An announcement of a lecture next Monday night at the New School in New York:
THE NEW SCHOOL HISTORY DEPARTMENT PRESENTS: AMOS GOLDBERG The Holocaust and the Nakba: Traumatic Memories and (Bi)National Identities in Israel-Palestine
The Jewish Holocaust and the Palestinian Nakba fundamentally shape two peoples’ identities. Memories of each function as exclusionary “Myths of Origin,” at once demanding acknowledgement by the other, while denying recognition of the other.
Deeply polarizing, the Jewish and Palestinian national narratives become irreconcilable, inhibiting prospects for a political settlement. Amos Goldberg will offer a framework – influenced by Arendt, Agamben, and LaCapra — for establishing an egalitarian public sphere for Jews and Palestinians which will enable both catastrophes to be told on shared ground. Dr. Amos Goldberg is a senior lecturer of Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and author of Trauma in the First Person: Diary Writing During the Holocaust (2012). October 29, 6-8pm 80 5TH Ave, Room 529
Wow, we’re living in amazing times. It’s great that Americans and Israelis are talking about the Nakba– and that a scholar wishes to have the Palestinian narrative “on shared ground” in a binational social sphere. So he has idealistic political notions of what might arise from the opening to Palestinian suffering. But one quick point: I have not heard Palestinians denying the Holocaust; and as for my country, for 40 years Americans have embraced knowledge of the Holocaust, and sought to memorialize it to make humanity better. The New School itself was founded on the noble wreckage of European Jewish refugees. There is, by contrast, widespread denial of the Nakba in this country and dishonor of its refugees. Goldberg refers to Arendt. Well 50 years ago she was writing about the Eichmann trial in The New Yorker. No parallel cultural process has taken place involving the Nakba.
“Deeply polarizing, the Jewish and Palestinian national narratives become irreconcilable, inhibiting prospects for a political settlement”
That is a very negative take on things . Palestinians can understand the Holocaust but Zionism is too fragile to accept the Nakba. Perhaps that is because Zionist history is built on ideology rather than facts. Zochrot show that Jews can understand the Nakba. And they will, in time. It is part of their history.
Also good he updates it via Georgio Agamben, if you don’t mind, for the larger politico-philosophical context we live in.
I seriously hope us non-US, non NY State residents get a chance to be Internet witnesses to the event?
Maybe they could also invite a German to attempt to recollect how Germans felt after WWI, when the demands for reparations were crushing Germany — a crushing experience to which Germany reacted both by starting WWII and by the very racial Holocaust against all (not just Jews) who were not proper models of “the Aryan”.
If they did get such a speaker, the speaker explaining the Jewish Holocaust could experience hearing speakers-for-their-tormentors explaining how suffering (seemed at the time to) justify becoming racial victimizers. and then the Palestinian could explain how it felt being victims (and having not yet had opportunity — which I hope it never has — to victimize anyone else.
It seems to me calling the Nakba a “Myth of Origin” borders on Nakba denial, in as most people take “myth” to mean false belief. Also, saying it’s a “Myth of Origin” might imply that Palestinians originated with the Nakba. That’s more a Zionist myth than a Palestinian one.
I totally agree, there’s nothing exclusionary about the Holocaust and Nakba “narratives.” The exclusionary myths are the many (false) myths of Israel’s origin, that Israel, that mass murders and terror aimed at the removal of Palestinians was necessary or good or accidental or didn’t happen or they came from somewhere else.
Anyway, I find the dueling “narratives” meme of some “liberal” Zionists have problematic, because “narrative” can mean fiction or non-fiction, the implication being that one is free to deny there’s any truth to the stories of the Nakba.
“I find the dueling “narratives” meme of some “liberal” Zionists have problematic, because “narrative” can mean fiction or non-fiction”
It is even worse than that. The issue is reduced to one of comparison of the ways that Israeli Jews and Palestinians think about the past, rather than
(a) what that past actually was, and
(b) what can be done to solve the problem now.
This misunderstanding arises from differences between ordinary language and the language of social scientists. Many social scientists, especially those influenced by postmodernism, use words like “myth” or “narrative” or “discourse” to refer to the social functions they attribute to ideas, without making any judgment regarding whether those ideas are true or false. So to say that the Nakba or the Holocaust functions as a myth is not meant to imply that it did not happen.
Unfortunately, many social scientists are not very interested in truth and the most extreme postmodernists even try to deny that there is any such thing. That is called “professional deformation.”
In any case, to avoid what can be very serious misunderstandings it is best to use words in the sense in which most people understand them (except among academics who are familiar with this special language).
Phil,
Mahmoud Abbas, onetime President of the puppet “Palestinian authority,” wrote a doctoral dissertation that denied the Holocaust. (See his Wikipedia page). My impression is that these ideas are pretty widespread in the Arab world.
And of course, Nakba denial is a regular cottage industry in the US, from Joan Peters to Alan Dershowitz to The New Republic, etc. The Israel Lobby is just starting to lose control over that debate.
Then why does Israel seems to be comfortable dealing with Arab anti-semites like Sadat, Abbas and Gulf Arabs?
“My impression is that these ideas (denying the holocaust) are pretty widespread in the Arab world.” (Nevada Ned)
Ned, your impression is wrong. Mahmoud Abbas, Mahmoud Nejad and most Arabs do not deny the holocaust. They question the actual number of 6 million victims, but you never hear from any of them that the holocaust did not happen. As to Abbas’ dissertation, he discussed the Haavara Agreement between the Nazis and the Zionists and other shady deals between them involving transfer of Jews and capital to Palestine. This is not denial but a discussion about numbers. Whether the actual number is 1 or 6 millions, it does not change anything in the horror of this chapter of history, but for Zionists, to even question the number is an act of denial of the whole, which is absurd.
People accused of “Holocaust denial” actually are guilty of “though crimes against the Memory of Holocaust”. I suspect that very few deny outright. I never gave a serious thought on the topic, but my impression is that these crimes include
1. quibbling, questioning the most usual narrative about numbers, dates and so on
2. focusing on Jewish participation etc.
3. explaining motivations of the perpetrators in “we can understand them” terms
4. quoting, meeting etc. already known Holocaust deniers
5. belittling, “so what, perhaps, why should we care”.
Without reading primary texts, I would observe that it is highly unlikely that Mahmoud Abbas engaged Holocaust denial of a direct type because he defended his thesis in Soviet Union where anti-Nazi narrative had quite central part in the ideology, which of course did not include presenting Zionist in good light. By the way, nobody thanked Stalin for saving lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews by deporting them to Central Asia as suspicious, “under-kulaks” etc.
“My impression is that these ideas are pretty widespread in the Arab world.”
Palestinians (and other Arabs) have no business with the Holocaust neither do they have any responsibility in it. If occasionally some deny it that’s only because they can very clearly see that Zionists keep using it as a tool or rather an argument to justify the appropriation of their lands and the ongoing oppression/subjugation of the people. As simple as that.
Phil, in a 2009 survey of Palestinian opinion, 40% thought that the Holocaust didn’t happen.
See this article from Haaretz.
And before people start attacking me: I’m NOT saying that this justifies Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians.
The survey referred to the Palestinian citizens of Israel not “Palestinians”.
The population this survey covered was the 20% minority within Israel. That you don’t understand the difference is quite instructive.
Why do I say that?
Well, for starters, Palestinians inside Israel are educated under the Israeli Ministry of Education’s curriculum. And non-Jewish teachers are vetted by the Shabak before they can stand before a classroom. If a job candidate voiced any non-Zionist views and then went to apply for a teaching job at a school in an Arab locale in Israel, he or she would be rejected immediately.
Anyway, as the article explains, these results are in direct correlation with recent events, namely, Israel’s actions and Israel’s constant reliance on the Holocaust as justification for its actions.
Here’s the quote:
The article also shows that in 2006 — three years earlier — that percentage was at a low 28%.
So these fluctuations are clearly not an indication of a long-held opinion, nor are they the result of commonly held views within a society, community or group. The point is that the responses the surveys get are clearly angry reactions that correspond with Israel’s crimes.
For example, had someone called me on January 5th, 2009 and asked me what I thought about “anti-Semitism” or “The Holocaust” I would have given them an answer that would have contradicted my own morals and reasoning, simply out of disgust and revulsion at Israel’s actions that month. Heck, for two months after that onslaught I was depressed and overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness.
You make several mistakes here:
(1) You take Wikipedia’s claim without actually reading what Abbas wrote and without verifying the veracity of the source.
(2) You take one example from one person and you extrapolate that to generalize about 300,000,000 Arabs.
Nicely done, Nevada Ned.
That’s 40% of Israeli Palestinians. Now we know that in Israel, Palesinians are taught Holocaust history in schools. Take a guess at why 40% of them don’t want to admit that it’s true.
The survey referred to the Palestinian citizens of Israel not “Palestinians”.
The population this survey covered was the 20% minority within Israel. That you don’t understand the difference is quite instructive.
Why do I say that?
Well, for starters, Palestinians inside Israel are educated under the Israeli Ministry of Education’s curriculum. And non-Jewish teachers are vetted by the Shabak before they can stand before a classroom. If a job candidate voiced any non-Zionist views and then went to apply for a teaching job at a school in an Arab locale in Israel, he or she would be rejected immediately.
Anyway, as the article explains, these results are in direct correlation with recent events, namely, Israel’s actions and Israel’s constant reliance on the Holocaust as justification for its actions.
Here’s the quote:
The article also shows that in 2006 — three years earlier — that percentage was at a low 28%.
So these fluctuations are clearly not an indication of a long-held opinion, nor are they the result of commonly held views within a society, community or group. The point is that the responses the surveys get are clearly angry reactions that correspond with Israel’s crimes.
For example, had someone called me on January 5th, 2009 and asked me what I thought about “anti-Semitism” or “The Holocaust” I would have given them an answer that would have contradicted my own morals and reasoning, simply out of disgust and revulsion at Israel’s actions that month. Heck, for two months after that onslaught I was depressed and overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness.
You make several mistakes here:
(1) You take Wikipedia’s claim without actually reading what Abbas wrote and without verifying the veracity of the source.
(2) You take one example from one person and you extrapolate that to generalize about 300,000,000 Arabs.
No your comment wasn’t racist at all. Pffff
For a balanced historical account of a complex issue, I recommend a book by the Lebanese scholar Gilbert Achcar “The Arabs and the Holocaust.” (I recommend his other books too.)
If some event is constantly used to justify your oppression and dispossession, it is hardly surprising if you suspect the whole thing is a scam. Or if you claim it didn’t happen because you can’t think of any other sufficiently cogent way of resisting the use of that event against you. Depressing but not surprising.
Stephen Shenfield, using the word complex in I/P issues is a red flag. It generally marks an obfuscation, and it does this time too. In short: the murdering of jews in Europe is not an argument to squat on stolen land in Palestine.
The issue I was calling “complex” is that of the attitudes of different political currents in the Arab world toward the Holocaust — the subject of Gilbert Achcar’s book. I was not talking about Zionism.
A bit primitive to suggest symmetry and evenness between nakba and holocaust. First of all, it requires one forgets about the perpetrators. And then, “demanding acknowledgement” does not point to the essense: recognising the holocaust (or not) is not relevant to the situation in Israel and OPT. Looking for “shared ground”, as the announcement says, is a nakba denial from the start. Nakba is about taking the ground. Reading Jews and Palestinians is itching. Why does Goldberg not mention a single nakba writer, while getting his influence from three Auschwitz writers?
To call it amazing times when the very word nakba is mentioned in New York is sort of optimistic. Altogether it smells like another colonial view.
I remember meeting a guy a few years ago who said he had opened a holocaust museum in Nazareth. I don’t know what happened to it, this article on it dates from 2005. But in the article he says “the Israeli ministry of education has never printed more than “a half-page” on the Holocaust in Arabic”.
Read more: link to forward.com
Reports about Yad Vashem guided visits designed specifically for Palestinians and Jews together appeared in the news recently. In this article an Egyptian journalist who participated says that one of the questions that came from a Palestinian visitor was “why did the Jews believe the lies about the Nazi death camps?”.
He writes:
“The idea that Palestinians study the Holocaust at school, visit Yad Vashem and display genuine interest in the tragedy that befell the Jews of Europe is likely to come as something of a surprise to many Israelis who see regular reports in the media of Arab and Muslim Holocaust denial.
One recent example was Hamas’s angry response following the visit to Auschwitz by Ziad al-Bandak, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Describing the Holocaust as an “alleged tragedy”, a Hamas spokesman said the visit was “unjustified and unhelpful”.
While Hamas’s outburst, as well as the relative availability of literature questioning the Holocaust in some Arab countries, proves that there are certainly Arabs who insultingly deny that this horrendous crime took place, fixating on Holocaust deniers, as many segments of the Israeli media tend to do distorts the reality and downplays the importance of the work of the likes of al-Bandak, who visited Auschwitz and expressed sympathy for the historic plight of his people’s enemy, and he did so during a period of heightened animosity and distrust between the two sides.”
and concludes:
“The Palestinians wished to introduce the Israelis to al-Nakba (the Arabic for “The Catastrophe”), which is the term Palestinians use to describe perhaps the most defining trauma in their national experience: the exodus of up to three-quarters of Palestine’s Arab population, most of whom were not allowed to return following Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948.
However, they lamented the absence of a museum chronicling this painful chapter of Palestinian history. Some Palestinians suggested that the Israelis should join them on a trip to a refugee camp to enable them to gain a deeper insight into what contemporary life is like for many Palestinians.
“I want to introduce our Jewish friends to the suffering of the Palestinians… Just as they told us about their suffering in detail from an Israeli perspective, I’d like them to hear all the details about our stories,” reflected Mutasem Halawani, a student of business management from Jerusalem. “This helps build an exchange of ideas and tolerance.””
Although the piece appeared in Haaretz, I’m posting the link to the author’s blog as well, just in case the darned paywall prevents you from reading it there.
link to haaretz.com
link to chronikler.com
In case you don’t already know this, Zochrot is currently showing recently filmed testimonies by Hagana and Palmach veterans that attest to atrocities committed during the Nakba and also to the ruses used to cause Palestinians to flee their villages. At Zochrot’s Tel Aviv headquarters, the exhibition closes in December.
“Lecture at NY’s New School aims to place Nakba story ‘on shared ground’ with Holocaust”
“If I could, I surely would,
Stand on the Rock,
Where Moses stood.”