Nation and Translation in the Arab World: A Palestinian Perspective

This article discusses the genesis of the Palestinian translation movement and the dynamics of its development as part of the broader translation movement in the Arab World. It argues that the Palestinian translation movement is generally driven by a sense of “nation-ness”(Anderson 1983)that informs the selection (and deselection) of texts for translation. In this context, the promotion of a narrative of Palestinian national identity takes the following forms: translation into Arabic; translation from Arabic into other languages, primarily English; and writing original material in world dominant languages. The relevant initiatives are led by both individuals a institutions, but individual efforts tend to dominate in terms of number and hence are cumulatively more influential in the international arena. In addition, non-translation from Hebrew is an interesting facet of thePalestinian sense of „nation-ness‟, with the few texts translated fromHebrew being selected for their support of the Palestinian national project.Finally, the Palestinian translation movement tends to gain momentum at particularly crucial turning points in Palestinian modern history; specifically, an increase in translation activity is evident during the British mandate as well as after the Nakba.