Wannan aiki ya bayyana asalin al'adu da tarihi da Falasdinawa ke rabawa, yana danganta su da dogon tarihin yankin baki ɗaya. Ya dora tarihin Falasɗinu a cikin tarihin zamanin dā, na gargajiya, na bayan gargajiya, na tsakiya, na farko da na zamani na Gabas ta Kusa da Gabashin Bahar Rum. Manufarsa ba ita ce samar da tarihi mai nisa daga rayuwar jama'a ba, sai dai tarihi mai zurfin fahimta da shiga cikin al'amuran zamantakewa, ilimi, al'adu da siyasa. Duk da cewa yana ƙoƙarin rufe dogon zangon tarihi mai faɗi, aikin yana haɗa tambayoyin tarihi daga ƙasa, ƙwaƙwalwar al'umma, asalin al'adu da siyasa.

This work locates the multicultural identity and shared histories of Palestine in a very long history of the whole region. It locates Palestinian history in the ancient, classical, post-classical, medieval, early and modern histories of the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. The intention is not to produce an intellectually detached form of history but rather to offer a socially, intellectually, culturally and politically informed and engaged history. While attempting to cover the vast span of history, this work links questions of history from below, social memory, cultural identity and politics.

Wannan ba labari ne na "tarihin ƙasa" ko kuma labari daga Littafi Mai Tsarki zuwa zamanin yau don al'ummar "Falasdinawa" ba, ko da yake na san sarai ikon tarihi wajen samar da halascin ƙasa/siyasa a yau. "Al'umma" da kishin ƙasa abubuwa ne na zamani da aka ƙirƙira su, kuma ina shakkar amfanin kalmar siyasa kamar "al'umma" a cikin dogon tarihi. Hakika, tsarin "ƙirƙirar ƙasa" da hangen nesa ba a iyakance shi ga Falasdinu ta zamani ko Falasdinawa kaɗai ba. Yana da yawa ga dukkan ƙungiyoyi da ƙasashen zamani, kuma yana da muhimmin sashe na kishin ƙasa da kuma samuwa da dorewar ƙasashe. Gina ƙasa da ƙirƙirar al'ada wani salo ne da aka saba yi a Turai, inda ake amfani da ƙwaƙwalwar al'umma da zaɓi, ta hanyar sarrafa wasu sassan tarihin ƙasa da na addini, boye wasu, da ɗaukaka da tara wasu bisa dalilin aiki da manufar siyasa; don haka ƙwaƙwalwar da aka tara ba lallai ta zama ta gaskiya ba, face dai tana da amfani a siyasance (Said 1999: 6‒7). An yi nazari mai zurfi kan hanyoyi masu gogayya na gina ƙasa da ƙirƙirar tatsuniyoyin kishin ƙasa a ayyukan Benedict Anderson (1991: 6, 11‒12), Eric Hobsbawm (1990; Hobsbawm da Ranger 1996), Anthony Smith (1971, 1984, 1986) da Ernest Gellner (1983). Cikakken binciken Hobsbawm kan gina ƙasa da ƙirƙirar tatsuniyoyi a Turai yana cikin littafinsa Nations and Nationalism since 1780. An buga shi a 1990 da taken ƙasa "Programme, Myth, Reality", aikinsa yana magana ne game da "ƙirƙirar al'ada", samar da al'adun ƙasa, da gina asalin ƙasa daga haɗakar tarihin jama'a da tatsuniyoyin tarihi (Hobsbawm 1990).

This is not a ‘nationalist history’ or a narrative about the Bible to the present for a ‘Palestinian nation’, although I am fully aware of history’s power to create national/political legitimacy in the present. ‘Nation’ and nationalism are modern inventions and constructions and I am highly sceptical about the utility of a political term such as ‘nation’ across a vast sweep of history. Of course, the process of ‘national invention’ and visualisation is not confined to modern Palestine or the Palestinians. It is common to all modern national entities and groupings, and it is an important ingredient both in nationalism and in the creation and maintenance of nation-states. Nation-building and the invention of tradition was a typical European practice of using collective memory selectively by manipulating certain bits of the national and religious past, suppressing others and elevating and mobilising others in an entirely functional way and for political purposes; thus mobilised memory is not necessarily authentic but rather useful politically (Said 1999: 6‒7). Competing modes of modern nation-building and nationalist myth-making have received extensive critical reappraisal in the works of Benedict Anderson (1991: 6, 11‒12), Eric Hobsbawm (1990; Hobsbawm and Ranger 1996), Anthony Smith (1971, 1984, 1986) and Ernest Gellner (1983). Hobsbawm’s most comprehensive analysis of nation-building and myth-making in Europe is found in Nations and Nationalism since 1780. Published in 1990 with the subtitle Programme, Myth, Reality, his work is about the ‘invention of tradition’, the creation of national culture, and the construction of national identities from a mixture of folk history and historical myths (Hobsbawm 1990).

A cikin littafin The Invention of Tradition, Hobsbawm da Terence Ranger (1996: 1‒14, 263‒283) sun binciki yadda hukumomin zamantakewa da siyasa a Turai ta tsakiyar karni na 19 suka fara ƙirƙirar al'adu da ake ɗauka a matsayin na zamanin da, ta hanyar samar da tunanin tarihi da aka ƙirƙira, a matsayin hanyar samar da sabon ma'anar asali ga masu mulki da waɗanda ake mulka.

In The Invention of Tradition Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (1996: 1‒14, 263‒283) explore the way social and political authorities in the Europe of the mid-19th century set about creating supposedly age-old traditions by providing invented memories of the past as a way of creating a new sense of identity for the ruler and ruled.

Sau da yawa, masana Yahudawan Isra'ila masu ra'ayin sassaucin ra'ayi (Sand 2009; Sternhell 1998; Piterberg 2001, 2008; Rabkin 2006, 2010; Ben-Zeev 2014; Greenstein 2014) suna sukar al'adun 'kirkirarren kishin kasa' na Sahyoniyanci da tasirin wannan 'al'adar da aka kirkira' a kan al'ummar Yahudawa, maimakon mayar da hankali kan mummunan sakamakon Sahyoniyanci ga babbar wadda ta fi wahala daga cikinsa, wato 'yan asalin Falasdinu.

Often liberal Israeli Jewish scholars (Sand 2009; Sternhell 1998; Piterberg 2001, 2008; Rabkin 2006, 2010; Ben-Zeev 2014; Greenstein 2014) critique the ‘nationalist inventive’ traditions of Zionism and the impact of this ‘imagined tradition’ on the Jewish people, rather than on the catastrophic consequences of Zionism for its main victim, the indigenous people of Palestine.

Amma saboda wannan gina al'umma ta Zionist da kuma ƙirƙirar al'ada wanda ya zama irin na ayyukan 'kishin ƙasa' na Turai wajen amfani da ƙwaƙwalwar gama-gari, wannan hanyar ilimi tana sanya Zionism cikin al'adun Turai 'na yau da kullum' na ƙirƙirar kishin ƙasa da yin tatsuniya. A zahiri, wannan 'daidaitawa' da 'maida shi na ƙasa' da ake yi wa Zionism shi ne ainihin abin da masu akidar Zionist koyaushe ke bayarwa hujja da shi. Haka kuma, waɗannan dabarun yin tatsuniya na Zionism ba su ma kai ga mafi munin ɓangarorinsa ba. Sabanin haka, karanta Zionism daga ƙasa, daga mahangar babbar wadda ta fi shan wahala a kanta, watau 'yan asalin Falasɗinu, yana sanya Zionism cikin wata al'ada daban gaba ɗaya: cikin rundunonin mulkin mallakar mazauna na Turawan zamani, tsarkake ƙabilanci, kisan ƙwaƙwalwar al'umma da kisan kare-dangi na al'ada (Masalha 1992, 2012; Pappe 2006; Rashed et al. 2014).

But since this Zionist nation-building and the invention of tradition was typical of European ‘nationalist’ practices of using collective memory, this scholarly approach places Zionism among the ‘normal’ European traditions of nationalist invention and myth-making. In effect this ‘normalisation’ and ‘nationalisation’ of Zionism is exactly what Zionist ideologues have always argued for. Also, these myth-making strategies of Zionism are hardly its worst aspects. By contrast, reading Zionism from below, from the viewpoint of its main victim, the indigenous people of Palestine, places Zionism within an altogether different tradition: among the forces of modern European settler-colonisation, ethnic cleansing memoricide and cultural genocide (Masalha 1992, 2012; Pappe 2006; Rashed et al. 2014).

Bugu da ƙari, kamar yadda na bayyana a cikin *The Bible and Zionism: Invented Traditions, Archaeology and Post-Colonialism in Palestine-Israel* (2007) da *The Zionist Bible: Biblical Precedent, Colonialism and the Erasure of Memory* (2013), tarihin Falasɗinawa a matsayin tarihin mutane ya kamata a rubuta shi ba tare da dogaro da labaran Tsohon Alkawari ba. Waɗannan ayyuka sun kuma yi bayani kan yadda Zionism ya yi ƙoƙarin tabbatar da ayyukan mamayarsa da "da'awar tarihinsa" ta hanyar amfani da kuma cin zarafin nassin Littafi Mai Tsarki. Wannan jigo kuma Keith Whitelam ya binciko shi a cikin babban aikinsa, *The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History* (1996). Wannan littafi ba an tsara shi don sake duba wannan fage ko gina kan kyakkyawan aikin Whitelam da kuma yadda ya karyata "ci gaban tarihi" daga Littafi Mai Tsarki zuwa samun 'yancin kai ga Isra'ila ba. Maimakon haka, yana nufin ci gaba ta hanyar dawo da tarihin Falasɗinu da kuma ba da labarinsa gaba ɗaya ba tare da muhawarar Littafi Mai Tsarki da ilimin Littafi Mai Tsarki ba. Haka kuma, duk da cewa yana bayar da hujjar cewa tarihin Falasɗinu mai sarƙaƙiya yana da tushe mai zurfi a Gabas ta Tsakiya ta dā da yankin Gabashin Bahar Rum, ba a nan ake ƙoƙarin kwaikwayon da'awar Zionism ta tarihin Falasɗinu mai tsayi, "wanda bai katse ba" kuma mai tsafta ba.

Furthermore, as I have argued in The Bible and Zionism: Invented Traditions, Archaeology and Post-Colonialism in Palestine-Israel (2007) and The Zionist Bible: Biblical Precedent, Colonialism and the Erasure of Memory (2013), Palestinian history as people’s history can and should only be written independent of the Old Testament stories. These works have also addressed the ways in which Zionism attempted to validate its colonisation projects and its own ‘historical claims’ through extensive uses and abuses of the biblical text. This theme has also been explored in Keith Whitelam’s seminal work, The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History (1996). This book is not designed to revisit that ground or build on Whitelam’s excellent work and his effective dismantling of a Bible-to-independence ‘historical continuum’ for Israel. It rather seeks to move forward by recovering and narrating a history of Palestine completely independent of the biblical debates and the biblical scholarship. Furthermore, while arguing that the complex history of Palestine is deeply grounded in the ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean, there is no attempt here to mimic the Zionist claims of a long, ‘unbroken’ and neat history of Palestine.

Akasin haka, kamar yadda wannan littafi zai nuna, gadon Falasdinu mai matakai da yawa tarihi ne na salo gauraye da al'adu masu karo da juna; tarihi cike da karkacewa da juyi, na tunawa da mantawa, da danniya da farfadowa.

On the contrary, as this volume will demonstrate, the multi-layered heritage of Palestine is a history of mixed styles and contradictory traditions; a history full of twist and turns, of memory and forgetfulness, and of suppression and recovery.