Ilan Pappé facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ilan Pappé
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| אילן פפה | |
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Pappé in 2023
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| Born | 7 November 1954 Haifa, Israel
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| Thesis | British Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East, 1948–1951: Britain and the Arab–Israeli Conflict (1984) |
Ilan Pappé (born November 7, 1954) is a well-known Israeli historian and political scientist. He is famous for his studies on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He is also a leading member of a group called Israel's New Historians, who look at Israel's past in new ways.
Pappé is currently a professor at the University of Exeter in England. There, he leads the European Centre for Palestine Studies. He also helps lead the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies.
His research often focuses on the events of 1948, when many Palestinians left their homes. He describes this as a planned effort to remove people from their land. He points to a plan called Plan Dalet as a key part of this. Some of his important books include The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006), A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples (2003), and Ten Myths About Israel (2017).
Pappé was born in Haifa, Israel. He used to be a senior lecturer at the University of Haifa from 1984 to 2007. He also led the Emil Touma Institute for Palestinian and Israeli Studies. He moved from Israel in 2008 because he faced criticism and threats due to his views.
He has also been involved in politics, running in elections in 1996 and 1999 as a member of the Hadash party. Pappé believes in a single democratic state where both Israelis and Palestinians can live together. He also supports the BDS movement, which includes an academic boycott of Israel. He often writes articles that discuss Israeli policies.
Contents
Early Life and Schooling
Ilan Pappé was born in Haifa, Israel. His parents were German Jews who had to leave their home in the 1930s to escape danger. When he was 18, he joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He served during the Yom Kippur War in 1973 in the Golan Heights.
After his military service, he went to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1978. Then, he moved to England to study history at the University of Oxford. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1984. His main teachers were British historians Albert Hourani and Roger Owen. His doctoral paper was about "British foreign policy towards the Middle East, 1948-1951: Britain and the Arab-Israeli conflict." This paper later became his first book, called Britain and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Academic Career and Views
Pappé worked as a senior lecturer at the University of Haifa from 1984 to 2006. He taught in both the Middle Eastern History Department and the Political Science Department. He also directed the Research Institute for Peace at Givat Haviva for several years.
In 2007, Pappé left Israel to work at the University of Exeter. This happened after he supported a boycott of Israeli universities. The president of the University of Haifa asked him to resign because of this. Pappé explained that it became "increasingly difficult to live in Israel" with his views. He felt that his opinions were not welcome. Since 2009, he has been the director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at Exeter.
Historical Debates
Pappé has supported research by a student named Teddy Katz. Katz's research claimed that a difficult event happened in the Palestinian village of Tantura during the 1948 war. This claim was based on interviews with villagers and an Israeli soldier. Other historians had not widely recorded this event before.
Katz's research led to a legal challenge from Israeli soldiers. Katz later changed his statements, then changed them back. The university reviewed his work. Pappé continued to defend Katz and his research. Other historians, like Tom Segev and Benny Morris, have also suggested there might be some truth to what Katz described. Morris noted that while there's no clear proof of a large-scale event, some bad things did happen there.
In 2022, a film called Tantura was released. In the film, some former Israeli soldiers admitted that a difficult event took place in 1948 at Tantura. One soldier said that the victims were buried under what is now the Dor Beach parking lot. This film brought the debate back into public discussion.
Political Views and Activism
Ilan Pappé has been active in politics for many years. In 1999, he ran in the Knesset elections as part of the Hadash party.
He supports economic and political boycotts against Israel, including an academic boycott. He believes these actions are important because he sees the Israeli occupation as getting worse over time. He compares this movement to the anti-apartheid campaign against the white-led government in South Africa. He thinks it's a non-violent way to help both Palestinians and Israelis.
Pappé believes that if Israel's actions in 1948 were discussed in international courts, it might help bring about peace. He thinks it could encourage people in Israel to recognize past events. He also started annual conferences that call for Palestinian refugees from 1948 to be allowed to return to their homes.
In 2015, Pappé signed a letter that criticized how a newspaper reported on a politician's connections. In 2023, he described Israel's actions towards Palestinians as a slow, ongoing process of harm. During the Gaza war, Pappé restated his opposition to Zionism. He wrote that the violence is not new and called for a "de-zionised, liberated and democratic Palestine from the river to the sea." He also called for a prisoner exchange to free the hostages held by Hamas.
In May 2024, Pappé said he was questioned at Detroit airport by the Department of Homeland Security. He also said his phone was copied. In an article in October 2024, Pappé argued that terms like "Iran-backed terrorist group Hamas" or "peace process" are misleading. He suggested it's more accurate to talk about "Palestinian resistance" and the "decolonization of Palestine." He believes that the original idea of creating a Jewish state in the Arab world by removing Palestinians was not logical or fair.
Critical Views of His Work
Many scholars have reviewed Ilan Pappé's work. Israeli scholar Emmanuel Sivan praised Pappé's book about the al-Husayni family. He liked how it covered the growth of Palestinian nationalism.
Seif Da'Na, writing for Arab Studies Quarterly, called Pappé's 2006 book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine a "highly documented narrative." He described it as "serious scholarship." The same journal also praised Pappé's 2017 book Ten Myths About Israel, calling it "well-documented" and a "courageous contribution." Rashmi Singh, in Global Governance, praised Pappé's 2014 book The Idea of Israel as a "courageous and unflinching study." However, Singh felt the book might be hard for readers who don't already know a lot about the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Uri Ram, a professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, reviewed The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. He called it "a most important and daring book that challenges Israeli history." Hugh Steadman, in the New Zealand International Review, called Pappé's book the "definitive record" of how Israel was formed. He said it was "essential reading" for those who want peace in the Middle East.
However, some scholars have criticized Pappé's work. These include Benny Morris, Efraim Karsh, and professors Daniel Gutwein and Yossi Ben-Artzi. Morris has called some of Pappé's writing "complete fabrication" due to what he sees as factual errors. He has called Pappé "one of the world's sloppiest historians" or "one of the most dishonest." Pappé has responded by criticizing Morris for what he calls "racist views about the Arabs."
Pappé's way of studying history is sometimes called "post-modernist." Morris explains this as Pappé believing there isn't one single historical truth. Instead, there are many stories, and each one is equally valid. Morris says Pappé believes every story is political and serves a purpose. Pappé has replied that all historians are "subjective human beings" who try to tell their own version of the past. He says he cares about "moral issues."
In August 2021, after his book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine was translated into Hebrew, historian Adam Raz wrote a review. Raz criticized Pappé's work, saying it "suffers from negligence, manipulations and mistakes." He gave examples of what he called "lies" and a lack of sources for some of Pappé's claims.
Published Books
- Ten Myths About Israel. New York: Verso. 2017. ISBN: 9781786630193
- (with Noam Chomsky) Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians (Hamish Hamilton, 2010). ISBN: 978-0-241-14506-7
- The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (London and New York: Oneworld, 2006). ISBN: 1-85168-467-0
- The Modern Middle East (London and New York: Routledge, 2005). ISBN: 0-415-21409-2
- A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples (Cambridge University Press, 2004), ISBN: 0-521-55632-5
- (With Jamil Hilal). Parlare Con il Nemico, Narrazioni palestinesi e israeliane a confronto (Milano: Bollati Boringhieri, 2004).
- The Aristocracy: The Husaynis; A Political Biography (Jerusalem: Mossad Byalik, (Hebrew), 2003).
- The Israel-Palestine Question (London and New York: Routledge, 1999; 2006). ISBN: 0-415-16948-8
- (with M. Maoz). History From Within: Politics and Ideas in Middle East (London and New York: Tauris, 1997). ISBN: 1-86064-012-5
- (with J. Nevo). Jordan in the Middle East: The Making of a Pivotal State (London: Frank Cass, 1994). ISBN: 0-7146-3454-9
- The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947–1951 (London and New York: I.B. Tauris, 1992; 1994). ISBN: 1-85043-819-6
- Britain and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948–1951 (London: St. Antony's College Series, Macmillan Press; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988). ISBN: 0-312-01573-9
Images for kids
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Pappé giving a lecture in 2008
See also
In Spanish: Ilan Pappé para niños
