Ilan Pappe Lecture

The same day we had the small-group discussion with Dr. Pappe he gave a more formal lecture here at ISU. For most people not totally familiar with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict it was surely a valuable talk. I was personally pleased he focused on 1905-1948 instead of the usual emphasis on the post-1967 period in explaining the roots of the conflict. As someone who is familiar with and admires Pappe's work, I was also familiar with the framing and approach to the topic. But his closing points what were really struck me, which are as follows:

1) Zionism was and is, at its very core, a colonialist project. There can be no peace without the full decolonization of Palestine and the history of this colonization must be addressed. (I don't agree with this. There are plenty of advocates for coexistence in the form of something much less than "decolonization")

2) It is time everyone acknowledges that the Palestinian issue did not start in 1967. Far too many people are concerned with the Six-Day War and approach the conflict as if nothing relevant happened before 1967. According to Pappe, "All violent acts within the conflict relate to 1948." (An overly simplistic quote, but I agree with the gist of this point)

3) The paradigm of parity and placing mutual blame on both the Israelis and Palestinians that is so prominent amongst the political elites must be eliminated, as it has absolutely nothing to do with the reality of the situation. That is, the responsibilities are not as shared as the (predominantly) western discourse portrays. The very real paradigm is simply that of the colonized and the colonizers.
Interestingly, Pappe argues that the responsibility for changing that paradigm lies with the Unites States. This assertion, in my view, is especially relevant considering Thomas Friedman's ridiculously stupid op-ed from the NYT this week in which he alludes to the US essentially abandoning the peace process because we seem to be the only ones actually interested in peace and changing the status quo. Friedman's sentiments represents this disconnect between the political elites and reality. Surely both Netanyahu and his government, along with Abbas, Dalan, and the rest of the collaborationist regime have no problem with the status quo of the occupation. But I challenge Friedman and anyone else who agrees with him to talk to any Palestinian and ask them if they have in interest in attaining peace. To think that a single Palestinian (excluding those within the collaborationist regime) would say they like things the way they are now or have no interest in peace is beyond absurd and exemplifies this disconnect from reality. To have people like Pappe countering this idea is extremely important, lest people actually believe Palestinians are even remotely complacent under occupation or largely share the interests of the PA leadership. So Thomas Friedman: please quit pretending you know anything about the Middle East, especially the Palestinian situation. Your oversimplifications are hurting more than they're helping.