Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Israel Trying to Hide Palestinians? - Saree Makdisi November 12, 2009

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Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/09/22/Excavating_Memory_in_Jerusalem

Saree Makdisi, author of Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation, argues that one ulterior motive for Israel's separation barriers is to "render Palestinians invisible to Jewish colonists." Makdisi shows photos demonstrating how Israel attempts to disguise the walls.

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In 2004, construction began in Jerusalem on the local branch of the Los Angeles-based Museum of Tolerance, designed by the leading American architect, Frank Gehry. The museum is now being built over the remains of what had been the largest and most important Muslim cemetery in Palestine, which had been in continual use from the time of the Crusades up until 1948.

The clash between the two competing claims to the same site offers a paradigmatic case to explore and rethink the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, since all of the elements of the larger conflict are also in play in the struggle over this specific site. - Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Professor Saree Makdisi is a professor of English Literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of several books on British Romanticism, his area of expertise. He also writes on contemporary Arab politics and culture.

Makdisi is the nephew of the late Edward Said and the grandson of Anis Makdisi, a distinguished professor of Arabic at the American University of Beirut.

Widely published in his academic area, Makdisi has also written many commentaries on Palestine for publications such as the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, London Review of Books and the San Francisco Chronicle.

In 2008, Makdisi published his book Palestine Inside Out: Everyday Occupation. The book combines the personal experiences of daily life under occupation with an analysis of how the occupation functions as a whole.