The Israeli-Palestinian area is a plural region that cannot be solely reduced to the dual Israeli Jewish or Arab Palestinian identities.
It is a rich region which is sadly remembered for the endless war between the Palestinians and the Israeli authorities. Though many influences were said to have had an impact culturally on the region, the minorities found in these spaces are barely mentioned. Israel is home to communities of Armenians, Gypsy Roma people, Vietnamese-Israelis, and many more; however, it is the black African heritage of the region which remains ignored.
Indeed, Israel sits on the African tectonic plate. Along with the other nations of the Levant, the space is at the crossroads between Africa and Asia.
The African Lineages of Modern Black Israelis And Black Palestinians: Southern Israel, Jerusalem, West Bank was written about the unknown and ignored black groups found in Israel and in Palestine today. Their presence in the region questions the legitimacy of the simplistic political dual vision one has regarding the policy of identity. On the Israeli Jewish side, issues related to authentic Jewishness are at the core of Zionist thought. The question of authenticity is also at the center of the pro-Palestinian movement. Yet, the variety of these black groups reveal another problematic. Depending on the lineage they belong to, these Africans unconsciously remind people of a past when the settlement in Canaan was plural and varied, as individuals could not be placed in one stock only.
Their existence also highlights the lost African presence in the region, which has now become almost invisible.
The book focuses on the lineages of black Israelis and black Palestinians regarding their black African heritage. The case of the Ethiopian Jews will not be mentioned here as this work is about the Black Jeruralemites, the black Bedouins from southern Israel, the black Gazawis and Africans found in the West Bank, along with the particular black African community found in Dimona, southern Israel.
This book is a work of remembrance, since colonialism crushed the memory, the status, and the heritage of these groups, as few truly remember where their ancestors came from.
It is also a book of celebration and appreciation for the diversity of the African experience in the region. A great portion of this book is the synthesis of oral history shared by members of the community as well.
Victoria "V.K.Y"Kabeya is a Belgian-French historian and researcher. She was born in 1991, and writes about the black populations in the Middle East.