Pappé 3-Pack

Includes:

The Historical Context of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Israel says there is no need for explanations as to why Hamas attacked on October 7, 2023. Pappé challenges that point of view. Without historical contextualization, the issues are not only incomprehensible but also make people vulnerable to propaganda. For decades, corporate media coverage has been lopsided in Israel’s favor. Israelis are humanized. Palestinians are demonized. The Israel–Palestine conflict didn’t start on October 7^th, nor did it start with the 1917 Balfour Declaration or with 1967, when Israel occupied Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights, or in 1948 when the state of Israel was declared. Roots of the conflict began in 1882, when the first Zionist settlers arrived in Palestine.

Myths of Israel

A myth is a story passed down through generations that attempts to explain the origins of something. The foundational myth of Israel was “a land without people for a people without a land.” That myth had profound consequences that reverberate today. There were people there - the Palestinians. Such myths are characteristic of settler colonial societies such as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S. Sure there were a few primitive savages but they had to give way to superior beings. John Kennedy famously said: “We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier. The pioneers gave up their safety, their comfort, and sometimes their lives to build our new west.” Kennedy did not mention the great Indigenous nations that were slaughtered by the colonizers. We must deconstruct the myths and reveal the realities behind them. Recorded at Socialism 2024.

Gaza in Context

Gaza’s 2 million plus Palestinians are jam-packed in a small narrow enclave bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt and Israel. Since 2007 it has been ruled by Hamas. Hamas is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic Resistance Movement. Israel immediately imposed a blockade. Since then, Gaza has routinely been called the world’s largest open-air prison. Its air, land and sea routes are controlled by Israel. On October 7^th, Hamas attacked Israel resulting in over 1,100 Israelis dead and the taking of several hundred hostages. Israel, with one of the world’s most advanced militaries, responded. Today, Gaza is in ruins. Palestinians have been killed and wounded in the tens of thousands. It has become, the UN says, “a graveyard.” How did this catastrophic situation develop? How did Gaza become Gaza?

Speaker

Ilan Pappé

Ilan Pappé has been called “the most original, radical and hard-hitting of Israel’s ‘new historians.'” He taught at the University of Haifa and was chair of the Touma Institute for Palestinian and Israeli Studies in Haifa. Currently, he is a professor of history at the University of Exeter in England. He is the author of many books, including The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Gaza in Crisis, On Palestine with Noam Chomsky, Lobbying for Zionism, Ten Myths About Israel, Israel On the Brink, and A Very Short History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict.