What do you think?
Rate this book
عشر خرافات عن إسرائيل
What are the myths--and reality--behind the state of Israel?
Ilan Pappe is one of the most outspoken and radical thinkers writing on the history of Israel. In this groundbreaking and controversial book he examines ten of the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel. Once and for all he explodes the myths that justify the rights of the Israeli state, asking,
- Was Palestine an empty land at the time of the Balfour Declaration?
- Were the Jews a people without a land?
- Is there no difference between Zionism and Judaism?
- Is Zionism not a colonial project of occupation?
- Did the Palestinians leave their homeland voluntarily in 1948?
- Was the June 1967 War a war of -no choice-?
- Is Israel the only democracy in the Middle East?
- Were the failed Oslo negotiations of 1992 the PLO's fault?
- Was it a question of national security to bomb Gaza?
- Is the Two States Solution still achievable?
Written for the general reader, this book will prompt a huge, and necessary, debate.
Ilan Pappe is one of the most outspoken and radical thinkers writing on the history of Israel. In this groundbreaking and controversial book he examines ten of the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel. Once and for all he explodes the myths that justify the rights of the Israeli state, asking,
- Was Palestine an empty land at the time of the Balfour Declaration?
- Were the Jews a people without a land?
- Is there no difference between Zionism and Judaism?
- Is Zionism not a colonial project of occupation?
- Did the Palestinians leave their homeland voluntarily in 1948?
- Was the June 1967 War a war of -no choice-?
- Is Israel the only democracy in the Middle East?
- Were the failed Oslo negotiations of 1992 the PLO's fault?
- Was it a question of national security to bomb Gaza?
- Is the Two States Solution still achievable?
Written for the general reader, this book will prompt a huge, and necessary, debate.
232 pages, Paperback
First published May 2, 2017
About the author
Ilan Pappé
76 books1,312 followersIlan 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.
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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 697 reviews
July 12, 2018
This is a short book but dense, like a black hole from which no light can escape. These ten myths have been, according to Ilan Pappe, promoted and repeated so often they have been accepted as facts, and he intends to disprove each one of them. The ten myths are divided into FALLACIES OF THE PAST (6 of those), FALLACIES OF THE PRESENT (3 of those) and LOOKING AHEAD (one final myth). I could understand the myths of the past reasonably well, but I got lost in the present and baffled by the future. Pretty much like everyone else, then.
We will start with the easy stuff. You’ve heard of the slogan “a land without people for a people without land”. It was coined not by Zionists but by Christians in the mid 19th century - the type of prophecy-minded Christians who wanted to see the Jews re-established in Palestine so that the Last Days and the Second Coming and so forth could happen. The prophecies required the Jews to return first. Later the Zionists took up the slogan. It breaks down into two myths :
1. Palestine was an Empty Land.
Well, of course, it wasn’t. The theory in the 19th & early 20th centuries was that the Ottoman empire had neglected Palestine and the land was turning back into desert and the population dwindling away. Pappe flatly contradicts this and claims a proto-Palestinian identity was being formed just prior to the first Zionist settlements. Anyway, this was obviously a myth.
2. The Jews were a People without Land.
Pappe gets all bogged down here. Were “the Jews” one people? Well – they thought they were! But really, did they share the same DNA with those who were kicked out of Palestine by the Romans in the first century? Well, who could possibly know? Were there a whole lot of non-Zionist Jews? Sure. Pappe could easily have reframed this as : were the Jews an identifiable people who did not have their own nation state? And could hardly have answered “no they weren’t”. In this sense, of course, the Jews were no more hard done to politically than all the other submerged nations of the world (Kurds, Catalans, Sikhs, Uigars, the list is a long one). For me, then, this myth was not obviously a myth.
3. Zionism is Judaism.
Meaning : Jews are Zionists. Pappe here investigates the strong Jewish opposition to Zionism. These anti-Zionists said that Zionisn would only exacerbate the pogroms and antisemitism in the various European countries, for example, by calling into question Jewish patriotism to their current countries. Anyhow, with all radical ideas, I was not surprised to find it was profoundly controversial. Pappe never convinced me that the majority of Jews have sought to equate Zionism with Judaism.
4. Zionism is not Colonialism.
Pappe unfortunately does not indicate how or by whom these ten myths are promoted. I can’t believe anyone would be able to straight-facedly say that Zionism was not a form of colonialism. The Jewish settlers displaced the original population – one way or another – just as the European settlers displaced the native populations of north and south America, Australia and New Zealand. Okay, there is an argument based on religion which says that the Palestinian people, in fact, were the colonists, because they took over when the Jews were ejected by the Romans. And the land really belongs to the Jews, because the Bible says so. Just as the Bible says that the Jews were given permission by God to take over Palestine (the Biblical land of Canaan) from its aboriginal inhabitants. (See the Book of Judges if you want to read the gruesome details.)
What the Bible confirms is that the Jewish people were always temporary and uncertain occupants of this land.
5. The Palestinians Voluntarily Left their Homeland in 1948.
Pappe says :
The official Israeli line has not changed for years : the Palestinians became refugees because their leaders, and the leaders of the Arab world, told them to leave Palestine before the Arab armies invaded and kicked out the Jews, after which they could then return. But there was no such call – it is a myth invented by the Israeli foreign ministry
Pappe plunges into massively contentious stuff here (okay, the WHOLE BOOK is contentious, I know) when he says
half of those who became refugees – hundreds of thousands of Palestinians – had been expelled before the war had even commenced. Moreover, I claim that the war was initiated by Israel in order to secure the historical opportunity to expel the Palestinians.
7. Israel is the Only Democracy in the Middle East.
A curious chapter. He does not talk about voters, political choice or fair and transparent elections at all. He talks about the crushing of the Palestinian people’s human rights, and says that no society can be called a democracy which tolerates such abuses. I can’t agree with that. Yes, these abuses are real and terrible. But what about the USA and UK carrying out an invasion of Iraq without UN sanction? That’s pretty serious. Could be called anti-democratic, in Pappe’s sense. Leading to the question – are there any actual real democracies at all? (The answer is probably Sweden, it always is.)
Three of these myths were really complicated, too much for this review (the 1967 War, the Oslo Accords, the Gaza Strip) leaving one last one –
10. The Two States Solution is the Only Way Forward.
He ends the book on a completely gloomy note. The Two States solution, he says, means what the South African apartheid system used to call bantustans – it would be disconnected enclaves of territory set aside for the Palestinian people with no real political rights attached. I.e. the non-Israeli state in the two states solution would not really be a state. He makes no mention of any alternative.
I was trying to enlighten myself a little bit about this whole subject but as usual feel like I got my head caught in a cement mixer.
We will start with the easy stuff. You’ve heard of the slogan “a land without people for a people without land”. It was coined not by Zionists but by Christians in the mid 19th century - the type of prophecy-minded Christians who wanted to see the Jews re-established in Palestine so that the Last Days and the Second Coming and so forth could happen. The prophecies required the Jews to return first. Later the Zionists took up the slogan. It breaks down into two myths :
1. Palestine was an Empty Land.
Well, of course, it wasn’t. The theory in the 19th & early 20th centuries was that the Ottoman empire had neglected Palestine and the land was turning back into desert and the population dwindling away. Pappe flatly contradicts this and claims a proto-Palestinian identity was being formed just prior to the first Zionist settlements. Anyway, this was obviously a myth.
2. The Jews were a People without Land.
Pappe gets all bogged down here. Were “the Jews” one people? Well – they thought they were! But really, did they share the same DNA with those who were kicked out of Palestine by the Romans in the first century? Well, who could possibly know? Were there a whole lot of non-Zionist Jews? Sure. Pappe could easily have reframed this as : were the Jews an identifiable people who did not have their own nation state? And could hardly have answered “no they weren’t”. In this sense, of course, the Jews were no more hard done to politically than all the other submerged nations of the world (Kurds, Catalans, Sikhs, Uigars, the list is a long one). For me, then, this myth was not obviously a myth.
3. Zionism is Judaism.
Meaning : Jews are Zionists. Pappe here investigates the strong Jewish opposition to Zionism. These anti-Zionists said that Zionisn would only exacerbate the pogroms and antisemitism in the various European countries, for example, by calling into question Jewish patriotism to their current countries. Anyhow, with all radical ideas, I was not surprised to find it was profoundly controversial. Pappe never convinced me that the majority of Jews have sought to equate Zionism with Judaism.
4. Zionism is not Colonialism.
Pappe unfortunately does not indicate how or by whom these ten myths are promoted. I can’t believe anyone would be able to straight-facedly say that Zionism was not a form of colonialism. The Jewish settlers displaced the original population – one way or another – just as the European settlers displaced the native populations of north and south America, Australia and New Zealand. Okay, there is an argument based on religion which says that the Palestinian people, in fact, were the colonists, because they took over when the Jews were ejected by the Romans. And the land really belongs to the Jews, because the Bible says so. Just as the Bible says that the Jews were given permission by God to take over Palestine (the Biblical land of Canaan) from its aboriginal inhabitants. (See the Book of Judges if you want to read the gruesome details.)
What the Bible confirms is that the Jewish people were always temporary and uncertain occupants of this land.
5. The Palestinians Voluntarily Left their Homeland in 1948.
Pappe says :
The official Israeli line has not changed for years : the Palestinians became refugees because their leaders, and the leaders of the Arab world, told them to leave Palestine before the Arab armies invaded and kicked out the Jews, after which they could then return. But there was no such call – it is a myth invented by the Israeli foreign ministry
Pappe plunges into massively contentious stuff here (okay, the WHOLE BOOK is contentious, I know) when he says
half of those who became refugees – hundreds of thousands of Palestinians – had been expelled before the war had even commenced. Moreover, I claim that the war was initiated by Israel in order to secure the historical opportunity to expel the Palestinians.
7. Israel is the Only Democracy in the Middle East.
A curious chapter. He does not talk about voters, political choice or fair and transparent elections at all. He talks about the crushing of the Palestinian people’s human rights, and says that no society can be called a democracy which tolerates such abuses. I can’t agree with that. Yes, these abuses are real and terrible. But what about the USA and UK carrying out an invasion of Iraq without UN sanction? That’s pretty serious. Could be called anti-democratic, in Pappe’s sense. Leading to the question – are there any actual real democracies at all? (The answer is probably Sweden, it always is.)
Three of these myths were really complicated, too much for this review (the 1967 War, the Oslo Accords, the Gaza Strip) leaving one last one –
10. The Two States Solution is the Only Way Forward.
He ends the book on a completely gloomy note. The Two States solution, he says, means what the South African apartheid system used to call bantustans – it would be disconnected enclaves of territory set aside for the Palestinian people with no real political rights attached. I.e. the non-Israeli state in the two states solution would not really be a state. He makes no mention of any alternative.
I was trying to enlighten myself a little bit about this whole subject but as usual feel like I got my head caught in a cement mixer.
February 19, 2020
كتاب عظيم!! ينهال فيه إيلان پاپيه (المؤرخ الاسرائيلي المولود بحيفا المحتلة) على عشر أساطير تأسست عليها دولة الاحتلال الصهيوني، و تكررها النخب السياسية والعسكرية و الأكاديمية و وسائل إعلام الصهيونية العالمية على مدار الساعة للتلاعب بالرأي العام، فيهشّمها واحدة تلو الأخرى بأدلة من كتابات المؤسسين الأوائل للحركة الصهيونية و مراسلات الدبلوماسيين الإنكليز في الشام نهايات القرن التاسع عشر إلى غاية كتابات المورخين الجدد اليهود -الذين يُعتبر إيلان واحدا من أشهرهم- ليفضح الجرائم و يصحح التصورات و يصدح بما يراه حقا.
والكاتب بفضل تخصصه وكونه ابن البيئة أبدع في إحراج تلك الأساطير و تبيان زورها و عدم قدرتها على الصمود أمام ال��قائق التي يرصفها تباعا كلما ب��ط أسطورة للنقاش..
و قد قسم ايلان الكتاب إلى عشر أبواب هي:
*أكاذيب ومغالطات الماضي*
1- فلسطين كانت أرضا بلا شعب
2- اليهود كانوا شعبا بلا أرض
3- الصهيونية هي اليهودية
4-الصهيونية ليست مشروعا احتلاليا استيطانيا
5- غادر الفلسطينيون أراضيهم طوعا سنة 1948
6- حرب 1967 كانت "حربا لابد منها"
*أكاذيب ومغالطات الحاضر*
7- إسرائيل هي الديمقراطية الوحيدة في الشرق الأوسط.
8- أساطير أوسلو
9- أساطير حول غزة
*أكاذيب ومغالطات المستقبل*
10- حل الدولتين هو المخرج الوحيد للقضية.
الكتاب أنصح به بشدّة، خصوصاً لضرب الصهاينة الجدد على وجوههم -هذا أولا-، ثم للشرقيين او الغربيين الذين لا يعرفون القضية إلا من خلال وسائل الإعلام الخاضعة لتأثير اللوبيات الصهيونية إن لم تكن مملوكة لها.. بل و حتى لمن يعرفون القضية و يناضلون من أجلها..
باختصار هو كتاب يجب أن يكون في كل مكتبة..
التقييم: 4.5/5
#قد أترجم بعض الاقتباسات و أضيفها لاحقا
والكاتب بفضل تخصصه وكونه ابن البيئة أبدع في إحراج تلك الأساطير و تبيان زورها و عدم قدرتها على الصمود أمام ال��قائق التي يرصفها تباعا كلما ب��ط أسطورة للنقاش..
و قد قسم ايلان الكتاب إلى عشر أبواب هي:
*أكاذيب ومغالطات الماضي*
1- فلسطين كانت أرضا بلا شعب
2- اليهود كانوا شعبا بلا أرض
3- الصهيونية هي اليهودية
4-الصهيونية ليست مشروعا احتلاليا استيطانيا
5- غادر الفلسطينيون أراضيهم طوعا سنة 1948
6- حرب 1967 كانت "حربا لابد منها"
*أكاذيب ومغالطات الحاضر*
7- إسرائيل هي الديمقراطية الوحيدة في الشرق الأوسط.
8- أساطير أوسلو
9- أساطير حول غزة
*أكاذيب ومغالطات المستقبل*
10- حل الدولتين هو المخرج الوحيد للقضية.
الكتاب أنصح به بشدّة، خصوصاً لضرب الصهاينة الجدد على وجوههم -هذا أولا-، ثم للشرقيين او الغربيين الذين لا يعرفون القضية إلا من خلال وسائل الإعلام الخاضعة لتأثير اللوبيات الصهيونية إن لم تكن مملوكة لها.. بل و حتى لمن يعرفون القضية و يناضلون من أجلها..
باختصار هو كتاب يجب أن يكون في كل مكتبة..
التقييم: 4.5/5
#قد أترجم بعض الاقتباسات و أضيفها لاحقا
April 6, 2019
“History lies at the core of every conflict. A true and unbiased understanding of the past offers the possibility of peace. The distortion or manipulation of history, in contrast, will only sow disaster.”.
What an amazing book!
Maybe it is the best book I’ve read so far that tackled the Palestinian issue.
In this book, the most important and widespread myths about Israel were uncovered, and the counter arguments were masterly illustrated. And it is important to notice that the author of this book is not a Palestinian or an Arab. He is an Israeli historian, and he knows what he’s talking about.
I found so many passages that deserve quoting, and I highlighted them all. And I think it’s a shame that such a wonderful book is not translated yet into Arabic. I think everyone MUST read it.
This wouldn’t be the only book I read for Ilan Pappe. This year I must read most of his books. Last night I watched some of his interviews and debates, and I loved him even more.
“History lies at the core of every conflict. A true and unbiased understanding of the past offers the possibility of peace. The distortion or manipulation of history, in contrast, will only sow disaster.”.
What an amazing book!
Maybe it is the best book I’ve read so far that tackled the Palestinian issue.
In this book, the most important and widespread myths about Israel were uncovered, and the counter arguments were masterly illustrated. And it is important to notice that the author of this book is not a Palestinian or an Arab. He is an Israeli historian, and he knows what he’s talking about.
I found so many passages that deserve quoting, and I highlighted them all. And I think it’s a shame that such a wonderful book is not translated yet into Arabic. I think everyone MUST read it.
This wouldn’t be the only book I read for Ilan Pappe. This year I must read most of his books. Last night I watched some of his interviews and debates, and I loved him even more.
February 4, 2024
عند سؤالي عن ترشيحات لكتب عن القضية الفلسطينية يكون ايلان بابيه من اوائل ما أرشح
كاتب شفاف وصادق والمبهر في الأمر أنه اسرائيلي
يكشف في هذا الكتاب كل الأكاذيب وحقيقتها
هذا الكتاب اوفي وكفي ...
كاتب شفاف وصادق والمبهر في الأمر أنه اسرائيلي
يكشف في هذا الكتاب كل الأكاذيب وحقيقتها
هذا الكتاب اوفي وكفي ...
March 5, 2024
ده غلط مشهور درباره اسرائیل ، کتابی ایست از ایلان پایه ، نویسنده و مورخ اسرائیلی . او در این کتاب کوشیده ده دروغی را که بسیاربه دست رسانه ها تکرار و در مذاکرات مختلف به آنها استناد شده و حتی مورد پذیرش دولت های گوناگون هم قرار گرفته اند را شرح دهد . این جعل تاریخی انجام شده که هم ریشه و هم هویت رژیم اسرائیل را شامل شده است بارها و بارها به کمک اسرائیل آمده و به آن مشروعیتی را که در اصل فاقد آن بوده ، بخشیده است . مشروعیتی زینتی ، تقلبی و مصنوعی
به صورت کلی شاید بتوان دروغ های ذکر شده را به سه دسته تاریخ و روایت ، هویت و ایدئولوژی و مناقشه کنونی و راه حل تقسیم کرد ، اما شاید تقسیم بندی آن ها با معیار زمان یعنی ، دروغ هایی که گذشته را در بر می گیرند ، افسانه های مربوط به حال و دروغ های مربوط به آینده درست تر باشد .
از میان این دروغ ها و افسانه ها دسته اول ، یعنی تاریخ و روایت را می توان از آن رو که هویت و اساس اسرائیل را هدف قرار داده اند از مابقی مهمتر دانست . این افسانه ها : فلسطین یک سرزمین خالی بود ، یهودی ها مردمی بدون سرزمین بودند ، صهیونیسم همان یهودیت است ، صهیونیسم استعمارگری نیست ، فلسطینی ها در سال 1948 داوطلبانه وطنشان را ترک کردند و جنگ ژوئن 1967 تنها گزینه و یک انتخاب اجباری بود را شامل می شوند .
تکرار مکرر این افسانه ها و سپس پذیرش آن سبب نقض مکرر حقوق میلونها فلسطینی ساکن و سپس آواره شدن و محروم شدن آن ها از تقریبا کلیه حقوق انسانی خود و در مراحل بعدی حتی مانند مجوزی برای قتل و عام آنها بوده و از طرفی دیگر به اسرائیلی ها دست برتر در همه موارد داده است .
بخش دوم یا افسانه های حال شامل فصلهای اسراییل تنها دموکراسی خاورمیانه است ، افسانه هایی درباره توافقنامه اسلو و افسانه هایی در باره غزه است . در سالهای اخیر شاید پذیرش دموکراسی در اسرائیل با چالش های بسیار جدی روبرو شده ، به خصوص پس از قانون دولت – ملت که اسرائیل را منحصرا یک کشور یهودی و حق تعیین سرنوشت آنان را یهودیان و زبان رسمی را تنها عبری می داند . در حقیقت اسرائیل مانند آفریقای جنوبی زمان آپارتاید است که رسما شهروندان خود را به درجه یک و دو تقسیم کرده .
پایه نظر مساعدی در مورد پیمان اسلو و نخست وزیر میانه رو اسرائیل در آن زمان ، یعنی اسحاق رابین هم ندارد ، به نظر نویسنده ، این پیمان افزون بر این که دست آورد چندانی هم برای فلسطینی ها نداشت توافق اسلو را هیچگاه به دنبال صلح واقعی ندانسته و هدف اصلی آن را تثبیت اشغالگری اسرائیل بر سرزمین های فلسطینی می داند . او هم چنین توافق اسلورا به جای ایجاد شراکت واقعی بین اسرائیل و فلسطینیان، به نوعی رابطه ارباب-رعیتی بین دو طرف می داند .
پایه معتقد است که با وجود کنفرانس ها و پیمان های متعدد صلح ، اسرائیل اصولا خواهان صلح واقعی نیست و هدف اصلی آن تثبیت اشغالگری سرزمینهای فلسطینی و ایجاد اسرائیل بزرگ است . نویسنده هم چنین راه حل دو دولت را دیگر امکانپذیر نمی داند و به جای آن، خواهان ایجاد یک دولت دموکراتیک واحد در فلسطین است که در آن همه شهروندان، چه یهودی و چه فلسطینی، حقوق برابر داشته باشند .
ایلان پایه ، نویسنده کتاب کوشیده باورهای رایج در مورد اسرائیل ، البته در غرب را به چالش کشیده و چهره ای متفاوت از مناقشه اسرائیل و فلسطین نشان دهد ، چهره ای بسیار متفاوت با آن چه که رسانه ها و بنگاه های خبری به ملت قالب می کنند.
تصویری که اسرائیل را غصب کننده سرزمین فلسطینیان و صهیونیزم را استعماری و نژادپرستانه می داند .
به صورت کلی شاید بتوان دروغ های ذکر شده را به سه دسته تاریخ و روایت ، هویت و ایدئولوژی و مناقشه کنونی و راه حل تقسیم کرد ، اما شاید تقسیم بندی آن ها با معیار زمان یعنی ، دروغ هایی که گذشته را در بر می گیرند ، افسانه های مربوط به حال و دروغ های مربوط به آینده درست تر باشد .
از میان این دروغ ها و افسانه ها دسته اول ، یعنی تاریخ و روایت را می توان از آن رو که هویت و اساس اسرائیل را هدف قرار داده اند از مابقی مهمتر دانست . این افسانه ها : فلسطین یک سرزمین خالی بود ، یهودی ها مردمی بدون سرزمین بودند ، صهیونیسم همان یهودیت است ، صهیونیسم استعمارگری نیست ، فلسطینی ها در سال 1948 داوطلبانه وطنشان را ترک کردند و جنگ ژوئن 1967 تنها گزینه و یک انتخاب اجباری بود را شامل می شوند .
تکرار مکرر این افسانه ها و سپس پذیرش آن سبب نقض مکرر حقوق میلونها فلسطینی ساکن و سپس آواره شدن و محروم شدن آن ها از تقریبا کلیه حقوق انسانی خود و در مراحل بعدی حتی مانند مجوزی برای قتل و عام آنها بوده و از طرفی دیگر به اسرائیلی ها دست برتر در همه موارد داده است .
بخش دوم یا افسانه های حال شامل فصلهای اسراییل تنها دموکراسی خاورمیانه است ، افسانه هایی درباره توافقنامه اسلو و افسانه هایی در باره غزه است . در سالهای اخیر شاید پذیرش دموکراسی در اسرائیل با چالش های بسیار جدی روبرو شده ، به خصوص پس از قانون دولت – ملت که اسرائیل را منحصرا یک کشور یهودی و حق تعیین سرنوشت آنان را یهودیان و زبان رسمی را تنها عبری می داند . در حقیقت اسرائیل مانند آفریقای جنوبی زمان آپارتاید است که رسما شهروندان خود را به درجه یک و دو تقسیم کرده .
پایه نظر مساعدی در مورد پیمان اسلو و نخست وزیر میانه رو اسرائیل در آن زمان ، یعنی اسحاق رابین هم ندارد ، به نظر نویسنده ، این پیمان افزون بر این که دست آورد چندانی هم برای فلسطینی ها نداشت توافق اسلو را هیچگاه به دنبال صلح واقعی ندانسته و هدف اصلی آن را تثبیت اشغالگری اسرائیل بر سرزمین های فلسطینی می داند . او هم چنین توافق اسلورا به جای ایجاد شراکت واقعی بین اسرائیل و فلسطینیان، به نوعی رابطه ارباب-رعیتی بین دو طرف می داند .
پایه معتقد است که با وجود کنفرانس ها و پیمان های متعدد صلح ، اسرائیل اصولا خواهان صلح واقعی نیست و هدف اصلی آن تثبیت اشغالگری سرزمینهای فلسطینی و ایجاد اسرائیل بزرگ است . نویسنده هم چنین راه حل دو دولت را دیگر امکانپذیر نمی داند و به جای آن، خواهان ایجاد یک دولت دموکراتیک واحد در فلسطین است که در آن همه شهروندان، چه یهودی و چه فلسطینی، حقوق برابر داشته باشند .
ایلان پایه ، نویسنده کتاب کوشیده باورهای رایج در مورد اسرائیل ، البته در غرب را به چالش کشیده و چهره ای متفاوت از مناقشه اسرائیل و فلسطین نشان دهد ، چهره ای بسیار متفاوت با آن چه که رسانه ها و بنگاه های خبری به ملت قالب می کنند.
تصویری که اسرائیل را غصب کننده سرزمین فلسطینیان و صهیونیزم را استعماری و نژادپرستانه می داند .
October 31, 2017
During my undergraduate studies in law, I became intensely interested in the creation of, and the position of, Israel as a matter of public international law. Subsequently, I studied for my postgraduate studies in criminal law, where again, it was the nation of Israel that caught my eye. This time, I was interested from a position of international criminal law, and the complicity of the Israeli government in the international crime of apartheid. So, this year's paperback release of Pappe's "Ten Myths About Israel" caught my eye, and a brief glance through its contents page made me realise that I had to read this book.
The book comprises 10 chapters, and each chapter speaks to a myth and/or fallacy that is peddled as common knowledge pertaining to the discourse of Israel. Part I deals with the "fallacies of the past", whilst Part II deals with the "fallacies of the present". Finally, the single chapter Part III looks to the future. To anyone with a passing interest in international law, politics or history, none of these fallacies is anything new. However, what the book does do, is to condense the basic myths into easy to follow and well referenced chapters. This means that the book is ideal to a total newbie, whilst also containing supremely useful nuggets for the seasoned Israel/Palestine watcher.
Part I is split into 6 chapters. The first two are not hugely complex. The simple thrust of the argument is that Palestine was not empty. As the Ottoman Empire was collapsing, there was an important pan-Arab movement, seeking to create something akin to the United States. However, these federalist dreams were dashed by Anglo-French Imperialism. Thus, a more localised nationalism was born, and one of those national movements was Palestine (or South Syria). The first Zionist settlers knew they had arrived in to a populated country, and yet they continued to aggressively expound the myth that virgin land was awaiting cultivation. Whilst the second chapter deals with the notion that "Jews" did not have a homeland. Pappe debunks this wonderfully by pointing out that the Ashkenazi Jews were European, and had homes in Europe. The Mizrahi Jews also had homelands. In order to effectively peddle the myth, the would-be colonisers needed to rely on the Bible, and contemporary Christian support. Driven by anti-Semitism, and financial interests, we learn that "Zionism, as we can see, was therefore a Christian project of colonisation before it became a Jewish one." By relying on British support, the colonial mission was able to get off the ground.
Chapters 3 and 4 deal with the all-encompassing myth that conflates Zionism with Judaism, and that Zionism is not colonialism. The conflation is easily debunked as most Orthodox Jews were against Zionism at its inception. As Pappe puts it: "When Zionism made its first appearance in Europe, many traditional rabbis in fact forbade their followers from having anything to do with Zionist activists. They viewed Zionism as meddling with God's will to retain the Jews in exile until the coming of the Messiah." It was not until the mid-1950s that strong anti-Zionist tendencies would fade in the face of the realities on the ground. In order to debunk the myth of Zionism not being a colonial movement, Pappe points out that Palestinians were never allowed to resist their displacement through civil means. He documents the number of non-violent protests brutally crushed by the Israeli army. Alongside this, he debunks the myth that Palestinian resistance is driven by anti-Semitism: "The diaries of the early Zionists tell a different story. They are full of anecdotes revealing how the settlers were well received by the Palestinians, who offered them shelter and in many cases taught them how to cultivate the land."
Myths 5 and 6 deal with the "voluntary" departure of the Palestinians and how Israel had no choice but to fight the war of 1967. In 1937, Ben-Gurion had written numerous letters stating that it would be necessary to remove the Palestinians from their villages by force. This, coupled with how the UN peace committee effectively worked alongside Israel to ensure that Palestinian voices regarding their living situations in their own homes were never heard puts lie to the idea that this was a voluntary exodus. Through clever manipulation of Arab leaders, and by double crossing the Egyptians, Ben-Gurion pushed Israel in to a position where the 1967 war would happen. Taking an ever more aggressive and militaristic stance towards the Palestinians, the Israelis hoped for guerrilla retaliation from the Palestinians. When it inevitably came, the Israelis could paint the conflict as 'self-defence'. Subsequently, Israel seized swathes of land, including the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
Myth 7 is that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. This is a total fallacy, as Palestinians not incarcerated in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, who live within Israel proper, are denied basic rights. They have lesser access to labour, and they cannot purchase land. This basic denial of rights would suggest that this is no democracy, but given that any Jew may lay claim to Israeli citizenship, regardless of where they were born reveals that Israel is an ethnocracy, or an apartheid republic.
Myth 8 deals with the Oslo process, which Pappe demonstrates was designed by Israel to fail. The Israelis initially wanted to negotiate with the Jordanians (not the Palestinians), then decided to negotiate with the PLO. This led to an Israeli demand of 80% of the territory, with Palestinians to be siphoned off into small cantons (or Bantustans in apartheid parlance), denying Palestinians the right to travel between the cantons. The map would have resembled a Swiss cheese. Finally, whilst granting a "right of return" to any international Jew, Israel callously refused to countenance the notion that Palestinian refugees may want to return to their villages. Thus, to join the UN, the Israelis committed to the right of return, and reneged as soon as they were admitted to the UN.
Myth 9 deals with Gaza. Here Pappe destroys the notion that Hamas et al are salivating Islamist fundamentalists. They are, rather, non-secular people who mobilise regional particularities to resist a colonial occupation. They provide the Palestinians squeezed in to the ghetto of Gaza with medicine, welfare and schooling. In the face of this, the Israeli state controls the electricity and water supply of Gaza (so much for not being colonisers). Ultimately, it is Israeli policy to lay siege, deny access of food and medicine, and to economically destroy Gaza. This has led to the Israeli sponsored destruction of UNESCO Heritage sites in the name of their colonial project. In this manner, it is clear that whilst doing everything that can be done to undermine peace, provoking an armed response and then to respond with overwhelming force, declaring civilian structures such as schools and hospitals to be "barracks", another myth is peddled. That there is no one for Israel to negotiate peace with. This is by design, because on the ground, the Israeli state does not want peace.
The final myth deals with the "two-State solution", which is so flawed for all the reasons above. It is not deliverable, believable or sustainable. However, it salves Liberal, European consciences to continue to peddle this 'solution'. What is clear is that the "Jewish settlers are now an organic and integral part of the land. They cannot, and will not, be removed. They should be part of the future, but not on the basis of the constant oppression and dispossession of the local Palestinians."
This is an important book, and Pappe reveals the importance of BDS and other anti-imperialist policies that are slowly gaining ground in international civic societies. More and more people in States that support the Israeli government are aware as to what is being supported. This means that the status quo is time limited, and like apartheid in South Africa, the regime is living purely on borrowed time. For now, that status quo can be upheld by popular appeal to Islamophobia. Eventually, though, even this will have to wear thin.
Read this book, it is wonderful and cogently argued. Unashamedly partisan (it is anti-colonial), and with a wealth of resource to draw on. The numerous letters and diary entries that Pappe has found and presented to the reader is in itself a treasure trove of insight. This is an important book, read it.
The book comprises 10 chapters, and each chapter speaks to a myth and/or fallacy that is peddled as common knowledge pertaining to the discourse of Israel. Part I deals with the "fallacies of the past", whilst Part II deals with the "fallacies of the present". Finally, the single chapter Part III looks to the future. To anyone with a passing interest in international law, politics or history, none of these fallacies is anything new. However, what the book does do, is to condense the basic myths into easy to follow and well referenced chapters. This means that the book is ideal to a total newbie, whilst also containing supremely useful nuggets for the seasoned Israel/Palestine watcher.
Part I is split into 6 chapters. The first two are not hugely complex. The simple thrust of the argument is that Palestine was not empty. As the Ottoman Empire was collapsing, there was an important pan-Arab movement, seeking to create something akin to the United States. However, these federalist dreams were dashed by Anglo-French Imperialism. Thus, a more localised nationalism was born, and one of those national movements was Palestine (or South Syria). The first Zionist settlers knew they had arrived in to a populated country, and yet they continued to aggressively expound the myth that virgin land was awaiting cultivation. Whilst the second chapter deals with the notion that "Jews" did not have a homeland. Pappe debunks this wonderfully by pointing out that the Ashkenazi Jews were European, and had homes in Europe. The Mizrahi Jews also had homelands. In order to effectively peddle the myth, the would-be colonisers needed to rely on the Bible, and contemporary Christian support. Driven by anti-Semitism, and financial interests, we learn that "Zionism, as we can see, was therefore a Christian project of colonisation before it became a Jewish one." By relying on British support, the colonial mission was able to get off the ground.
Chapters 3 and 4 deal with the all-encompassing myth that conflates Zionism with Judaism, and that Zionism is not colonialism. The conflation is easily debunked as most Orthodox Jews were against Zionism at its inception. As Pappe puts it: "When Zionism made its first appearance in Europe, many traditional rabbis in fact forbade their followers from having anything to do with Zionist activists. They viewed Zionism as meddling with God's will to retain the Jews in exile until the coming of the Messiah." It was not until the mid-1950s that strong anti-Zionist tendencies would fade in the face of the realities on the ground. In order to debunk the myth of Zionism not being a colonial movement, Pappe points out that Palestinians were never allowed to resist their displacement through civil means. He documents the number of non-violent protests brutally crushed by the Israeli army. Alongside this, he debunks the myth that Palestinian resistance is driven by anti-Semitism: "The diaries of the early Zionists tell a different story. They are full of anecdotes revealing how the settlers were well received by the Palestinians, who offered them shelter and in many cases taught them how to cultivate the land."
Myths 5 and 6 deal with the "voluntary" departure of the Palestinians and how Israel had no choice but to fight the war of 1967. In 1937, Ben-Gurion had written numerous letters stating that it would be necessary to remove the Palestinians from their villages by force. This, coupled with how the UN peace committee effectively worked alongside Israel to ensure that Palestinian voices regarding their living situations in their own homes were never heard puts lie to the idea that this was a voluntary exodus. Through clever manipulation of Arab leaders, and by double crossing the Egyptians, Ben-Gurion pushed Israel in to a position where the 1967 war would happen. Taking an ever more aggressive and militaristic stance towards the Palestinians, the Israelis hoped for guerrilla retaliation from the Palestinians. When it inevitably came, the Israelis could paint the conflict as 'self-defence'. Subsequently, Israel seized swathes of land, including the West Bank and the Golan Heights.
Myth 7 is that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. This is a total fallacy, as Palestinians not incarcerated in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, who live within Israel proper, are denied basic rights. They have lesser access to labour, and they cannot purchase land. This basic denial of rights would suggest that this is no democracy, but given that any Jew may lay claim to Israeli citizenship, regardless of where they were born reveals that Israel is an ethnocracy, or an apartheid republic.
Myth 8 deals with the Oslo process, which Pappe demonstrates was designed by Israel to fail. The Israelis initially wanted to negotiate with the Jordanians (not the Palestinians), then decided to negotiate with the PLO. This led to an Israeli demand of 80% of the territory, with Palestinians to be siphoned off into small cantons (or Bantustans in apartheid parlance), denying Palestinians the right to travel between the cantons. The map would have resembled a Swiss cheese. Finally, whilst granting a "right of return" to any international Jew, Israel callously refused to countenance the notion that Palestinian refugees may want to return to their villages. Thus, to join the UN, the Israelis committed to the right of return, and reneged as soon as they were admitted to the UN.
Myth 9 deals with Gaza. Here Pappe destroys the notion that Hamas et al are salivating Islamist fundamentalists. They are, rather, non-secular people who mobilise regional particularities to resist a colonial occupation. They provide the Palestinians squeezed in to the ghetto of Gaza with medicine, welfare and schooling. In the face of this, the Israeli state controls the electricity and water supply of Gaza (so much for not being colonisers). Ultimately, it is Israeli policy to lay siege, deny access of food and medicine, and to economically destroy Gaza. This has led to the Israeli sponsored destruction of UNESCO Heritage sites in the name of their colonial project. In this manner, it is clear that whilst doing everything that can be done to undermine peace, provoking an armed response and then to respond with overwhelming force, declaring civilian structures such as schools and hospitals to be "barracks", another myth is peddled. That there is no one for Israel to negotiate peace with. This is by design, because on the ground, the Israeli state does not want peace.
The final myth deals with the "two-State solution", which is so flawed for all the reasons above. It is not deliverable, believable or sustainable. However, it salves Liberal, European consciences to continue to peddle this 'solution'. What is clear is that the "Jewish settlers are now an organic and integral part of the land. They cannot, and will not, be removed. They should be part of the future, but not on the basis of the constant oppression and dispossession of the local Palestinians."
This is an important book, and Pappe reveals the importance of BDS and other anti-imperialist policies that are slowly gaining ground in international civic societies. More and more people in States that support the Israeli government are aware as to what is being supported. This means that the status quo is time limited, and like apartheid in South Africa, the regime is living purely on borrowed time. For now, that status quo can be upheld by popular appeal to Islamophobia. Eventually, though, even this will have to wear thin.
Read this book, it is wonderful and cogently argued. Unashamedly partisan (it is anti-colonial), and with a wealth of resource to draw on. The numerous letters and diary entries that Pappe has found and presented to the reader is in itself a treasure trove of insight. This is an important book, read it.
November 29, 2023
For Israel, it’s all about casting “doubt on the Palestinian’s moral right to the land.” The estimate of percentage of Jews in Israel prior to the rise of Zionism is “2 to 5 percent”. Without the sudden increase in Zionism, “Palestine would probably have gone the same way as Lebanon, Jordan, or Syria.” Zionism can be found connected to the revival of Hebrew and writings about the need to “colonize Palestine”. Zionist records show its natives as “an obstacle, an alien and an enemy.” “Most of the Kibbutzim were built on destroyed Palestinian villages whose populations had been expelled in 1948.” Imagine the U.S. press saying this amazing Gandhi quote: “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English, or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs…Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.” JFK was “the last American President to refuse to provide Israel with vast military aid; after his assassination, the faucet was fully open.”
Ethnic cleansing is an action to drive out an ethnic group from an area to make it a pure one, one example is the Nakba. The Jewish state was born out of sin, out of ethnic cleansing - the Nakba destroyed 531 Palestinian villages in seven months and taught a very important lesson: you can “expel half a country’s population and destroy half its villages with impunity”. What a great moral example Israel is provided the world. Once Israel decided to deny citizenship to Palestinians coupled with zero chance for independence, it knew Palestinians would be left “without basic civil and human rights”. This was only tolerated because Israel said it’s temporary, ha ha... Meanwhile world leaders have no problem referring to Gaza as the world’s largest open-air prison. A prison for non-citizens who had their citizenship stolen for settler-colonial racist reasons. Those who left before ’48 can’t ever see those family members who remained in Israel. How thoughtful. Hebron averages 100 attacks per month by settlers against locals. When Palestinians fight back, all Palestinian residential areas become treated as combat zones which gives us these figures: “15,00 Palestinians have been killed ‘unlawfully’ by Israel since 1967. Among them were 2,000 children.” “Since 2000, almost 4,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, half of them children.” “Hamas is branded as a terrorist organization, both in the media and in legislation. I will claim it is a liberation movement, and a legitimate one at that.” In closing the author Ilan would like you to remember: to redefine “Zionism as colonialism, Israel as an apartheid state, and the Nakbah as ethnic cleansing.” Great writing - Noam loves Ilan’s work for good reason.
Ethnic cleansing is an action to drive out an ethnic group from an area to make it a pure one, one example is the Nakba. The Jewish state was born out of sin, out of ethnic cleansing - the Nakba destroyed 531 Palestinian villages in seven months and taught a very important lesson: you can “expel half a country’s population and destroy half its villages with impunity”. What a great moral example Israel is provided the world. Once Israel decided to deny citizenship to Palestinians coupled with zero chance for independence, it knew Palestinians would be left “without basic civil and human rights”. This was only tolerated because Israel said it’s temporary, ha ha... Meanwhile world leaders have no problem referring to Gaza as the world’s largest open-air prison. A prison for non-citizens who had their citizenship stolen for settler-colonial racist reasons. Those who left before ’48 can’t ever see those family members who remained in Israel. How thoughtful. Hebron averages 100 attacks per month by settlers against locals. When Palestinians fight back, all Palestinian residential areas become treated as combat zones which gives us these figures: “15,00 Palestinians have been killed ‘unlawfully’ by Israel since 1967. Among them were 2,000 children.” “Since 2000, almost 4,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, half of them children.” “Hamas is branded as a terrorist organization, both in the media and in legislation. I will claim it is a liberation movement, and a legitimate one at that.” In closing the author Ilan would like you to remember: to redefine “Zionism as colonialism, Israel as an apartheid state, and the Nakbah as ethnic cleansing.” Great writing - Noam loves Ilan’s work for good reason.
December 8, 2023
First of all, free Palestine, and end settler colonialism. My rating of this book is not reflective of my view on the topic, but simply on the book itself.
An ambitious book that seeks, in under 200 pages, to dispel ten myths about Israel. In doing this it argues strongly and convincingly against the perception of Israel as 'the only democracy in the region', a humane state or a victim of it's Arab neighbours. It presents Israel as the brutal, settler colonialist apartheid state that it is. It also paints an accurate and damming picture of the western countries that are complicit in its atrocities and human rights abuses, while simultaneously being critical of Arab leaders it killed for such reasons as Gaddafi and Saddam.
That said it isn't really that good a book. It makes a lot of blunders and for an author who is supposedly a world class academic, Pappe doesn't really impress me with his academic rigor or scholarship. . I would highly recommend 'The Hundred Years War on Palestine: a History of Settler Colonial Conquest and resistance' as a far better, more comprehensive, better written and more rigorous text.
The book rails against harmful Zionist propoganda including the view that 'Palestine was empty', or that 'the people there were not the natives' or that 'the Palestinians left voluntarily' among others. It also shows that the Israeli government uses peace talks, withdrawals from land, ceasefire and negotiations to its advantage in the creation of a larger, greater Israel which aims to take all of the Palestinian land with none or its people.
That said while the book was succinct and made its points well, it was far from perfect. At times, it felt as though the author was peddling half truths, skewed points of view or engaging in semantics.
I would argue that he failed to prove that 'the Jews were a people without a land'. He first argues that 'the Jews were not really a people' which is a little strange. They may have been disparate, may have spoken different languages but this isn't really a convincing argument at all. Not only did they have a common mythos, a religion that bound them, some degree of similar traditions, they also all lived a minorities experience with varying degrees of discrimination worldwide. It would be like arguing that Armenians or Kurds or Copts or Assyrians or Tibetans aren't really a people. It is undoubtedly true that Jews were discriminated against in Europe and beyond
He also at one point claims that Saddam's brutal gassing of the Kurds was learnt from Europeans. Even an amateur historian in that region could tell you that the Ottoman Empire carried out three separate genocides (Greek, Armenian and Assyrian) in that region which were more brutal and intensive than any of the abhorrent actions taken by Europeans in the area. But this doesn't fit the narrative.
In the conclusion he urges Arabs to stop being primitive and barbaric, are they? Are they really? A whole book about the brutality of the Israeli state and then a conclusion mentioning Arab primitivism?
He seeks to portray Hamas as legitimate freedom fighters, and some may seem as such but their original charter did include subjugation of non Muslims, complete annihilation of the Israeli state and the suppression of all communist/'western' groups in the region among other wild perspectives. Their actions this year have also been crimes against humanity and it's hard to see them as such.
The author is extremely critical of the two state solution and possibly rightfully so.
I conclusion I agree completely with the thesis of this book and it's conclusion but don't think it is that great. I would highly recommend 'The Hundred Years War on Palestine: a History of Settler Colonial Conquest and resistance' as a far better, more comprehensive, better written and more rigorous text.
An ambitious book that seeks, in under 200 pages, to dispel ten myths about Israel. In doing this it argues strongly and convincingly against the perception of Israel as 'the only democracy in the region', a humane state or a victim of it's Arab neighbours. It presents Israel as the brutal, settler colonialist apartheid state that it is. It also paints an accurate and damming picture of the western countries that are complicit in its atrocities and human rights abuses, while simultaneously being critical of Arab leaders it killed for such reasons as Gaddafi and Saddam.
That said it isn't really that good a book. It makes a lot of blunders and for an author who is supposedly a world class academic, Pappe doesn't really impress me with his academic rigor or scholarship. . I would highly recommend 'The Hundred Years War on Palestine: a History of Settler Colonial Conquest and resistance' as a far better, more comprehensive, better written and more rigorous text.
The book rails against harmful Zionist propoganda including the view that 'Palestine was empty', or that 'the people there were not the natives' or that 'the Palestinians left voluntarily' among others. It also shows that the Israeli government uses peace talks, withdrawals from land, ceasefire and negotiations to its advantage in the creation of a larger, greater Israel which aims to take all of the Palestinian land with none or its people.
That said while the book was succinct and made its points well, it was far from perfect. At times, it felt as though the author was peddling half truths, skewed points of view or engaging in semantics.
I would argue that he failed to prove that 'the Jews were a people without a land'. He first argues that 'the Jews were not really a people' which is a little strange. They may have been disparate, may have spoken different languages but this isn't really a convincing argument at all. Not only did they have a common mythos, a religion that bound them, some degree of similar traditions, they also all lived a minorities experience with varying degrees of discrimination worldwide. It would be like arguing that Armenians or Kurds or Copts or Assyrians or Tibetans aren't really a people. It is undoubtedly true that Jews were discriminated against in Europe and beyond
He also at one point claims that Saddam's brutal gassing of the Kurds was learnt from Europeans. Even an amateur historian in that region could tell you that the Ottoman Empire carried out three separate genocides (Greek, Armenian and Assyrian) in that region which were more brutal and intensive than any of the abhorrent actions taken by Europeans in the area. But this doesn't fit the narrative.
In the conclusion he urges Arabs to stop being primitive and barbaric, are they? Are they really? A whole book about the brutality of the Israeli state and then a conclusion mentioning Arab primitivism?
He seeks to portray Hamas as legitimate freedom fighters, and some may seem as such but their original charter did include subjugation of non Muslims, complete annihilation of the Israeli state and the suppression of all communist/'western' groups in the region among other wild perspectives. Their actions this year have also been crimes against humanity and it's hard to see them as such.
The author is extremely critical of the two state solution and possibly rightfully so.
I conclusion I agree completely with the thesis of this book and it's conclusion but don't think it is that great. I would highly recommend 'The Hundred Years War on Palestine: a History of Settler Colonial Conquest and resistance' as a far better, more comprehensive, better written and more rigorous text.
November 14, 2023
خب، در ادامه موضوع فلسطین و اسرائیل رسیدم به این کتاب!
نویسندهی اسرائیلی تسلط خیلی خوبی روی مباحث دینی و تاریخی درگیریها داره و واقعا اگر میخواید به صورت سریع و خلاصه از داستان شکلگیری اسرائیل و صهیونیسم مطلع شید بهتون خوندنش رو پیشنهاد میکنم.
متن کتاب روان هستش و با منابع زیاد و استدلالهای مختلف، خیلی از حادثهها و تصمیمات مهم توی حدود صد سال اخیر رو که در تاریخ اسرائیل تاثیرگذار هستند رو ذکر و در موردشون بحث میکنه.
ایدهی نویسنده اینه که اول از همه باید یه سری داستانهای الکی و پروپاگانداهای رسانههای جهان در خصوص اسرائیل و فلسطین، کنار گذاشته بشه تا دو طرف بتونن با هم به یک زبان مشترک برسند و این مشکل حل بشه. خودش هم ۱۰ نمونه از این افسانهها رو ذکر میکنه مثلا یکیش اینه که اسرائیلیها ادعا میکنند این محل قبل از اومدن اونا بیایون و برهوت بوده و با رسیدن اونا و زحمتهایی که براش کشیدن کشاورزی رو رونق دادن و آبادش کردن.
راستش بین دادن چهار یا پنج ستاره به این کتاب شک داشتم، اون چهار ستاره هم به خاطر مترجم کتاب هستش
با آقای وحید خضاب در کتابهای دیگهای هم آشنا شده بودم. خوشبختانه یا متاسفانه در زمینههای مورد علاقه من کتاب زیاد ترجمه کردن و خیلی دوست دارن اظهار نظر و اظهار فضل کنند و دوست داشتم اگر انقدر حرف برای گفتن دارند کتابی تالیف کنند تا همه ازشون استفاده کنند نه اینکه با گیومههاشون توی متن اصلی پدر خواننده رو دربیارن. از یه جایی به بعد چشم عادت میکنه گیومهها رو نبینه و واقعا یه جاهایی تاثیری توی متن نداره ولی باز دوست داشتن یه حرفی بزنن.
نویسندهی اسرائیلی تسلط خیلی خوبی روی مباحث دینی و تاریخی درگیریها داره و واقعا اگر میخواید به صورت سریع و خلاصه از داستان شکلگیری اسرائیل و صهیونیسم مطلع شید بهتون خوندنش رو پیشنهاد میکنم.
متن کتاب روان هستش و با منابع زیاد و استدلالهای مختلف، خیلی از حادثهها و تصمیمات مهم توی حدود صد سال اخیر رو که در تاریخ اسرائیل تاثیرگذار هستند رو ذکر و در موردشون بحث میکنه.
ایدهی نویسنده اینه که اول از همه باید یه سری داستانهای الکی و پروپاگانداهای رسانههای جهان در خصوص اسرائیل و فلسطین، کنار گذاشته بشه تا دو طرف بتونن با هم به یک زبان مشترک برسند و این مشکل حل بشه. خودش هم ۱۰ نمونه از این افسانهها رو ذکر میکنه مثلا یکیش اینه که اسرائیلیها ادعا میکنند این محل قبل از اومدن اونا بیایون و برهوت بوده و با رسیدن اونا و زحمتهایی که براش کشیدن کشاورزی رو رونق دادن و آبادش کردن.
راستش بین دادن چهار یا پنج ستاره به این کتاب شک داشتم، اون چهار ستاره هم به خاطر مترجم کتاب هستش
با آقای وحید خضاب در کتابهای دیگهای هم آشنا شده بودم. خوشبختانه یا متاسفانه در زمینههای مورد علاقه من کتاب زیاد ترجمه کردن و خیلی دوست دارن اظهار نظر و اظهار فضل کنند و دوست داشتم اگر انقدر حرف برای گفتن دارند کتابی تالیف کنند تا همه ازشون استفاده کنند نه اینکه با گیومههاشون توی متن اصلی پدر خواننده رو دربیارن. از یه جایی به بعد چشم عادت میکنه گیومهها رو نبینه و واقعا یه جاهایی تاثیری توی متن نداره ولی باز دوست داشتن یه حرفی بزنن.
July 24, 2020
Ten Myths About Israel
is a non-fiction book by Ilan Pappe, an Israeli Jewish historian. In this work, Pappe, as the book title would suggest, deconstructs ten commonly-accepted myths about Israel, from before the state's official creation to today.
I annotated the hell out of this book...to the point where I'm not sure I could ever read this copy again.
I've only recently started investing a significant amount of time in reading non-fiction works, and, while I do consider myself more educated than the typical American on the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is my first official read in my journey to gain an even better and more comprehensive understanding of the present-day colonial movement.
With that preface, I found this book very easily digestible. It covers a significant period of time in history, and while I think it's fair to assume Pappe didn't include extensive detail about every single incident he addressed, there definitely was a considerable amount of information in this short read. But I found that I didn't struggle to engage with everything with Pappe presented.
I essentially agree with the majority Pappe's claims, at least at this point in my knowledge - I, of course, plan to keep educating myself - but I found that though I held some of the ideas, Pappe, unsurprisingly, clearly stated the justification of these views / the flaws, or even blatant lies, in the counterpoints.
I really can't complain about any aspect of this work. I'm so appreciative that my friend recommended it, because I truly value this book.
I annotated the hell out of this book...to the point where I'm not sure I could ever read this copy again.
I've only recently started investing a significant amount of time in reading non-fiction works, and, while I do consider myself more educated than the typical American on the Israel-Palestine conflict, this is my first official read in my journey to gain an even better and more comprehensive understanding of the present-day colonial movement.
With that preface, I found this book very easily digestible. It covers a significant period of time in history, and while I think it's fair to assume Pappe didn't include extensive detail about every single incident he addressed, there definitely was a considerable amount of information in this short read. But I found that I didn't struggle to engage with everything with Pappe presented.
I essentially agree with the majority Pappe's claims, at least at this point in my knowledge - I, of course, plan to keep educating myself - but I found that though I held some of the ideas, Pappe, unsurprisingly, clearly stated the justification of these views / the flaws, or even blatant lies, in the counterpoints.
I really can't complain about any aspect of this work. I'm so appreciative that my friend recommended it, because I truly value this book.
May 14, 2024
عشر خرافات عن إسرائيل
إيلان بابيه
كتاب ينتقد سياسات إسرائيل، وفي هذا التوقيت الصعب، وبقلم إسرائيلي، لا بد أنه سيقدم إضافة جيدة للقارئ المهتم.
تعيش بعض الدول، الحكومات والشخصيات العامة على سرديات معينة يتم صياغتها ومحاولة إقناع الناس بها. تحتوي تلك الدعايات على نسب مختلفة من الحقائق والأكاذيب، المبالغات والتزييف. ولا يتوقف تصديق الناس لها على نسبة صدقها من عدمه، بل على متانة صياغتها ووسائل نشرها وكثافة بثها. في النهاية تُشكّل تلك الرسائل صورة ثابتة في الأذهان يبني عليها الأفراد حكمهم وقراراتهم مع أو ضد تلك الأطراف.
في هذا الكتاب يسعى إيلان بابيه إلى تمحيص السردية الإسرائيلية، من خلال عشر نقاط يثبت من خلالها عدم صحة تلك الادعاءات. هذا وقد عمد بابيه إلى وضع كل ادعاء في سياقه التاريخي، لذا فالكتاب زاخر بالمعلومات التاريخية التي يحتاجها القارئ الذي يود تغذية ذاكرته، أو إنعاشها، بتاريخ الصراع.
يُحسب للكتاب نبرته الأكاديمية التي تنتقد دون تشنج، ولا تلجأ لاستخدام لغة منفرة. لاحظ أننا نحتاج مثل هذه النبرة عند الحديث مع العالم، وخاصة أولئك الذين لم يتخذوا قرراً فيما يخص الطرفين. ولا شك أن جزءًا لا يستهان به من قيمة المحتوى منبثقة من كون الكاتب إسرائيلياً، انطلاقاً من مبدأ "وشهد شاهد من أهله". ولكن على القارئ أن يتذكر ذلك عندما يقرأ مقترحات بابيه لحل الأزمة.
هناك فصل مخصص للحديث عن غزة، قد يكون هو أهم فصل في الكتاب نظراً للظروف الجارية، ولقدرته على تقديم إجابة جزئية للقارئ المتسائل عن سبب ما يحدث في غزة في الوقت الحالي.
كتاب مهم أنصح بقراءته دون تردد.
إيلان بابيه
كتاب ينتقد سياسات إسرائيل، وفي هذا التوقيت الصعب، وبقلم إسرائيلي، لا بد أنه سيقدم إضافة جيدة للقارئ المهتم.
تعيش بعض الدول، الحكومات والشخصيات العامة على سرديات معينة يتم صياغتها ومحاولة إقناع الناس بها. تحتوي تلك الدعايات على نسب مختلفة من الحقائق والأكاذيب، المبالغات والتزييف. ولا يتوقف تصديق الناس لها على نسبة صدقها من عدمه، بل على متانة صياغتها ووسائل نشرها وكثافة بثها. في النهاية تُشكّل تلك الرسائل صورة ثابتة في الأذهان يبني عليها الأفراد حكمهم وقراراتهم مع أو ضد تلك الأطراف.
في هذا الكتاب يسعى إيلان بابيه إلى تمحيص السردية الإسرائيلية، من خلال عشر نقاط يثبت من خلالها عدم صحة تلك الادعاءات. هذا وقد عمد بابيه إلى وضع كل ادعاء في سياقه التاريخي، لذا فالكتاب زاخر بالمعلومات التاريخية التي يحتاجها القارئ الذي يود تغذية ذاكرته، أو إنعاشها، بتاريخ الصراع.
يُحسب للكتاب نبرته الأكاديمية التي تنتقد دون تشنج، ولا تلجأ لاستخدام لغة منفرة. لاحظ أننا نحتاج مثل هذه النبرة عند الحديث مع العالم، وخاصة أولئك الذين لم يتخذوا قرراً فيما يخص الطرفين. ولا شك أن جزءًا لا يستهان به من قيمة المحتوى منبثقة من كون الكاتب إسرائيلياً، انطلاقاً من مبدأ "وشهد شاهد من أهله". ولكن على القارئ أن يتذكر ذلك عندما يقرأ مقترحات بابيه لحل الأزمة.
هناك فصل مخصص للحديث عن غزة، قد يكون هو أهم فصل في الكتاب نظراً للظروف الجارية، ولقدرته على تقديم إجابة جزئية للقارئ المتسائل عن سبب ما يحدث في غزة في الوقت الحالي.
كتاب مهم أنصح بقراءته دون تردد.
October 3, 2019
As is often the case with figures like Finkelstein, Chomsky, etc., Ilan Pappé is excellent at diagnosing the various power imbalances, abuses, and atrocities committed by Israel, but blind to the crimes of groups like Hamas and the PLO. Pappé routinely dismisses or ignores the genuine terror and anxiety Israelis feel when faced with Hamas rockets and uncompromisingly violent rhetoric. This leads to a frustratingly uneven assessment – it is clear that Pappé has an excellent grasp of Israeli history, but it does not help Palestinians to brush under the rug the genuine anxieties of Israeli citizens. Indeed, at times this book conflates both Hamas and Fatah with the will of the Palestinian people, despite the considerable evidence of discontent among Palestinian with both (and especially Fatah). This is particularly egregious by misrepresenting both the processes of collaboration between Israel and Fatah, and the agency of the Palestinian people.
That being said, the final chapter on the two-state solution is particularly astute. Israel never offered Palestine a genuine state with political sovereignty, but rather a demilitarized autonomous zone under the perpetual threat of Israeli coercion. As Pappé rightly argues, rather than clinging to the fantasy of the two-state solution, we need to recognize that the most viable current solution is not a separate Palestinian state, but a single Israeli-Palestinian state that is truly democratic, and that grants Palestinians the same rights and freedoms as Israeli citizens.
That being said, the final chapter on the two-state solution is particularly astute. Israel never offered Palestine a genuine state with political sovereignty, but rather a demilitarized autonomous zone under the perpetual threat of Israeli coercion. As Pappé rightly argues, rather than clinging to the fantasy of the two-state solution, we need to recognize that the most viable current solution is not a separate Palestinian state, but a single Israeli-Palestinian state that is truly democratic, and that grants Palestinians the same rights and freedoms as Israeli citizens.
October 21, 2023
This was such an amazing and engaging read that really gave me such a greater level of understanding of the injustice being forced upon Palestine by Israel. I think this is a good one to pick up either first in your reading, or as a follow up to having a good understanding of the basics. This book goes through ten myths surrounding Israel that are often advertised a lot in Western media, as well as propagated by Israel themselves to justify the horrific occupation of Palestine and ethnic cleansing they have been undergoing for years.
The one thing I really appreciated about this book was not only the writing, but how the information is presented to us. It’s written in a really easy and accessible way, but also allows for some deeper thinking and presents not only the facts, but wider discussion and context of these truths which was so helpful in painting a very detailed picture. It doesn’t dumb anything down though, there is still quite an academic tone to it. I really liked that each chapter was quite focused on the myth it was dispelling, while also going on a gentle journey to talk about wider implications. It’s all also presented in a mostly chronological order, so the more you read you build on your knowledge from the previous chapters. Though it'd quite a short read, it is still rather time consuming due to the density and heaviness of the subject matter. There is a lot to it, but simultaneously it is not as 'complicated' as people try and paint it.
I do feel like this book ended a tad abruptly and unexpectedly though. I was anticipating another chapter as it didn’t feel like there was much closure, but we just ended up on an appendix and an index. Either way it was still really good, and a read I’ll be recommending.
The one thing I really appreciated about this book was not only the writing, but how the information is presented to us. It’s written in a really easy and accessible way, but also allows for some deeper thinking and presents not only the facts, but wider discussion and context of these truths which was so helpful in painting a very detailed picture. It doesn’t dumb anything down though, there is still quite an academic tone to it. I really liked that each chapter was quite focused on the myth it was dispelling, while also going on a gentle journey to talk about wider implications. It’s all also presented in a mostly chronological order, so the more you read you build on your knowledge from the previous chapters. Though it'd quite a short read, it is still rather time consuming due to the density and heaviness of the subject matter. There is a lot to it, but simultaneously it is not as 'complicated' as people try and paint it.
I do feel like this book ended a tad abruptly and unexpectedly though. I was anticipating another chapter as it didn’t feel like there was much closure, but we just ended up on an appendix and an index. Either way it was still really good, and a read I’ll be recommending.
December 24, 2023
Ilan Pappé - Dez Mitos Sobre Israel
«Em nome de Deus, que a Palestina seja deixada em paz»
O livro, Dez Mitos Sobre Israel, das Edições 70, está referenciado como um guia imprescindível e uma “iniciação” ao conflito israelo-palestiniano, mas é muito mais do que isso. É um ensaio em que Ilan Pappé, numa análise fluida e sem sobressaltos, desmonta a narrativa oficial da criação do Estado de Israel.
No léxico ocidental e sionista, o Estado de Israel é apresentado como a “pátria milenar” dos judeus, dos judeus que expulsos da sua “pátria” há mais de mil anos e a ela terem regressado, para já na nossa era a terem ocupado “pacificamente”. Reza ainda este “mito” oficial que antes de 1948 os judeus eram um povo sem território, de a palestina ser à época um território sem habitantes, território para onde regressaram contra todas as adversidades e, de como David num mundo de Golias, estarem rodeados de bárbaros e celerados que outro propósito não têm que não o da destruição de Israel. Israel, um oásis de democracia e civilidade cercado de selvajaria empenhada na sua aniquilação. E o seu povo, o povo eleito, com o “dever bíblico” de preparar a vinda do Messias, a do verdadeiro Messias.
Esta é a narrativa oficial do Estado de Israel, da pátria sionista, e, em parte, a narrativa “ocidental”. É a que diariamente preenche os noticiários e o comentário político e, invariavelmente, a do discurso oficial dos líderes ocidentais. É a narrativa do “politicamente correto”, a que alinha as convicções inculcadas no nosso superego.
A versão idílica de Israel, um oásis cercado por “desalmados”, era também a leitura que eu próprio fazia dos acontecimentos do médio oriente. Se há um par de anos tivesse de escolher “um dos lados”, era seguramente a versão israelita a que se me colava. Nem mesmo a leitura de autores que criticavam a bondade do Estado de Israel tinha abalado as minhas convicções. Contudo, já tinha tido um “clique”, uma abertura para uma realidade que intuía camuflada e dissonante da propalada pelos noticiários.
O meu afastamento dessa “versão” oficial da história de Israel creio que se iniciou com a leitura de “Palestina – Uma Biografia”, de Rashid Khalidi, sobrinho-neto do líder palestiniano, “Mayor” de Jerusalém, que nos finais do século XIX, em troca de correspondência com os líderes sionistas, os alertava para a crise demográfica e o risco de genocídio que resultaria de uma política de recolocação de judeus na palestina. «Em nome de Deus, que a Palestina seja deixada em paz», é desta forma que Yousef al-Khalidi, termina a carta enviada em 1899 a Theodore Herzl, onde explicava que a Palestina tinha população própria e advertia para os perigos que se aproximavam. Após a leitura deste livro, ninguém pode ficar indiferente.
Ainda que muitos vejam na geopolítica internacional um “complot” contra o ocidente, o que frequentemente é acertado, para se entender as causas é necessário recuar às origens. O actual conflito Israelo-palestiniano é claramente uma agressão contra os valores do ocidente, mas não foi assim que se iniciou. Posso não ser conhecedor de toda a história, mas quem se recusar a sair da sua zona de conforto e olhar apenas para os sintomas, tem seguramente uma visão enviesada do conflito. “Palestina – Uma Biografia”, um livro que desafio a ler antes de enveredar numa critica fácil e alinhada. Leia-o, vai ver que não morde!
Como referi, com a leitura deste livro, as convicções que tinha sobre a atitude de Israel ficaram irremediavelmente abaladas. Aqui chegado, e se alguma dúvida subsistisse, Ilan Pappé eliminou com factos, datas e numa análise objetiva da história dos últimos 150 anos, qualquer “crença” que ainda se me sobrasse da “bondade” de Israel.
A ocupação da Palestina pelos judeus, na primeira metade do século XX, assemelhou-se a uma acção “colonial de povoamento” do movimento sionista. Segundo o relato ocidental e israelita, esta ocupação é habitualmente descrita como pacífica e tranquila. Porém, como poderia ter sido pacifica ou tranquila quando milhares se viram expropriados dos seus bens, quando outros tantos foram arrancados do conforto no anonimato da noite e viram, num virar de página, a sua segurança esboroar-se como um castelo de areia em noite invernosa? Mães viram os filhos arrancados do aconchego, pais sentiram-se culpados por não garantirem a segurança aos seus, idosos olhavam perplexos para um cenário que nunca tinham imaginado, e as crianças, essas, choravam por as terem acordado para aquele pesadelo. A “Nakba”, a catástrofe, ocorrida em 1948, após a saída do exército britânico da Palestina e nos dias que se seguiram ao reconhecimento da independência do Estado de Israel, foi um período onde o “cataclismo” que se abateu sobre o povo palestiniano está na origem dos acontecimentos passados e os ocorridos a 07 de outubro de 2023. Quando António Guterres, Secretário das Nações Unidas disse que o ataque do Hamas não ocorreu num vácuo (expressão, curiosamente também utilizada por Ilan Pappé), tenta corrigir o que tem sido e é a narrativa oficial.
O primeiro mito desfeito por Ilan Pappé, é o da palestina ser uma terra deserta. Uma terra de ninguém. Não o era. Desde a ocupação Otomana em 1517, que a palestina era uma terra fértil, com uma economia agrícola significativa, uma terra povoada. Para quem lá vivia era uma geografia economicamente viável. E não era um território desértico. Em 1878 a palestina tinha quase meio milhão de habitantes que se distribuíam por 87% de muçulmanos, 10% de cristãos e 3% de judeus. Era uma comunidade predominantemente muçulmana, mas que tolerava a diversidade religiosa. À época, uma peregrinação à Terra Santa era um feito, uma grande jornada, mas em momento algum se sentia ameaça acrescida por se calcorrear “terras infiéis” – A Relíquia de Eça de Queirós e muitos outros assim a retratam.
Mas se era um território com um povoamento ajustado, por que se precipitaram políticos, nações, povos, em alterar o que era estável e assim deveria ter permanecido?
O Estado de Israel e o projecto sionista foi inicialmente um plano de raiz cristã. Alimentado pela reforma e contra-reforma, foi em particular uma proposta de sectores protestantes que profetizavam para o início do terceiro milénio uma nova vinda do Messias. Uma vinda que deveria ser preparada com o regresso dos judeus à “Judia”. Se de início este regresso foi um projecto protestante, rapidamente foi aproveitado por políticos ocidentais que à época preferiam ter uma Palestina judaica a uma outra mais muçulmana. O projecto sionista tem assim uma origem cristã, bíblica e só posteriormente foi transformado num projeto secular. O clima da deslocação maciça de judeus para a terra prometida iniciou-se como uma “cruzada discreta”.
Só nos finais do século XIX, e com os esforços de Theodore Herzl, é que a ideia de uma Palestina judaica começa a ganhar adeptos entre os judeus e se assume como um projecto secular. É por esta altura que Yousef al-Khalidi escreve aos líderes sionistas uma missiva que empresta a expressão que dá título ao presente texto.
Esta “colonização de povoamento” foi inicialmente assumida por judeus seculares, que no espírito do liberalismo e das ideias socialistas de então, apadrinharam a deslocação para a palestina de vários milhares de judeus oriundos do mundo anglófono (predominantemente o partido trabalhista) e do mundo marxista. Israel tem assim uma origem com um misto de socialismo e redenção religiosa alicerçada na segunda vinda do Messias. Esta origem explica a organização social israelita, que é muito semelhante à das organizações marxistas, enquanto as suas ligações bíblicas promovem um apego à terra e ao seu cultivo. Esta é a origem dos “Kibutz” e da sua organiza��ão social.
A criação do Estado de Israel surge em resposta a problemas religiosos, mas também de política externa e de geopolítica em oposição ao Império Otomano. Foi um processo que congregou interesses ocidentais e judaicos, mas que nunca olhou para os autóctones e populações indígenas como um obstáculo. E tudo resulta das decisões de então e de um projeto de “colonização” que passou a forma de letra no acordo de Sykes–Picot (1916) e na declaração de Balfour (1917). Esta é a origem do Estado de Israel, mas, para a história avulsa, a sua implementação surge como tendo resultado da perseguição dos judeus na europa nazi. E esta versão oficial é um mito que surge como chantagem emocional, um complexo de culpa que fez que durante décadas as populações autóctones tenham sido esquecidas. Surge como uma “indemnização” às vítimas do holocausto, um ressarcimento contado apenas pela “cereja no topo do bolo” sem nunca se mencionar que o território não estava devoluto.
Todo o resto ocorre com o fim do mandato britânico. Após 14 de maio de 1948, David Ben Gurion e o novo poder instalado usam a força como modo de ocupar o território e transformar o que décadas antes era uma população minoritária, no novo Estado de Israel, um Estado maioritariamente judaico e sionista. Só que para acolher todos os recém-chegados era necessário “acondicioná-los”. E o governo Israelita nunca se poupou a esforços. É neste contexto que ocorreu o massacre de Deir Yassin e a “Nakba”, uma catástrofe que resultou à altura no maior movimento de desalojados após a IIGM. Houve expropriações, nacionalizações, deslocações e outras atitudes de maior músculo sempre que estas iniciativas encontravam alguma resistência.
Após a “Nakba”, a narrativa oficial passou a acomodar o princípio de dois estados, o retorno dos desalojados “às suas casas e propriedades” e a devolução dos territórios ocupados após 1948. Esta era a posição oficial, mas na prática funcionou apenas como propaganda. A realidade era bem diferente. Enquanto perante a opinião internacional as entidades oficiais israelitas se mostravam condescendentes com as aspirações palestinianas, na prática tudo faziam para inviabilizar o discurso oficial, ora limitando as opções dos palestinianos, ora procrastinando os compromissos que publicamente se assumiam. Uma política de duas faces e de dissimulação das verdadeiras intenções.
Ilan Pappé dá-nos vários exemplos desta dissimulação e hipocrisia. O mais relevante parece-me ser o do território da margem ocidental do rio Jordão. As autoridades israelitas pretendiam que este território, a Cisjordânia, fosse integrado na Jordânia. Contudo, a transferência de soberania nunca ocorreu e só posteriormente, nos acordos de Oslo é que este território foi reconhecido por Israel como integrado no Estado Palestiniano. Porém, o conceito de soberania era parco e estava limitado a aspectos fiscais e outros de gestão corrente como educação e saúde. Um exército, meios de defesa e segurança interna, liberdade para as posições internacionais eram “liberalidades” sempre recusadas aos líderes palestinianos. Para além deste logro, há ainda a somar a autorização constante de novos colonatos – Kibutz – na Cisjordânia. Quem atualmente olhar para o mapa da região vai ficar impressionado com a quantidade de “ilhas” e espaços ocupados por colonos israelitas. Uma falácia!
O outro território, a faixa de Gaza, é uma prisão a céu aberto. Inicialmente Gaza era governada por elementos da Autoridade Palestiniana num governo secular. Com a morte de Arafat, a multiplicação de casos de corrupção, e os acordos de Oslo, vistos pelos palestinianos como uma traição, as populações viraram-se para quem lhes deu esperança e empoderaram um movimento religioso. Se os israelitas se reclamavam do direito de ocupar aquele território, bramindo o “Velho Testamento”, agora os palestinianos iam também erguer o seu “Livro Sagrado” e de acordo com uma interpretação teocrática iam combater o inimigo sionista. Estava lançado o mote para as intifadas e os acontecimentos de 07 de outubro.
No que respeita à pressão de novos colonatos, a faixa de Gaza sofria inicialmente da mesma pressão da observada na Cisjordânia. Esta política de colonização, cessou em 2004, quando Ariel Sharon anunciou a retirada dos colonatos israelitas da faixa de Gaza. A comunidade internacional viu este gesto como um passo para a aceitação do princípio de dois Estados. Este gesto de “boa vontade” podia contudo ter outra interpretação e, eventualmente, outras intenções. Premeditada ou não, a retirada dos colonos de Gaza serviu para construir uma prisão a céu aberto, um espaço controlado do exterior e assim sufocado economicamente. Era o cenário ideal para um genocídio. Foi premonitório.
A pressão israelita em Gaza e o reduzido crédito que as populações davam à OLP e à sua fação da Al-Fatah, este em resultado do acordo de Oslo e os inúmeros casos de corrupção, foram agravos que fizeram deslocar o sentido popular para um movimento religioso, uma esperança de combater o “livro com o livro”. O Hamas fundado por Ahmed Yassin, um movimento sunita com raízes na irmandade muçulmana Egípcia, cavalgou esta oportunidade e assumiu o poder. Ganhou nas urnas e não há qualquer evidência que sugira que tenha perdido esse apoio.
Outro aspecto que frequentemente é relatado com contornos míticos é a forma como a narrativa oficial relata os conflitos que Israel travou com os seus países vizinhos. Ao contrário da descrição oficial israelita e ocidental, as guerras dos “Seis Dias” e a do “Yom Kippur” foram acontecimentos previstos. Previstos não no sentido de se saber pormenores, mas sabia-se que, quando se limitasse a circulação, o abastecimento de água, ou houvesse qualquer iniciativa que colocasse em risco as necessidades básicas dos países vizinhos, estes iram reagir. As reacções estavam previstas e se foram provocadas é porque de alguma forma seriam úteis. E foram! Sempre que houve um ataque de países vizinhos, ou quando os habitantes dos guetos palestinianos recorreram a actos violentos ou interpretados como potencialmente agressivos, a resposta israelita foi sempre avassaladora e terminou num aumento de território, expansão de colonatos e redução da população palestiniana. Fazendo fé nos boatos que circulam e nos antecedentes, é bem provável que Israel tivesse uma previsão, ainda que aproximada, do que ocorreu em 07 de Outubro. Só que este provocou cerca de 1200 mortos e um número indeterminado, mas seguramente superior a 200, de sequestrados. Foi uma carnificina, uma catástrofe, mas rapidamente foi aproveitada para acelerar o “extermínio possível” da população de Gaza.
Em Gaza todos são terroristas. Nisso concordamos. A discordância vem apenas da análise das causas que lhes estão subjacentes. Os palestinianos, apoiam-se em convicções religiosas para combaterem um inimigo que tem nome de David mas comportamento de Golias. Porém as atrocidades que os palestinianos cometeram e cometem, e que as cometeram não tenho dúvidas, não legitima a chacina a que assistimos diariamente.
Ilan Pappé termina o seu livro abordando a ideia corrente de no futuro a Palestina poder ser um território com dois Estados. Um mito que o autor descreve como uma falácia. E tem razão! Basta consultar um mapa para se entender que desde 1948, Israel passou de uma ocupação de menos de 5% para mais de 90% antes de 07 de Outubro de 2023. Mesmo que os palestinianos mantenham o seu actual território, que Estado vão ter? Que soberania lhe vai ser permitida? Como vai ser possível fazer de uma Cisjordânia retalhada entre colonatos e muros, um Estado? Como construir um Estado num território tão “esburacado”? Funciona para queijos, não funciona para Estados!
É óbvio que a solução de dois Estados nunca vai funcionar. Israel nunca vai permitir um Estado Palestiniano soberano e os palestinianos nunca irão aceitar “as migalhas” oferecidas. Também não parece possível que a história retroceda um século. Isso nunca acontece.
Aqui chegados, só uma de três soluções é possível. Ou tudo acaba no extermínio de uma das partes, dos palestinianos mais provavelmente, ou ambas as partes aceitam um Estado laico onde a religião é assunto do íntimo de cada um e onde todos têm os mesmos direitos, deveres e dignidade. A terceira é a do perpetuar do actual estado de coisas.
«Em nome de Deus, que a Palestina seja deixada em paz», foi um pedido que, feito há mais de século, é aos dias de hoje a única atitude cristã possível.
«Em nome de Deus, que a Palestina seja deixada em paz»
O livro, Dez Mitos Sobre Israel, das Edições 70, está referenciado como um guia imprescindível e uma “iniciação” ao conflito israelo-palestiniano, mas é muito mais do que isso. É um ensaio em que Ilan Pappé, numa análise fluida e sem sobressaltos, desmonta a narrativa oficial da criação do Estado de Israel.
No léxico ocidental e sionista, o Estado de Israel é apresentado como a “pátria milenar” dos judeus, dos judeus que expulsos da sua “pátria” há mais de mil anos e a ela terem regressado, para já na nossa era a terem ocupado “pacificamente”. Reza ainda este “mito” oficial que antes de 1948 os judeus eram um povo sem território, de a palestina ser à época um território sem habitantes, território para onde regressaram contra todas as adversidades e, de como David num mundo de Golias, estarem rodeados de bárbaros e celerados que outro propósito não têm que não o da destruição de Israel. Israel, um oásis de democracia e civilidade cercado de selvajaria empenhada na sua aniquilação. E o seu povo, o povo eleito, com o “dever bíblico” de preparar a vinda do Messias, a do verdadeiro Messias.
Esta é a narrativa oficial do Estado de Israel, da pátria sionista, e, em parte, a narrativa “ocidental”. É a que diariamente preenche os noticiários e o comentário político e, invariavelmente, a do discurso oficial dos líderes ocidentais. É a narrativa do “politicamente correto”, a que alinha as convicções inculcadas no nosso superego.
A versão idílica de Israel, um oásis cercado por “desalmados”, era também a leitura que eu próprio fazia dos acontecimentos do médio oriente. Se há um par de anos tivesse de escolher “um dos lados”, era seguramente a versão israelita a que se me colava. Nem mesmo a leitura de autores que criticavam a bondade do Estado de Israel tinha abalado as minhas convicções. Contudo, já tinha tido um “clique”, uma abertura para uma realidade que intuía camuflada e dissonante da propalada pelos noticiários.
O meu afastamento dessa “versão” oficial da história de Israel creio que se iniciou com a leitura de “Palestina – Uma Biografia”, de Rashid Khalidi, sobrinho-neto do líder palestiniano, “Mayor” de Jerusalém, que nos finais do século XIX, em troca de correspondência com os líderes sionistas, os alertava para a crise demográfica e o risco de genocídio que resultaria de uma política de recolocação de judeus na palestina. «Em nome de Deus, que a Palestina seja deixada em paz», é desta forma que Yousef al-Khalidi, termina a carta enviada em 1899 a Theodore Herzl, onde explicava que a Palestina tinha população própria e advertia para os perigos que se aproximavam. Após a leitura deste livro, ninguém pode ficar indiferente.
Ainda que muitos vejam na geopolítica internacional um “complot” contra o ocidente, o que frequentemente é acertado, para se entender as causas é necessário recuar às origens. O actual conflito Israelo-palestiniano é claramente uma agressão contra os valores do ocidente, mas não foi assim que se iniciou. Posso não ser conhecedor de toda a história, mas quem se recusar a sair da sua zona de conforto e olhar apenas para os sintomas, tem seguramente uma visão enviesada do conflito. “Palestina – Uma Biografia”, um livro que desafio a ler antes de enveredar numa critica fácil e alinhada. Leia-o, vai ver que não morde!
Como referi, com a leitura deste livro, as convicções que tinha sobre a atitude de Israel ficaram irremediavelmente abaladas. Aqui chegado, e se alguma dúvida subsistisse, Ilan Pappé eliminou com factos, datas e numa análise objetiva da história dos últimos 150 anos, qualquer “crença” que ainda se me sobrasse da “bondade” de Israel.
A ocupação da Palestina pelos judeus, na primeira metade do século XX, assemelhou-se a uma acção “colonial de povoamento” do movimento sionista. Segundo o relato ocidental e israelita, esta ocupação é habitualmente descrita como pacífica e tranquila. Porém, como poderia ter sido pacifica ou tranquila quando milhares se viram expropriados dos seus bens, quando outros tantos foram arrancados do conforto no anonimato da noite e viram, num virar de página, a sua segurança esboroar-se como um castelo de areia em noite invernosa? Mães viram os filhos arrancados do aconchego, pais sentiram-se culpados por não garantirem a segurança aos seus, idosos olhavam perplexos para um cenário que nunca tinham imaginado, e as crianças, essas, choravam por as terem acordado para aquele pesadelo. A “Nakba”, a catástrofe, ocorrida em 1948, após a saída do exército britânico da Palestina e nos dias que se seguiram ao reconhecimento da independência do Estado de Israel, foi um período onde o “cataclismo” que se abateu sobre o povo palestiniano está na origem dos acontecimentos passados e os ocorridos a 07 de outubro de 2023. Quando António Guterres, Secretário das Nações Unidas disse que o ataque do Hamas não ocorreu num vácuo (expressão, curiosamente também utilizada por Ilan Pappé), tenta corrigir o que tem sido e é a narrativa oficial.
O primeiro mito desfeito por Ilan Pappé, é o da palestina ser uma terra deserta. Uma terra de ninguém. Não o era. Desde a ocupação Otomana em 1517, que a palestina era uma terra fértil, com uma economia agrícola significativa, uma terra povoada. Para quem lá vivia era uma geografia economicamente viável. E não era um território desértico. Em 1878 a palestina tinha quase meio milhão de habitantes que se distribuíam por 87% de muçulmanos, 10% de cristãos e 3% de judeus. Era uma comunidade predominantemente muçulmana, mas que tolerava a diversidade religiosa. À época, uma peregrinação à Terra Santa era um feito, uma grande jornada, mas em momento algum se sentia ameaça acrescida por se calcorrear “terras infiéis” – A Relíquia de Eça de Queirós e muitos outros assim a retratam.
Mas se era um território com um povoamento ajustado, por que se precipitaram políticos, nações, povos, em alterar o que era estável e assim deveria ter permanecido?
O Estado de Israel e o projecto sionista foi inicialmente um plano de raiz cristã. Alimentado pela reforma e contra-reforma, foi em particular uma proposta de sectores protestantes que profetizavam para o início do terceiro milénio uma nova vinda do Messias. Uma vinda que deveria ser preparada com o regresso dos judeus à “Judia”. Se de início este regresso foi um projecto protestante, rapidamente foi aproveitado por políticos ocidentais que à época preferiam ter uma Palestina judaica a uma outra mais muçulmana. O projecto sionista tem assim uma origem cristã, bíblica e só posteriormente foi transformado num projeto secular. O clima da deslocação maciça de judeus para a terra prometida iniciou-se como uma “cruzada discreta”.
Só nos finais do século XIX, e com os esforços de Theodore Herzl, é que a ideia de uma Palestina judaica começa a ganhar adeptos entre os judeus e se assume como um projecto secular. É por esta altura que Yousef al-Khalidi escreve aos líderes sionistas uma missiva que empresta a expressão que dá título ao presente texto.
Esta “colonização de povoamento” foi inicialmente assumida por judeus seculares, que no espírito do liberalismo e das ideias socialistas de então, apadrinharam a deslocação para a palestina de vários milhares de judeus oriundos do mundo anglófono (predominantemente o partido trabalhista) e do mundo marxista. Israel tem assim uma origem com um misto de socialismo e redenção religiosa alicerçada na segunda vinda do Messias. Esta origem explica a organização social israelita, que é muito semelhante à das organizações marxistas, enquanto as suas ligações bíblicas promovem um apego à terra e ao seu cultivo. Esta é a origem dos “Kibutz” e da sua organiza��ão social.
A criação do Estado de Israel surge em resposta a problemas religiosos, mas também de política externa e de geopolítica em oposição ao Império Otomano. Foi um processo que congregou interesses ocidentais e judaicos, mas que nunca olhou para os autóctones e populações indígenas como um obstáculo. E tudo resulta das decisões de então e de um projeto de “colonização” que passou a forma de letra no acordo de Sykes–Picot (1916) e na declaração de Balfour (1917). Esta é a origem do Estado de Israel, mas, para a história avulsa, a sua implementação surge como tendo resultado da perseguição dos judeus na europa nazi. E esta versão oficial é um mito que surge como chantagem emocional, um complexo de culpa que fez que durante décadas as populações autóctones tenham sido esquecidas. Surge como uma “indemnização” às vítimas do holocausto, um ressarcimento contado apenas pela “cereja no topo do bolo” sem nunca se mencionar que o território não estava devoluto.
Todo o resto ocorre com o fim do mandato britânico. Após 14 de maio de 1948, David Ben Gurion e o novo poder instalado usam a força como modo de ocupar o território e transformar o que décadas antes era uma população minoritária, no novo Estado de Israel, um Estado maioritariamente judaico e sionista. Só que para acolher todos os recém-chegados era necessário “acondicioná-los”. E o governo Israelita nunca se poupou a esforços. É neste contexto que ocorreu o massacre de Deir Yassin e a “Nakba”, uma catástrofe que resultou à altura no maior movimento de desalojados após a IIGM. Houve expropriações, nacionalizações, deslocações e outras atitudes de maior músculo sempre que estas iniciativas encontravam alguma resistência.
Após a “Nakba”, a narrativa oficial passou a acomodar o princípio de dois estados, o retorno dos desalojados “às suas casas e propriedades” e a devolução dos territórios ocupados após 1948. Esta era a posição oficial, mas na prática funcionou apenas como propaganda. A realidade era bem diferente. Enquanto perante a opinião internacional as entidades oficiais israelitas se mostravam condescendentes com as aspirações palestinianas, na prática tudo faziam para inviabilizar o discurso oficial, ora limitando as opções dos palestinianos, ora procrastinando os compromissos que publicamente se assumiam. Uma política de duas faces e de dissimulação das verdadeiras intenções.
Ilan Pappé dá-nos vários exemplos desta dissimulação e hipocrisia. O mais relevante parece-me ser o do território da margem ocidental do rio Jordão. As autoridades israelitas pretendiam que este território, a Cisjordânia, fosse integrado na Jordânia. Contudo, a transferência de soberania nunca ocorreu e só posteriormente, nos acordos de Oslo é que este território foi reconhecido por Israel como integrado no Estado Palestiniano. Porém, o conceito de soberania era parco e estava limitado a aspectos fiscais e outros de gestão corrente como educação e saúde. Um exército, meios de defesa e segurança interna, liberdade para as posições internacionais eram “liberalidades” sempre recusadas aos líderes palestinianos. Para além deste logro, há ainda a somar a autorização constante de novos colonatos – Kibutz – na Cisjordânia. Quem atualmente olhar para o mapa da região vai ficar impressionado com a quantidade de “ilhas” e espaços ocupados por colonos israelitas. Uma falácia!
O outro território, a faixa de Gaza, é uma prisão a céu aberto. Inicialmente Gaza era governada por elementos da Autoridade Palestiniana num governo secular. Com a morte de Arafat, a multiplicação de casos de corrupção, e os acordos de Oslo, vistos pelos palestinianos como uma traição, as populações viraram-se para quem lhes deu esperança e empoderaram um movimento religioso. Se os israelitas se reclamavam do direito de ocupar aquele território, bramindo o “Velho Testamento”, agora os palestinianos iam também erguer o seu “Livro Sagrado” e de acordo com uma interpretação teocrática iam combater o inimigo sionista. Estava lançado o mote para as intifadas e os acontecimentos de 07 de outubro.
No que respeita à pressão de novos colonatos, a faixa de Gaza sofria inicialmente da mesma pressão da observada na Cisjordânia. Esta política de colonização, cessou em 2004, quando Ariel Sharon anunciou a retirada dos colonatos israelitas da faixa de Gaza. A comunidade internacional viu este gesto como um passo para a aceitação do princípio de dois Estados. Este gesto de “boa vontade” podia contudo ter outra interpretação e, eventualmente, outras intenções. Premeditada ou não, a retirada dos colonos de Gaza serviu para construir uma prisão a céu aberto, um espaço controlado do exterior e assim sufocado economicamente. Era o cenário ideal para um genocídio. Foi premonitório.
A pressão israelita em Gaza e o reduzido crédito que as populações davam à OLP e à sua fação da Al-Fatah, este em resultado do acordo de Oslo e os inúmeros casos de corrupção, foram agravos que fizeram deslocar o sentido popular para um movimento religioso, uma esperança de combater o “livro com o livro”. O Hamas fundado por Ahmed Yassin, um movimento sunita com raízes na irmandade muçulmana Egípcia, cavalgou esta oportunidade e assumiu o poder. Ganhou nas urnas e não há qualquer evidência que sugira que tenha perdido esse apoio.
Outro aspecto que frequentemente é relatado com contornos míticos é a forma como a narrativa oficial relata os conflitos que Israel travou com os seus países vizinhos. Ao contrário da descrição oficial israelita e ocidental, as guerras dos “Seis Dias” e a do “Yom Kippur” foram acontecimentos previstos. Previstos não no sentido de se saber pormenores, mas sabia-se que, quando se limitasse a circulação, o abastecimento de água, ou houvesse qualquer iniciativa que colocasse em risco as necessidades básicas dos países vizinhos, estes iram reagir. As reacções estavam previstas e se foram provocadas é porque de alguma forma seriam úteis. E foram! Sempre que houve um ataque de países vizinhos, ou quando os habitantes dos guetos palestinianos recorreram a actos violentos ou interpretados como potencialmente agressivos, a resposta israelita foi sempre avassaladora e terminou num aumento de território, expansão de colonatos e redução da população palestiniana. Fazendo fé nos boatos que circulam e nos antecedentes, é bem provável que Israel tivesse uma previsão, ainda que aproximada, do que ocorreu em 07 de Outubro. Só que este provocou cerca de 1200 mortos e um número indeterminado, mas seguramente superior a 200, de sequestrados. Foi uma carnificina, uma catástrofe, mas rapidamente foi aproveitada para acelerar o “extermínio possível” da população de Gaza.
Em Gaza todos são terroristas. Nisso concordamos. A discordância vem apenas da análise das causas que lhes estão subjacentes. Os palestinianos, apoiam-se em convicções religiosas para combaterem um inimigo que tem nome de David mas comportamento de Golias. Porém as atrocidades que os palestinianos cometeram e cometem, e que as cometeram não tenho dúvidas, não legitima a chacina a que assistimos diariamente.
Ilan Pappé termina o seu livro abordando a ideia corrente de no futuro a Palestina poder ser um território com dois Estados. Um mito que o autor descreve como uma falácia. E tem razão! Basta consultar um mapa para se entender que desde 1948, Israel passou de uma ocupação de menos de 5% para mais de 90% antes de 07 de Outubro de 2023. Mesmo que os palestinianos mantenham o seu actual território, que Estado vão ter? Que soberania lhe vai ser permitida? Como vai ser possível fazer de uma Cisjordânia retalhada entre colonatos e muros, um Estado? Como construir um Estado num território tão “esburacado”? Funciona para queijos, não funciona para Estados!
É óbvio que a solução de dois Estados nunca vai funcionar. Israel nunca vai permitir um Estado Palestiniano soberano e os palestinianos nunca irão aceitar “as migalhas” oferecidas. Também não parece possível que a história retroceda um século. Isso nunca acontece.
Aqui chegados, só uma de três soluções é possível. Ou tudo acaba no extermínio de uma das partes, dos palestinianos mais provavelmente, ou ambas as partes aceitam um Estado laico onde a religião é assunto do íntimo de cada um e onde todos têm os mesmos direitos, deveres e dignidade. A terceira é a do perpetuar do actual estado de coisas.
«Em nome de Deus, que a Palestina seja deixada em paz», foi um pedido que, feito há mais de século, é aos dias de hoje a única atitude cristã possível.
December 25, 2023
Ilan Pappe's Ten Myths About Israel is a must-read, very readable book if you're interested about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Peppe is an Israeli who has written numerous books about the conflict. In Ten Myths About Israel, Pappe blows apart ten myths that have gained traction since the early days of the Israelis' ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
One myth is "A Land without People for a People without Land." The Israeli occupiers claim that Palestine was devoid of people when they occupied it, but nothing could be more false. Pappe explains how Palestinians had been living in Palestine for generations and how the Israelis took the over the land through ethnic cleansing by murdering, maiming, and ejecting Palestinians from their homes. In fact, if you dig beneath Jewish homes in certain areas, you'll discover the remains of the Palestinians' homes.
Other chapters explode myths such as "The Jews Were a People Without a Land," "The Palestinians Voluntarily Left their Homeland in 1948," and "Israel Is the only Democracy in the Middle East."
Pappe wrote the book in 2017, but the book is still highly relevant to what is still happening to the Palestinians in Israel today.
One myth is "A Land without People for a People without Land." The Israeli occupiers claim that Palestine was devoid of people when they occupied it, but nothing could be more false. Pappe explains how Palestinians had been living in Palestine for generations and how the Israelis took the over the land through ethnic cleansing by murdering, maiming, and ejecting Palestinians from their homes. In fact, if you dig beneath Jewish homes in certain areas, you'll discover the remains of the Palestinians' homes.
Other chapters explode myths such as "The Jews Were a People Without a Land," "The Palestinians Voluntarily Left their Homeland in 1948," and "Israel Is the only Democracy in the Middle East."
Pappe wrote the book in 2017, but the book is still highly relevant to what is still happening to the Palestinians in Israel today.
November 6, 2024
"This is not a balanced book; it is yet another attempt to redress the balance of power on behalf of the colonized, occupied, and oppressed Palestinians"
We should all educate ourselves on the Palestinian struggle but first we need to decolonise our minds on all the myths we have have been fed as undeniable truth and the justification of all the actions undertaken by Israhell for more than 76 years. And this book is not a bad place to start since it offered a concise, clear introduction to anyone who genuinely want to learn.
On a personal note, I wish I had this book in 2014, to slap my history teacher with , to give it to my History teacher for accusing me of being biased on the Palestinian issue because of my religion.
We should all educate ourselves on the Palestinian struggle but first we need to decolonise our minds on all the myths we have have been fed as undeniable truth and the justification of all the actions undertaken by Israhell for more than 76 years. And this book is not a bad place to start since it offered a concise, clear introduction to anyone who genuinely want to learn.
On a personal note, I wish I had this book in 2014,
March 6, 2024
the only truth about israel is that it has no right to exist
apart from his personal views on the two state solution discourse where he hopes for the “incorporation of the settlers” in a one state, ilan does again a good job in putting the settler colony of israel against a historically rich landscape that testifies against its illegal and immoral existence.
apart from his personal views on the two state solution discourse where he hopes for the “incorporation of the settlers” in a one state, ilan does again a good job in putting the settler colony of israel against a historically rich landscape that testifies against its illegal and immoral existence.
Currently reading
November 7, 2024✌️𝙋𝙧𝙚-𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 :
𝙋𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙖 🍉
𝙋𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙖 🍉
November 11, 2024
كتاب مهم في معرفة القضية ويعتبر بداية كويسة واساس لكتب اكبر واهم بعده
المختصر المفيد ومعلومات مهمة جدا في تاريخ القضية الفلسطينية والعدو الصهيوني المغتصب
المختصر المفيد ومعلومات مهمة جدا في تاريخ القضية الفلسطينية والعدو الصهيوني المغتصب
January 27, 2024
Quando procuro obras de não-ficção que tratam sobre acontecimentos históricos, políticos e sociais, o que exige fatos e mais fatos, referências e mais referências, quase sempre me perco completamente nas várias notas de rodapé que, para mim, são como um ciclo sem fim e, muita das vezes, não me levam a lugar nenhum. Então é interessante quando o autor sabe utilizá-las para direcionar o leitor para uma fonte de conhecimentos e informações mais amplas. Dez mitos sobre Israel, é um livro bem escrito e objetivo, e isso foi um ponto muito positivo para mim, que não compreendo totalmente o conflito israelo-palestino. Ilan Pappé apresenta os mitos sobre uma perspectiva de contra argumentação e questionamento da veracidade desses mitos (considerados e difundidos como uma verdade absoluta...)
O fato é, que no cenário atual, Dez mitos sobre Israel é uma obra indispensável para quem busca compreender esse conflito. Recomendo muito a leitura.
Israel, como Estado colonialista de povoamento, tem por tendência implícita o desejo de ocultar seus atos de eliminação, sobretudo em tempos nos quais o colonialismo é visto com maus olhos, e mais ainda para um país que alardeia ser “a única democracia no Oriente Médio” e um “Estado judeu e democrático”.
O fato é, que no cenário atual, Dez mitos sobre Israel é uma obra indispensável para quem busca compreender esse conflito. Recomendo muito a leitura.
November 13, 2023
The problem with myth busting books like this is that the only people who read them don't believe the myths in the first place. I'm still glad I read it. I suppose it'll help me talk to people who are on the fence about what's happening out of ignorance.
The problem is that my circle is self selecting - I suspect this is true for a lot of my friends and followers here. The only people I know who support Israel are hardline family friends who are dead set in their opinions. It'll help me return fire when they start screaming at me over my Instagram posts when we all get together for "Jewish Christmas" - Chinese food - this year, but I'd rather just stay home.
The problem is that my circle is self selecting - I suspect this is true for a lot of my friends and followers here. The only people I know who support Israel are hardline family friends who are dead set in their opinions. It'll help me return fire when they start screaming at me over my Instagram posts when we all get together for "Jewish Christmas" - Chinese food - this year, but I'd rather just stay home.
September 21, 2020
كتاب قصير لكنه غاية الافادة ويمكن الاطلاع على مزيد من التفاصيل من خلال كتب أخرى.
انحاز المؤلف للحق رغم اختلاف الهوية بحث بحق عن الحقوق المهدرة والاكاذيب والخرافات التي صنعتها الدولة الصهيونية وصدقها الكثيرون شرقا وغربا.
أنصح بقراءته بشدة.
انحاز المؤلف للحق رغم اختلاف الهوية بحث بحق عن الحقوق المهدرة والاكاذيب والخرافات التي صنعتها الدولة الصهيونية وصدقها الكثيرون شرقا وغربا.
أنصح بقراءته بشدة.
October 14, 2023
بابيه أفصح في إحدى المقابلات ماذكره بكتاب يصف مسيرته"خارج النطاق"، أنه اكتشف وهو يعد رسالة الدكتوراه أرشيف 1000 أمر عسكري لتدمير قرى فلسطينية مؤرخة جميعها قبل مايو 1948، ماجعله يشكك في مصداقية الرواية الصهيونية.
الكتاب مقسم إلى ثلاثة أجزاء: مغالطات الماضي، مغالطات الحاضر ونظرة الى المستقبل.
يدحض من خلالها مع البراهين الافكار الرئيسية التالية والتي نعتها "بالخرافات":
❌فلسطين كانت أرضًا خالية
❌اليهود كانوا شعبًا بلا أرض
❌الصهيونية هي اليهودية
❌الصهيونية ليست حركة استعمارية
❌الفلسطينيون غادروا وطنهم طوعًا عام 1948
❌حرب 1967 كانت حربًا لا بد منها!
❌إسرائيل هي الدولة الديمقراطية الوحيدة في الشرق الأوسط
❌خرافات أوسلو
❌خرافات غزة
❌حل الدولتين هو السبيل الوحيد للمضي قدمًا
"بدءًا من العام 2006 في الحقيقة، بعد شن عملية الرصاص المصبوب عام 2009، آثرت أن اطلق على السياسة الاسرائيلية<إبادة تصاعدية> لقد ترددت قبل استخدام هذا المصطلح المشحون عاطفيًا، … لكني عدت لاستخدامه مؤخرًا تتملكني قناعة أكبر فهذا المصطلح هو الطريقة الوحيدة المناسبة لوصف ما كان الجيش الاسرائيلي يقوم به في قطاع غزة منذ 2006”
▪️فلسطين لم تكن أرضًا خالية، والشعب اليهودي كانت لهم أوطانهم، وقد تم استعمار فلسطين لا استردادها، كما تم طرد شعبها عام 1948، ولم يغادروا طواعية. إن الشعوب المستعمَر، حتى وفق ميثاق الامم المتحدة، لديها الحق كي تناضل من اجل التحرر.
شهادة ممن خدم كجندي، طُرد من جامعة حيفا فلجأ لبريطانيا، شهادة " منهم وفيهم" تستحق القراءة والاطلاع لكل مشكك في الحقيقة.
الكتاب مقسم إلى ثلاثة أجزاء: مغالطات الماضي، مغالطات الحاضر ونظرة الى المستقبل.
يدحض من خلالها مع البراهين الافكار الرئيسية التالية والتي نعتها "بالخرافات":
❌فلسطين كانت أرضًا خالية
❌اليهود كانوا شعبًا بلا أرض
❌الصهيونية هي اليهودية
❌الصهيونية ليست حركة استعمارية
❌الفلسطينيون غادروا وطنهم طوعًا عام 1948
❌حرب 1967 كانت حربًا لا بد منها!
❌إسرائيل هي الدولة الديمقراطية الوحيدة في الشرق الأوسط
❌خرافات أوسلو
❌خرافات غزة
❌حل الدولتين هو السبيل الوحيد للمضي قدمًا
"بدءًا من العام 2006 في الحقيقة، بعد شن عملية الرصاص المصبوب عام 2009، آثرت أن اطلق على السياسة الاسرائيلية<إبادة تصاعدية> لقد ترددت قبل استخدام هذا المصطلح المشحون عاطفيًا، … لكني عدت لاستخدامه مؤخرًا تتملكني قناعة أكبر فهذا المصطلح هو الطريقة الوحيدة المناسبة لوصف ما كان الجيش الاسرائيلي يقوم به في قطاع غزة منذ 2006”
▪️فلسطين لم تكن أرضًا خالية، والشعب اليهودي كانت لهم أوطانهم، وقد تم استعمار فلسطين لا استردادها، كما تم طرد شعبها عام 1948، ولم يغادروا طواعية. إن الشعوب المستعمَر، حتى وفق ميثاق الامم المتحدة، لديها الحق كي تناضل من اجل التحرر.
شهادة ممن خدم كجندي، طُرد من جامعة حيفا فلجأ لبريطانيا، شهادة " منهم وفيهم" تستحق القراءة والاطلاع لكل مشكك في الحقيقة.
October 28, 2023
Libro assolutamente fondamentale nel momento attuale, ma a dire il vero sempre. Ilan Pappé, storico ebreo e israeliano, sfata 10 miti sul suo paese, miti che continuano ancora oggi e che vengono mandati avanti anche da politici stranieri. C'è una denuncia chiara e con fonti/prove del trattamento della popolazione palestinese. Perché se non si parte dal contesto (che viene spesso ignorato) si finisce a credere alle bugie. Questo testo è prezioso (come molte altre opere dell'autore) 🇵🇸❤️
October 14, 2024
ده غلط مشهور درباره پدیدهای که تمامش غلط است! شاید حتی غده سرطانی هم جایگزین خوبی برای اسرائیل نباشد.
ایلان پاپه مورخ اسرائیلی و معتقد به راهحل دوکشور، پیشنهاد میده که بیایم غلطهایی که راجب اسرائیل در ذهن داریم رو تصحیح کنیم تا بتونیم این نزاع رو برطرف کنیم به راهحل برسیم. اما دقیقا من نفهمیدم چیشد...ایلان پاپه غلطهایی راجب اسرائیل رو اصلاح میکنه که انگار داره حکم به نابودیش میده...انگار که حتی بخواد با این کتاب مشروعیتزدایی بکنه...
میدونید در صفحه ۲۴۵ کتاب، ایلان پاپه ابراز پشیمانی میکنه درباره اینکه کتابی با نام "جنگ علیه غزه" نوشته؟ چون معتقده بعد از سال ۲۰۰۶ اسرائیل سیاست "قتلعامروبهگسترش" رو در پیش گرفته نه صرفا جنگ! نویسنده خیلی خیلی قبلتر از طوفانالاقصی به این ن��یجه رسیده.
خوشبختانه تمام منابع این کتاب موجوده و میشه بررسیش کرد. ولی من پیشنهاد میدم مشاهده کنید. برای تایید این کتاب فقط مشاهده این یک سالی که گذشت کافیه.
خوندن این کتاب برام خیلی طول کشید. تو این زمان رهبر حماس رو از دست دادیم، رهبر حزبالله و خیلی از شخصیتهای اثرگذار مقاومت. تو کتاب چندبار اشاره شده که برای اسرائیل همیشه ترور شخصیتها یک استراتژی محبوب بوده به این امید ک�� با از بین رفتن اون شخص، آتش برافروخته شده سرد میشه. اما تا الان با شکست مواجه بوده.
اولین کتاب درباره فلسطین بازگشت به رامالله بود که نپسندیدم چون هیچی نمیدونستم و نمیفهمیدم. الانم هیچی نمیدونم حتی. ولی این کتاب از این جهت که باهات جوری رفتار میکنه که باید همه پیشفرضات رو کنار بزاری و از اول شروع کنی، کتاب خیلی خوبیه.
ایلان پاپه مورخ اسرائیلی و معتقد به راهحل دوکشور، پیشنهاد میده که بیایم غلطهایی که راجب اسرائیل در ذهن داریم رو تصحیح کنیم تا بتونیم این نزاع رو برطرف کنیم به راهحل برسیم. اما دقیقا من نفهمیدم چیشد...ایلان پاپه غلطهایی راجب اسرائیل رو اصلاح میکنه که انگار داره حکم به نابودیش میده...انگار که حتی بخواد با این کتاب مشروعیتزدایی بکنه...
میدونید در صفحه ۲۴۵ کتاب، ایلان پاپه ابراز پشیمانی میکنه درباره اینکه کتابی با نام "جنگ علیه غزه" نوشته؟ چون معتقده بعد از سال ۲۰۰۶ اسرائیل سیاست "قتلعامروبهگسترش" رو در پیش گرفته نه صرفا جنگ! نویسنده خیلی خیلی قبلتر از طوفانالاقصی به این ن��یجه رسیده.
خوشبختانه تمام منابع این کتاب موجوده و میشه بررسیش کرد. ولی من پیشنهاد میدم مشاهده کنید. برای تایید این کتاب فقط مشاهده این یک سالی که گذشت کافیه.
خوندن این کتاب برام خیلی طول کشید. تو این زمان رهبر حماس رو از دست دادیم، رهبر حزبالله و خیلی از شخصیتهای اثرگذار مقاومت. تو کتاب چندبار اشاره شده که برای اسرائیل همیشه ترور شخصیتها یک استراتژی محبوب بوده به این امید ک�� با از بین رفتن اون شخص، آتش برافروخته شده سرد میشه. اما تا الان با شکست مواجه بوده.
اولین کتاب درباره فلسطین بازگشت به رامالله بود که نپسندیدم چون هیچی نمیدونستم و نمیفهمیدم. الانم هیچی نمیدونم حتی. ولی این کتاب از این جهت که باهات جوری رفتار میکنه که باید همه پیشفرضات رو کنار بزاری و از اول شروع کنی، کتاب خیلی خوبیه.
November 2, 2023
"There is nothing like a war in the south to convince young Israelis to stop protesting and go out and defend their homeland. It had worked before, and it worked this time as well"
"The charade will end soon, peacefully or violently, but either way painfully. It seems that nothing is going to stop Israel now from completing its colonization of the West Bank and continuing its siege on Gaza. This might be achieved with international blessing, but there are quite enough politicians in Israel who seem willing to proceed without that blessing. In either case, Israel will need to use brutal force to implement its vision of a “solution”: annexing half of the West Bank, ghettoizing the other half as well as the Gaza Strip, and imposing an apartheid regime of a sort on its own Palestinian citizens. Such a situation will render any discourse on the two-states solution irrelevant and obsolete."
I'm reading this during a new escalation of horrific violence by Israel against Palestinians, many previous examples of which the book goes into. I picked it as a shortish introduction to something I've always had a side in because of the obvious immorality of the present events but which I didn't have good knowledge of the background. It has issues, mainly due to the shortness which makes it an unfair criticism heh, but, especially on 1948 and after, it's a powerful, compelling and excoriating survey that convincingly makes the case that Israel has consistently committed extreme injustice and death against Palestinians that was inevitable from the start of the settler-colonial project for an exclusively Jewish state.
The first 4 chapters are a little weaker in that they sometimes gloss over some of the arguments Zionists would use or focus on maybe the wrong thing in the limited space. For example, he brings up the mufti Hajj Amin al-Husayni's collaboration with the Nazis but basically waves it off in a way that left me, inclined to be pretty sympathetic but with little knowledge of the details, more concerned about the issue than before! Again, part of my issues here are limited space. Trying to realistically deal with, for example, the origins of Zionism, the formation of the concept of Jewish nationhood, all the details of how they interacted with empires and Christian Zionists, in 15 pages or so is obviously going to be difficult. There's a lot of good info here still which at least provides an alternative narrative, it's just it likely won't be fully convincing to someone questioning Zionist arguments about the state's formation.
The rest though, like I say, is thoroughly convincing (even if again, short intro). It's hard to comprehend the violence inflicted by Israel on Palestinians, the extent to which "peace plans" have been sabotaged by the impossible requirements imposed by Israel, the permanent status of not being full citizens of anywhere that Palestinians have been subjected to... there's so much and it's enough to make you incredibly angry and frustrated at the dominant narratives around it. Great read.
"The charade will end soon, peacefully or violently, but either way painfully. It seems that nothing is going to stop Israel now from completing its colonization of the West Bank and continuing its siege on Gaza. This might be achieved with international blessing, but there are quite enough politicians in Israel who seem willing to proceed without that blessing. In either case, Israel will need to use brutal force to implement its vision of a “solution”: annexing half of the West Bank, ghettoizing the other half as well as the Gaza Strip, and imposing an apartheid regime of a sort on its own Palestinian citizens. Such a situation will render any discourse on the two-states solution irrelevant and obsolete."
I'm reading this during a new escalation of horrific violence by Israel against Palestinians, many previous examples of which the book goes into. I picked it as a shortish introduction to something I've always had a side in because of the obvious immorality of the present events but which I didn't have good knowledge of the background. It has issues, mainly due to the shortness which makes it an unfair criticism heh, but, especially on 1948 and after, it's a powerful, compelling and excoriating survey that convincingly makes the case that Israel has consistently committed extreme injustice and death against Palestinians that was inevitable from the start of the settler-colonial project for an exclusively Jewish state.
The first 4 chapters are a little weaker in that they sometimes gloss over some of the arguments Zionists would use or focus on maybe the wrong thing in the limited space. For example, he brings up the mufti Hajj Amin al-Husayni's collaboration with the Nazis but basically waves it off in a way that left me, inclined to be pretty sympathetic but with little knowledge of the details, more concerned about the issue than before! Again, part of my issues here are limited space. Trying to realistically deal with, for example, the origins of Zionism, the formation of the concept of Jewish nationhood, all the details of how they interacted with empires and Christian Zionists, in 15 pages or so is obviously going to be difficult. There's a lot of good info here still which at least provides an alternative narrative, it's just it likely won't be fully convincing to someone questioning Zionist arguments about the state's formation.
The rest though, like I say, is thoroughly convincing (even if again, short intro). It's hard to comprehend the violence inflicted by Israel on Palestinians, the extent to which "peace plans" have been sabotaged by the impossible requirements imposed by Israel, the permanent status of not being full citizens of anywhere that Palestinians have been subjected to... there's so much and it's enough to make you incredibly angry and frustrated at the dominant narratives around it. Great read.
December 15, 2023
يبدو أن هذا الكيان " النتن" قد سطر عبر التاريخ فعلاً عناوين المكر والخداع والتلاعب بالعقول الصغيرة، في كتابه هذا يقوم إيلان بابي وهو كاتب إسرائــ يـ ـلـْي وناشط سياسي بدحض الإدعاءات الكاذبة وأشهر الخرافات التي يزعجنا نشازها من وقت لأخر..
بابيه قسم المحتوى على ثلاثة فصول مابين الماضي والحاضر والمستقبل وفي كلاً منها قدم سردًا تفصيلاً لأشهر الخدع والرد عليها...
وي��دو إن بابيه في حديثه عن غزة وكأنه يتحدث عنها الآن !
تستمر الحكايات ويستمر مسلسل المعاناة الفلسطينية لا ينتهي...
هذه هي الخرافات العشر التي ذكرها بابيه في كتابه:
فلسطين أرض خالية.
اليهـْـْود كانوا شعبا بلا أرض.
الصهيــُْْونية هي اليهودية.
الصهيــُْْونية ليست حركة استعمارية.
الفلسطينيون غادروا وطنهم طوعا.
حرب 1967 فُرضت على إسرائيل
إسرائيل الدولة الديمقراطية الوحيدة في الشرق الأوسط.
خرافات أوسلو
مأساة غزة سببها حركة حماس
حلّ الدولتين هو السبيل الوحيد للسلام
ماذا بعد القراءة ؟
في غزة يُصنع التا��يخ!
#أبجدية_فرح 4/5 🌷📚
#عشر_خرافات_عن_إسرائيل
#إيلان_بابي
#كتاب_في_يد_قارئ
بابيه قسم المحتوى على ثلاثة فصول مابين الماضي والحاضر والمستقبل وفي كلاً منها قدم سردًا تفصيلاً لأشهر الخدع والرد عليها...
وي��دو إن بابيه في حديثه عن غزة وكأنه يتحدث عنها الآن !
تستمر الحكايات ويستمر مسلسل المعاناة الفلسطينية لا ينتهي...
هذه هي الخرافات العشر التي ذكرها بابيه في كتابه:
فلسطين أرض خالية.
اليهـْـْود كانوا شعبا بلا أرض.
الصهيــُْْونية هي اليهودية.
الصهيــُْْونية ليست حركة استعمارية.
الفلسطينيون غادروا وطنهم طوعا.
حرب 1967 فُرضت على إسرائيل
إسرائيل الدولة الديمقراطية الوحيدة في الشرق الأوسط.
خرافات أوسلو
مأساة غزة سببها حركة حماس
حلّ الدولتين هو السبيل الوحيد للسلام
ماذا بعد القراءة ؟
في غزة يُصنع التا��يخ!
#أبجدية_فرح 4/5 🌷📚
#عشر_خرافات_عن_إسرائيل
#إيلان_بابي
#كتاب_في_يد_قارئ
September 17, 2024
"It takes some courage to challenge the foundational myths of one’s own society and state.."
Ilan Pappé
Ilan Pappé
June 13, 2021
probably a basic israeli left set of positions here--nothing really controversial, from my perspective, but nothing earth-shattering, though i was surprised that the palestinian communist party set up the deal between stalin and the czechs to arm the nascent state of israel--good on them. pappe is incidentally not interested in the loftus and aarons theory that the state of israel was recognized by the US and USSR because of the penetration and counter-penetration of Nazi espionage into the soviet union, which then was inherited by the CIA, along with the soviet counter-penetrators and their triple agent israeli loyalists; instead, he extends plausible reasons for the US and USSR to act as they did in 1948.
my outsider perspective is that the state of israel is not very serious about the historicist arguments or the biblical claims or the rights of anyone--but is rather in total lumpenized mode, if a state apparatus can be said to have fallen into lumpenization, regarding its survivalist orientation toward perceived existential threats. after the holocaust, the world is only zombies, and state of israel has adopted the rightwing hobbesian assumptions that the uncritical think appropriate to the zombie apocalypse.
my outsider perspective is that the state of israel is not very serious about the historicist arguments or the biblical claims or the rights of anyone--but is rather in total lumpenized mode, if a state apparatus can be said to have fallen into lumpenization, regarding its survivalist orientation toward perceived existential threats. after the holocaust, the world is only zombies, and state of israel has adopted the rightwing hobbesian assumptions that the uncritical think appropriate to the zombie apocalypse.
April 20, 2023
Kaip kuriami politiniai mitai? Kaip perrašoma, modifikuojama ir deformuojama istorija rusijoje - matom ir pastebim kone visi. O kas vyksta Izraelyje?
Kiek demokratijos šioje "demokratiškiausioje šalyje Artimuosiuose Rytuose"? Kiek teisėta biblijinė "teisė" į pažadėtąją žemę? Ar holokausto naratyvas nenaudojamas spekuliatyviai? Ar tikrai sionistai įsikūrė tuščioje ir apleistoje žemėje, o Palestinos arabai iš regiono pasitraukė savanoriškai? Kas tas Hamas - ekstremistai ar kovotojai už laisvę?
Puikus žydų istoriko skaitinys norintiems geriau suvokti istorinį kontekstą ir siūlantis kitą žvilgsnio kampą į Izraelio ir Palestinos arabų konfliktą, nei mums formuojamas tarptautinės žiniasklaidos puslapiuose.
"Sionizmas pasisiūlė būti antisemitizmo problemos sprendimu, tačiau iš tiesų tapo pagrindine jo išlikimo priežastimi."
Kiek demokratijos šioje "demokratiškiausioje šalyje Artimuosiuose Rytuose"? Kiek teisėta biblijinė "teisė" į pažadėtąją žemę? Ar holokausto naratyvas nenaudojamas spekuliatyviai? Ar tikrai sionistai įsikūrė tuščioje ir apleistoje žemėje, o Palestinos arabai iš regiono pasitraukė savanoriškai? Kas tas Hamas - ekstremistai ar kovotojai už laisvę?
Puikus žydų istoriko skaitinys norintiems geriau suvokti istorinį kontekstą ir siūlantis kitą žvilgsnio kampą į Izraelio ir Palestinos arabų konfliktą, nei mums formuojamas tarptautinės žiniasklaidos puslapiuose.
"Sionizmas pasisiūlė būti antisemitizmo problemos sprendimu, tačiau iš tiesų tapo pagrindine jo išlikimo priežastimi."
Displaying 1 - 30 of 697 reviews