The Liar As Hero

The New Republic ^ | March 17, 2011 | Benny Morris

[OddLane]

At best, Ilan Pappe must be one of the world’s sloppiest historians; at worst, one of the most dishonest. In truth, he probably merits a place somewhere between the two.

Here is a clear and typical example—in detail, which is where the devil resides—of Pappe’s handiwork. I take this example from The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. On February 2, 1948, a young Jewish scientist named Aharon Katzir came to see David Ben-Gurion, the chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive and the leader of the Jewish community in Palestine. Two months earlier, the General Assembly of the United Nations had recommended the partition of the country into two states.

The Zionist establishment had accepted Resolution 181, but the Palestinian Arab leadership, and the surrounding Arab states, had rejected it—and Palestinian militiamen began to shoot at Jewish traffic, pedestrians, and settlements. The first Arab-Israeli war had begun.

[samtheman]

This Ilan Pappe sounds like a writer that the average American Jewish Obama-voter can really enjoy.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks OddLane.

The Zionist establishment had accepted Resolution 181, but the... Arab leadership, and the surrounding Arab states, had rejected it -- and [ethnically undifferentiated Arab] militiamen began to shoot at Jewish traffic, pedestrians, and settlements.