Robert Fisk in the Independent credits the Israeli archives for disclosing the secrets that gave way to the revisionist New History, and says that Arab governments being closed, the other side must rely on oral testimony. Fisk ennobles the new oral histories, as I do. Though I'm not sure where to land here: as he says (and Benny Morris would insist, to the point of foolish consistency) there is something to be said for documentation; after all, it changed Israeli historians' self-perception. So: If we had Arab records, what would we make of their decision making? How much murderous genocidal feeling would we discover in the event? In his fab new book, Avraham Burg says that free speech is such a cherished right in Israel that it has licensed the radical settlers in some of their actions, also the proliferation of swastikas in angry Jewish neighborhoods.
No bottom line here, except: Celebrate Israel's openness, Haaretz is changing the American discourse. Arab societies should embrace free speech.
Phil, why do you think Arab governments don't want to open their archives? Is it because they were plotting genocide against Jews (the "throwing Jews into the sea" canard), or because they were making back-stage deals with the zionists (it's an "open secret" that this is exactly what the King of Jordan was doing) on how to cut the cake called Palestine while a so-called war was raging? Virtually all the Arab governments, with the exception of Syria, are in cahoots with the Israelis nowadays (maybe Syria is too? sorry, I can never trust these lousy Arab regimes and the claims that they support the Palestinian cause), and don't care an iota about the Palestinians or the Palestinian cause… what's stopping them from opening their archives? I'll tell you what is at stake: what little legitimacy these regimes have in the eyes of the Arab public, that's what. If Arab states were planning on genocide, they would've sent much more than a mere few hundred "irregulars" and a few hundred regulars who escaped from Safed when they 'mistook' the sound of fireworks for cannons…….
"Arab societies should embrace free speech."
This argument is ridiculous. State archives are controlled by regimes, not societies. The claim that Arab societies are not embracing of free speech is Orientalist rhetoric. Do you have any evidence to back it up?
Oh, by the way, Israel is not particularly known for its "free speech". In fact, it is particularly notorious for cracking down on it, regularly. It's just that what you are comparing it to happens to be worse. That doesn't make Israel inherently respectful of free speech, or a free society. In fact, while you cannot generalize about Arab society since it has not had a say about who rules it, the same cannot be said for Israel, which is a democracy (for Jews only, of course, but that doesn't pose a problem for my argument, quite the contrary). In other words, the crackdown that takes place in Israel and the OT is done by elected representatives rather than tyrants. It is a matter of policy of a democratically elected government, not a matter of whims of a dictator. Overall, I would argue that Arab SOCIETY is much more respectful and tolerant of freedom of speech than Israeli society. And less militaristic, too. It's time to shed the stereotypes and Orientalist myths. Time to look at the facts. For goodness' sake, take a look at the case of the Palestinian student (citizen of Israel) who was arrested for refusing to shake Peres' hand and for calling him a murderer. Where's the free speech in that? Is it slander? Maybe, but in a free society, there are courts for that purpose, and the right to sue. As far as I am aware, Peres did not file a lawsuit against the guy. And yet, he was arrested. Where is the freedom of speech? Also, you do realize that the archives are 1) not open to all Israelis (some are on a blacklist by virtue of their political opinions, others because they are Israeli-Arabs); 2) partially open — in other words, not everything is allowed access to, only a few bits and pieces. The stuff that has been accessed is probably not even 1% of what is really out there. The real stuff, the stuff about ethnic cleansing, etc., is in the dark, and will always remain so. Do not think that the zionist establishment is so stupid as to give up on 6 decades of myth-making all because of some belief in "freedom of speech" which you think characterizes Israeli society. As far as Israeli records of the 1948 go, researchers are still mostly left trying to make their way in the dark. Sure, there are occasional stuff in the media, revealed by chance (as happened with the photos of the execution of an elderly unarmed Palestinian, portions of which were printed in Yediot Ahronot), but then there are occasional bursts of "free speech" in tightly-regulated Arab media too, so that doesn't say much about freedom of speech. In fact, Israeli media has in recent years especially served as a propaganda mouthpiece for the establishment. Wjere do you think all those "leaks" (which are regular features of Israeli media these days) are coming from?? Surely you don't think these papers have "spies" in the establishment? Anyway, the July 2006 war proved that nothing gets published in Israeli press without the Israeli authorities' approval. There was more censorship of the Israeli press during the war than of the Arab press, especially the Lebanese one. In fact, I can't think of any censorship that took place in Lebanon throughout the war and after it… That is not to say it's all perfect for the media here, but then, that is exactly the point, it's not. Neither in Lebanon (and the Arab world more broadly), nor Israel for that matter. Israel is not an exception. As I said, for a semi-democracy, Israel is expected to be more tolerant of free speech than it "is", but it's not, it is , at best , on par with Arab regimes. Take a look at the World Press rankings by the Reporters Without Borders, you will see that Israel is not far ahead from the Arab world in the rankings, a mere 15 positions ahead of Kuwait, 20 ahead of Lebanon, 23 ahead of UAE… And we're not talking about Israeli censorship in the OT here, but in Israel-proper. In the OT, Israel's ranking drops to 149, not far ahead of Syria, Yemen, Qadhafi the clown's Libya, and war-torn American-occupied Iraq, not to mention PA-ruled OT (PA being Israel's ally). By the way, Yediot Ahronot had promised to publish the whole series of pictures of the execution of the elderly Palestinian whose hands & feet were tied and who was led by 2 zionist soldiers smiling to the camera, accompanied by the full story behind it, but the Israeli establishment, esp. military, forced Yediot Ahronot to drop it. It was never published. We only saw two pictures, and that was only in the print edition, not the online Hebrew edition even. Thank goodness for Palestinian citizens of Israel, or else the story would've been slipped under the carpet. Where was the outrage in Israel over the censorship? Where were the editorials condemning the suppression of free speech? Is Israel really as free a society as you think it is? It is not. Israel's respect for freedom of any type is no more of a reality than a mirage is..!
SO, Israel cares as much as the USA about free speech, and the corresponding free play of ideas and facts on the ground?