Professional Affiliation

Executive Director, Institute for Palestine Studies; Associate Editor, Journal of Palestine Studies

Expert Bio

As a graduate student of history at Columbia University in the late 1970s, I became interested in problems of historiography of the Arab-Israeli conflict, chiefly the impact of ideology on scholarly writings. It became apparent, in my classes at Columbia, that the thesis and conclusions of term papers that Israeli and Arab students wrote about the conflict were remarkably close to the official versions of their respective countries. I chose to write my dissertation on the Mufti of Jerusalem because the existing biographies were so partisan-written by Zionists who sought to discredit him and by Arab nationalists who lauded him and his cause or criticized him for cooperating with the British-that the historical Mufti was hardly discernible. I spent a year as a Fulbright fellow examining archives in London, Jerusalem, Cairo, and Beirut seeking to discover the real Mufti. I also discovered how distortions are created by Jewish and Arab writers: by using the sources selectively and tailoring the facts to fit their theses, by focusing on parts of the story that support their case and ignoring the part that does not, by reading into history more or less than the data warrants, and by condemning or exonerating, mostly in a subtle academic style. Today, the history of the conflict is still as politicized and polarized as it was two decades ago. It is dominated by Israeli and Palestinian writers and their supporters, who use scholarship against each other in their struggle for historic Palestine. Many scholars, even though armed with the tools of research and analysis and original languages, are so overwhelmed by emotional and ideological considerations that they are incapable of nonpartisan scholarship. Their research and writing seem to be motivated, perhaps unwittingly in most cases, by a political stake in the outcome rather than by rigorous intellectual curiosity and search for the truth. Consequently, there is a fusion between ideology and scholarship that will take decades to untangle. Fortunately, a few Western, Israeli, and Palestinian scholars, relying on archival sources and dedicated to scholarly standards and integrity, have produced since the early 1970s some pioneering works that have filled some of the gaps and set new standards. Since the late 1980s, some Israeli and American Jewish scholars have produced revisionist works that have challenged a few mainly Zionist but also Palestinian distortions and myths. These scholars are the exceptions and they have not covered most periods and fields. Until now there is no generally recognized Palestinian revisionism. My study at the Wilson Center is a step in that direction. I will examine the Palestinian narrative about a number of events in the history of the conflict and will compare it with the official Palestinian versions, and, where relevant, with Israeli and Western versions. I will compare and contrast these versions with the historical record. I do not intend to rewrite the history of the events, but show how writers select their sources and data, what they focus on, and their proximity to both the official positions and the primary sources. My main objective is to show that Palestinian history, like Israeli history, needs revision and higher standards. This study is as much about the past as about the future. Revising history will challenge the very distortions and myths that grew out of the conflict, and, in turn, are contributing to its non-resolution.

 

Expertise

The Arab-Israeli conflict and Palestinian affairs

Wilson Center Project

"Towards Palestinian Revisionism"

Project Summary

There are two major distinct Israeli and Palestinian historical narratives of the Palestine problem and the Arab-Israeli conflict. These narratives are closer to each side's official position than to the historical record. Some Israeli and American Jewish scholars have begun to question the Israeli narrative. The purpose of my study is to examine the Palestinian narrative in general history books, school textbooks, and reference works regarding five events over the past 70 years to determine where and to what extent they vary from the primary sources.

Major Publications

• Editor, Encyclopedia of the Palestinians. New York: Facts On File, 2000.
  
   
• Coeditor, Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East. New York: Macmillan, 1996.
  
   
• The Mufti of Jerusalem: al-Hajj Amin al-Husayni and the Palestinian National Movement. Rev.ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992.