The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, 1948-1967

The first of two lectures by Ilan Pappé based on his book, of the same name as this lecture, and a semester long course that he teaches. In this lecture Pappé historicizes the Zionist movement, he discusses the historical period leading up to and proceeding the end of the British mandate in Palestine. Pappé discusses the US State Department's definition of ethnic cleansing, and argues that the forced removal of Palestinians from their homes and the destruction of Palestinian towns and villages meets this definition of ethnic cleansing. He discusses the 1967 war, and dissects the complexities of the conflict, based on recently released historical documents on decisions made by the Israeli government.

This event was co-sponsored by Global Studies at UW-Madison.

Ilan Pappé is a fellow of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. He is the director of the European Center for Palestine Studies and the co-director of the Exeter Center for Ethno-Political Studies. His recent books include: Gaza in Crisis (Haymarket, 2011), with Noam Chomsky; The Husaynis: The Rise and Fall of a Palestinian Dynasty (California University Press, 2011); and The Forgotten Palestinians: A History of the Palestinians in Israel (Yale University Press, 2011). He is also the author of A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples (Cambridge University Press, 2004) and The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (Oneworld 2007). A native of Haifa, Professor Pappé obtained his BA degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1979 and the D. Phil from the University of Oxford in 1984. He founded and directed the Academic Institute for Peace in Givat Haviva, Israel between 1992 and 2000, and was the Chair of the Emil Tuma Institute for Palestine Studies in Haifa between 2000 and 2006. Professor Pappé was a senior lecturer in the department of Middle Eastern History and the Department of Political Science in Haifa University, Israel between 1984 and 2006.