Understanding Israel Palestine

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 Barry Trachtenberg, the Rubin Presidential Chair in Jewish History at Wake Forest University, continues his discussion of the origins and early development of Zionism. A minority movement within Judaism until World War II, Zionism faced opposition from many Jews who believed it transgressed religious law and tradition. It was frequently facilitated by Christian Zionists who saw in Jews' return to Palestine after 2,000 years a fulfilment of Christian eschatology and a way of resolving what some saw as Jews' problematic presence in Euopean society.  From its inception, Zionism was a settler-colonial project that reflected European assumptions of cultural superiority.

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In the first of a new series called "What Is Zionism?" Professor Barry Trachtenberg talks to Margot Patterson about the origins of Zionism in the late 1800s. By the turn of the 20th century, Jews living in Eastern Europe had experienced two decades of rising anti-Semitism. Some sought to change the conditions of the societies they lived in; others responded to emerging nationalism in Europe by developing ideologies of Jewish nationalism. Unlike other European peoples, however, Jews lacked territory. Those seeking a place where Jews could gather and establish a state eventually fixed on Palestine, where their quest for land and sovreignty almost immediately brought them into conflict with the people living there.  Trachtenberg holds the Rubin Presidential Chair in Jewish History at Wake Forest University, where he teaches courses on the history of Zionism

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Swarthmore students have faced unprecedented repression in their Palestine solidarity organizing in the past year, despite using tactics embraced in earlier campus struggles. A recent graduate of Swarthmore involved in campus divestment organizing details the double standard that exists at Swarthmore for Palestine-related speech. Students speaking out against the Gaza genocide, many of them low-income and/or people of color, face an array of administrative charges in an internal justice system that affords them few rights.

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Michael Lynk, professor of law at the University of Western Ontario and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied by Israel since 1967, discusses international law, Israel's defiance of it and its recent attack on U.N. peacekeeping troops in Lebanon. He notes that undergirding Western support for Israel is the residue of colonialism and the influence of a powerful pro-Israel lobby in the United States.

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Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon are tourism entrepreneurs and peace activists that have been working for peace in Palestine and Israel for years. Hamas militants killed Maoz's parents on October 7th and Israeli prison guards beat Aziz's brother so severely that he died after being released from prison. Recently, they joined forces and are now traveling across the United States speaking about the need for Americans to act now for peace in the Middle East because inaction itself is a risk. They argue that their relationship, built on the basis of equality, offers a path toward reconciliation. The path of violence has led nowhere and the US has forgotten the art of diplomacy in its foreign policy.

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Ret. Ambassador Chas Freeman, Jr., discusses the widening wars in the Middle East, Israel's hegemonic ambitions,  and the catastrophic collapse of U.S. influence in the region as a result of the Biden administration's one-sided, ineffectual diplomacy. By arming and funding Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza and brutal war in Lebanon, the United States is breeding hatred in hundreds of thousands of people who are being bombed by U.S. weapons. He notes that "If you bomb people, they bomb back," and warns of the grave consequences if the United States does not change course.  Freeman was in the U.S. Foreign Service for 30 years. He served as President Nixon’s principal interpreter during Nixon’s ground-breaking visit to China in 1972 and was the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the First Gulf War. He is the author of three books on foreign policy and two books on  diplomacy, 

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Heiko Wimmen of the International Crisis Group details the quickly changing situation in Lebanon and northern Israel after the assassination of Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and Iran's launch of ballistic missiles on Israel. We compare Israel's stated goals and tactics in Gaza with those in Lebanon. Absent a ceasefire in Gaza, Israel is unlikely to achieve its war aims in Lebanon. 

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Margot Patterson talks to Mideast scholar Juan Cole about last week’s dramatic escalation in the year-long cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel's maximalist goals in Lebanon, the history of Hezbollah and how the failure of the Biden administration’s policy on Gaza is scrambling traditional alliances in the Middle East and configuring new ones. Cole is the the Richard P. Mitchell collegiate professor of history at the University of Michigan. He is the author of several books on the history of the Middle East and on Islam. 

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Anna Martin is a Montana-based journalist who writes about resistance movements and politics and how the two intersect with each other. We spoke with her as she was wrapping up her recent reporting trip to Egypt and the West Bank. In Egypt, Anna spoke with families separated by the closure of the Rafah Border Crossing and their struggle to survive without documents as their loved ones remain trapped in Gaza. In the West Bank, she traveled to Beita, where American activist Aysenur Eygi was recently killed by the Israeli army. Already tense before October 7, Anna reports that a massive escalation has taken place in the West Bank.

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In a 2023 Christmas Eve sermon that drew global attention, the Rev. Munther Isaac of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem charged the Western church with complicity in genocide in Gaza. Attending that Christmas Eve service in Bethlehem was David Wildman, executive secretary for human rights and racial justice with the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Global Ministries. He serves as its liaison to the United Nations, the Middle East and Afghanistan.  He talks with Margot Patterson about the truth of that charge and what Christians are and are not doing to stop atrocities in Palestine,