Rhythms of Time

Rhythms of Time examines how Palestine lost its past, how it can be reconnected, and why it is important in understanding the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

Rhythms of Time: Reconnecting Palestine's Past looks at how Palestine lost its past, how in can be reconnected and why the past is important for Palestine's present. Palestine’s past is crucial to its future. The way the past is understood has profound implications for the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for the rest of the Middle East. The idea that Israel is reclaiming an ancient state and its capital Jerusalem, as founded by King David, is constantly repeated by Israeli government spokespersons. This claim is also influential in shaping foreign policy in Washington and the European capitals. The past matters because it continues to flow into the present. The book looks at how Palestine's ancient past in the Iron Age has become detached from it history and how it can be understood as part of an integrated history from the ancient past to the present.

Keith W. Whitelam was Professor and Head of Department of Religious Studies at the University of Stirling and later Head of Department and Professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield. Having spent over 30 years in academic life, he took early retirement to continue writing. He has also published The Invention of Ancient Israel: The Silencing of Palestinian History (London, Routledge, 1996), The Emergence of Early Israel in Historical Perspective (with Robert B. Coote; Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, reprinted 2010), along with other specialist works.