Shay Hazkani

Shay Hazkani is a historian of the modern Middle East, with a particular interest in the social and cultural history of Palestine/Israel, and Middle Eastern Jews. In his research and teaching he focuses on the interactions between elites and non-elites, and how ideas which emanate from elites and state institutions were transformed and subverted as they make their way to the reflections and conduct of ordinary people.

His book, Dear Palestine: A Social History of the 1948 War published April 2021 by Stanford University Press, recasts the 1948 war in Palestine through a socio-cultural history of the conflict’s ordinary actors and its transnational reverberations. The book draws on never-before-used personal letters in Arabic and Hebrew which challenge the war accounts of politicians and generals, whose words continue to shape histories of the conflict. Dear Palestine shows that the stories ordinary people told themselves about the war were far more diverse and complex than the nationalist fervor and unquestioning loyalty to the cause usually imputed to them. The book is forthcoming in Hebrew, and a documentary based on its research, “The Soldier’s Opinion,” premiered in the Jerusalem Film Festival in 2022.

Dr. Hazkani has been involved in various struggles over archival declassification policies in Israel. In 2019, he petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court together with the Association for Civil Rights, to compel the Israeli domestic intelligence service, the Shin Bet, to open its archives to the public. Prior to his academic career, Shay worked as a journalist covering the West Bank and Israeli military.