Language and Identity

Palestinian-Israeli literature is the literature of a minority that is in a state of political and cultural conflict with the Jewish minority. To be considered legitimate by the Jewish majority, Palestinian-Israeli writers must disguise their political and cultural conflict with the majority culture and refrain from creating literature that is stereotyped or socially engaged. The first chapter examines the rhetorical devices Palestinian-Israeli writers use to convey their emotions and attitudes toward the Jewish majority without expressing these overtly. The second chapter describes the different coherent patterns of Contemporary Hebrew prose and Palestinian-Israeli prose. These differences are demonstrated in the third chapter through a bilingual Palestinian-Israeli author's writing.