Coping with the Nakba: The Palestinians in Israel and the "Future Vision" as a Collective Agenda

Abstract

In December 2006, a group of politicians and intellectuals published the Future of the Palestinian Arabs in a document that attracted national and international interest and elicited a wide variety of responses across the political spectrum. The document can be defined as a historic event in the history of Palestinians in Israel. This is the first time a representative national body of Palestinians in Israel has prepared and published a document that describes both the existing situation and the changes that are needed across a broad spectrum of their lives. The document was written by activists from all political leanings among the Palestinian community in Israel, and delineates the achievements necessary for defining the future relationship between the majority and the minority in the State of Israel. This article analyzes the background of this document and argues that the notion of a Future Vision for Palestinians in Israel functions as a way for the community to cope with the fallout of the Palestinian Nakba in 1948 and their exclusion from the Palestinian National Movement as well as their exclusion from the Peace Talks between the PLO and Israel, following the signing of the Oslo Declaration in 1993.1