The podcast delves into the true narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, shifting focus from 1967 to 1948. It challenges the Western narrative of Israeli colonization and addresses the Palestinian refugee problem. Historian Benny Morris discusses the strategic groundwork of the Zionist movement, Arab refusals, and the impact of Muslim rulers over 1400 years. The podcast explores the UN partition plan, Jewish defense strategies, the displacement of Palestinian refugees, and the events leading to Israel's Declaration of Independence.
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insights INSIGHT
Root of the Conflict
The 1967 Six-Day War is often mistakenly seen as the root of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Palestinian narrative centers on 1948, claiming Jews colonized Palestine and ethnically cleansed Arabs.
insights INSIGHT
Jewish History in the Region
Jewish presence in the region dates back 3,000 years, including periods of sovereignty and exile.
Romans conquered the area, leading to a gradual Jewish exodus.
insights INSIGHT
Palestinian Identity
Before World War I, Palestinian Arabs primarily identified with local areas, not a distinct national identity.
Their collective identity as "Palestinians" emerged later, influenced by growing Arab nationalism.
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PART 1 of 2
For more than 30 years of ‘on again-off again’ peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, many Israelis, and certainly most interested observers in the West, looked to the 1967 Six-Day War as the root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If only we could reverse the results of that defensive war in which Israel conquered the West Bank and Gaza, the problem would be solved, so the narrative goes. And this served as the basis for all peace talks and agreements that have taken place since.
But, to anyone willing to listen, the story that Palestinian leaders were telling had nothing to do with 1967, and everything to do with 1948. And the story they tell goes something like this: ‘In the 1940s Jews escaped the Nazis, fled Europe, colonized Palestine, and unprovoked - ethnically cleansed the Arabs. A textbook case of settler colonialism.’
They have managed to propagate this false narrative throughout much of Western society, where millions are mindlessly chanting those six words - ‘from the river to the sea.’
So while we never thought we’d need to re-litigate this topic, we invited to the podcast (for a special two-part discussion) one of the quintessential historians of 1948 - Benny Morris. Professor Morris has dedicated his entire career to studying and writing about the war of 1948, the circumstances that led to it and its aftermath - i.e The Palestinian Refugee Problem.
Morris's first book was “The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949”. His other books include: “1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War”, and “Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881-2001”. He completed his undergraduate studies in history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and received a doctorate in modern European history from the University of Cambridge.
Links to all of Benny Morris’s books can be found here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Benny%20morris
His recent published essays can be found here: https://quillette.com/author/benny-morris/?gad_source=1
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