Zu Beiden Seiten der Mauer

by Ilan Pappé (editor)

Across the Wall arose from a unique collaboration between scholars from Israel and the Palestinian territories, seeking to arrive at a shared framework for studying the history of this troubled land. Ilan Pappé and Jamil Hilal, top academics in Israel and Palestine respectively, bring historians from both sides of the wall together for dialogue on history, identity, and the meaning of the conflict.  In the volume, they argue persuasively for the concept of a 'bridging narrative', a historiographical discourse which can accommodate seemingly incompatible national meta-narratives. Proceeding from this innovative theoretical framework, Across the Wall then goes on to offer critical examinations of some of the most contested issues in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the 1948 Nakba, the 1967 war, the occupation, and the formation of the PLO. The result is a radical new take on the history of Israel/Palestine which transcends the biases inherent in both countries’ national narratives and points towards a new model for the historiography of conflicts.

Genres: History

595 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Ilan Pappé is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK, director of the university's European Centre for Palestine Studies, co-director of the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies, and political activist. He was formerly a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Haifa (1984–2007) and chair of the Emil Touma Institute for Palestinian and Israeli Studies in Haifa (2000–2008).

Pappé is one of Israel's "New Historians" who, since the release of pertinent British and Israeli government documents in the early 1980s, have been rewriting the history of Israel's creation in 1948, and the corresponding expulsion or flight of 700,000 Palestinians in the same year. He has written that the expulsions were not decided on an ad hoc basis, as other historians have argued, but constituted the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, in accordance with Plan Dalet, drawn up in 1947 by Israel's future leaders. He blames the creation of Israel for the lack of peace in the Middle East, arguing that Zionism is more dangerous than Islamic militancy, and has called for an international boycott of Israeli academics.

His work has been both supported and criticized by other historians. Before he left Israel in 2008, he had been condemned in the Knesset, Israel's parliament; a minister of education had called for him to be sacked; his photograph had appeared in a newspaper at the centre of a target; and he had received several death threats.