A review by kosr
The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge by Ilan Pappé
5.0
Brand Israel
A few weeks into reading this book, two Israelis, both male, saw it open in my hands whilst we were travelling on a train into central London. They were visiting the capital for a few days, and, to be frank, were pretty surprised to see someone reading about their country, seeing - as I was to find out - they were fresh off the plane from Heathrow. In all honesty, I handled the encounter terribly. I wasn't truthful about the books content, as well as my feelings toward the Israeli government. The treatment of certain minority groups within Israeli society; it's historic stance toward the Palestinian people; and it's continued aggression toward criticism; all these topics went unmentioned. Perhaps it was my fear of what would happen seeing as I was, for the first time, face-to-face with two men (late 20's / mid 30's) who were from Israel. I know most young Male and Female citizens of Israel see time in the IDF, and as such, I assumed I wouldn't stand a chance physically if anything got heated (not that I assumed they would do such a thing, but I'm a natural worrier). However, in reality I don't believe this is a good enough excuse. One should stick to his / her principles especially in the face of others who might disagree. Despite that shame, I hope to see the experience as a learning curve for the future. One things for certain, I highly doubt they would have been as friendly if they'd known what this book was about.* Another aspect I took from this conversation is to be honest in my convictions regarding what I see and hear about the world around me. As such, I won't hold back from how I feel regarding what I know about the state of Israel from this point forward.
I had no plans to read this book; at least not this year. However, a quick stop off at a bookshop in central London that deals in pretty hard Left material changed that fact pretty quickly. As such, this is my first read through of anything by Ilan Pappe, which wasn't a bad thing as I've wanted to read his work for quite some time. As it stands, I'm really glad I picked up The Idea of Israel .
The short and short of this book goes as follows. If you want to understand the "alternative" history of Israel - one full of dissident academics, poets, writers and filmmakers - then this is the book for you. In fact, this is important enough of a read for me to suggest anyone interested in understanding Israel beyond the propaganda the state / foreign affairs department churn out picking this up.
What Pappe traces through the pages of this text is the rise, fall and almost steroid-like resurrection of the "Idea" of Israel. From classical Zion colonial beginnings, through to the post-Zionist period in which many re-examined just exactly what the state stood for, and finally to what we have now; Neo-Zionism. A jacked up, dangerously celebratory militaristic society that practically admonishes anything or anyone left of Genghis Khan. Whats worse, the state is looking more ethnocentric and Eurocentric by the year. A recent interview by Abby Martin as part of the Empire Files with Israeli citizens only shows how much the pendulum has swung toward rampant nationalism and racist views regarding the 'other' (PLEASE see links in comment).
How Pappe does this is by examining everything outside of the military and government. Historians, Artists, filmmakers and musicians are all under the microscope in these pages. What tapestry the chapters weave gives a clear example of how history is made to fit a states current agenda. Distortion or refusal of other strands of history (in this case, the Palestinians) are but a few points of this issue.
One chilling example is how, as Pappe explains, classical Historians of Zionism would look to ignore or omit certain aspects of Palestinian history (ethnic cleansing for example) in previous decades, whereas now the new curriculum and history sees that same history laid bare, but simply justified as 'right'. It's hard to explain, but it's a new state guided history that almost takes on messianic proportions with regards to Israels existence.
I hope others picks this book up. It's incredibly relevant to today.
* Note: I understand not all Israelis agree with the state of Israel in it's current form. However, as I understand - especially after reading this book- there are few and far between major dissidents that question the mere concept of Israel as an entity, and Zionism as a whole within the general population of the Israel itself (at least vocally). As such, seeing as this is exactly what the author is / does, I find it hard to believe the men in front of me would have agreed with my stance on the state as well as the subject of the book.
A few weeks into reading this book, two Israelis, both male, saw it open in my hands whilst we were travelling on a train into central London. They were visiting the capital for a few days, and, to be frank, were pretty surprised to see someone reading about their country, seeing - as I was to find out - they were fresh off the plane from Heathrow. In all honesty, I handled the encounter terribly. I wasn't truthful about the books content, as well as my feelings toward the Israeli government. The treatment of certain minority groups within Israeli society; it's historic stance toward the Palestinian people; and it's continued aggression toward criticism; all these topics went unmentioned. Perhaps it was my fear of what would happen seeing as I was, for the first time, face-to-face with two men (late 20's / mid 30's) who were from Israel. I know most young Male and Female citizens of Israel see time in the IDF, and as such, I assumed I wouldn't stand a chance physically if anything got heated (not that I assumed they would do such a thing, but I'm a natural worrier). However, in reality I don't believe this is a good enough excuse. One should stick to his / her principles especially in the face of others who might disagree. Despite that shame, I hope to see the experience as a learning curve for the future. One things for certain, I highly doubt they would have been as friendly if they'd known what this book was about.* Another aspect I took from this conversation is to be honest in my convictions regarding what I see and hear about the world around me. As such, I won't hold back from how I feel regarding what I know about the state of Israel from this point forward.
I had no plans to read this book; at least not this year. However, a quick stop off at a bookshop in central London that deals in pretty hard Left material changed that fact pretty quickly. As such, this is my first read through of anything by Ilan Pappe, which wasn't a bad thing as I've wanted to read his work for quite some time. As it stands, I'm really glad I picked up The Idea of Israel .
The short and short of this book goes as follows. If you want to understand the "alternative" history of Israel - one full of dissident academics, poets, writers and filmmakers - then this is the book for you. In fact, this is important enough of a read for me to suggest anyone interested in understanding Israel beyond the propaganda the state / foreign affairs department churn out picking this up.
What Pappe traces through the pages of this text is the rise, fall and almost steroid-like resurrection of the "Idea" of Israel. From classical Zion colonial beginnings, through to the post-Zionist period in which many re-examined just exactly what the state stood for, and finally to what we have now; Neo-Zionism. A jacked up, dangerously celebratory militaristic society that practically admonishes anything or anyone left of Genghis Khan. Whats worse, the state is looking more ethnocentric and Eurocentric by the year. A recent interview by Abby Martin as part of the Empire Files with Israeli citizens only shows how much the pendulum has swung toward rampant nationalism and racist views regarding the 'other' (PLEASE see links in comment).
How Pappe does this is by examining everything outside of the military and government. Historians, Artists, filmmakers and musicians are all under the microscope in these pages. What tapestry the chapters weave gives a clear example of how history is made to fit a states current agenda. Distortion or refusal of other strands of history (in this case, the Palestinians) are but a few points of this issue.
One chilling example is how, as Pappe explains, classical Historians of Zionism would look to ignore or omit certain aspects of Palestinian history (ethnic cleansing for example) in previous decades, whereas now the new curriculum and history sees that same history laid bare, but simply justified as 'right'. It's hard to explain, but it's a new state guided history that almost takes on messianic proportions with regards to Israels existence.
I hope others picks this book up. It's incredibly relevant to today.
* Note: I understand not all Israelis agree with the state of Israel in it's current form. However, as I understand - especially after reading this book- there are few and far between major dissidents that question the mere concept of Israel as an entity, and Zionism as a whole within the general population of the Israel itself (at least vocally). As such, seeing as this is exactly what the author is / does, I find it hard to believe the men in front of me would have agreed with my stance on the state as well as the subject of the book.