Avi Shlaim on teaching the Arab-Israeli conflict
JVL Introduction
A fascinating interview and splendid introduction to the work of Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford, which we repost with permission.
Best known for his revisionist writings on Israel’s history from the 1980s onwards, in particular his book The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World, Avi Shlaim is a towering figure in the field.
Here in conversation with Wesam Hassan he ranges widely, reflecting on the study of international relations, the writing of history, and-Zionism and the weaponisation of antisemitism, the Arab Spring, possible solutions to the conflict and much else besides, particularly about his identity as an Arab Jew.
It includes how his thinking has evolved from regarding Israel as legitimate to seeing that the “distinction between Israel proper and the occupied territories is no longer tenable. The whole area under Israel’s rule is an apartheid regime, a Jewish supremacist regime.”
This article was originally published by the Oxford Middle East Review on Mon 24 Jan 2022. Read the original here.
On Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Conversation with Professor Avi Shlaim
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Bang goes my thoughts about ” 2 State” solution….just will not work !
One of the most interesting and incisive accounts of the Palestine / Israel conflicts I have read for a long time. Avi Schlaim is to be congratulated for such an authoritative, clear and concise overview of the current and historical aspects of the conflict.
Brilliant & Clear.
Tremendously clear and cogent explanations of ideas and developments of analyses from Prof. Shlaim. Proof too of the inaccuracy of the sociological truism that the ageing process involves a movement to the right and an adoption of conservative ways of thinking.
His very measured and calm unwrapping of the anti-Semitism tactic and his frank dismissal of the two-state mythology are object lessons in facing up to the ways that simple, frequently parroted distortions still serve to stymy us in the UK.
Thank you so much for this excellent article, it has clarified much of the history of this conflict for me.
I always welcome Avi’s clarity of argument. Not sure about his ‘two milestones’ analysis but I’ll definitely be reading his forthcoming new book.
Three bombs aimed at the Jewish community in Baghdad prompted a mass exodus of Iraqi Jews to Israel. Bombs which were later proved to have been the work of Zionist agents. David Hirst in his brilliant book The Gun and the Olive Branch talks about the despair of prosperous Iraqi Jews who were reduced to second class citizens in Israel. This song was sung by many in the Fifties
What did you do, Ben Gurion?
You smuggled in all of us!
Because of the past, we waived our citizenship
and came here to Israel.
Would that we had come riding on a donkey and we
Hadn’t arrived here yet!
Woe, what a black hour it was!
To hell with the plane that brought us here!
Thank you so much for that!
The state of Israel is a racist endeavour, the most self evident truth.