic Topology Conclusion 163 Index of Names and Subjects 167 ix
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