difference and actually verifies the general veracity of the point being made: that Israel’s intent has always been to push the Palestinians out of their homes, their lands and history itself.
As the dialogues make clear, this truth is present in the documents of and statements of early Zionist settlers and in more recent ones. Despite the varieties of Zionism that have existed historically and exist today, the intent of most of its adherents is that objective and that objective alone.
Chomsky makes an interesting point during the discussion about the right of a state to exist. There is no such thing, he states. To demand other peoples and nations to accept any nation’s right to exist is absurd and without precedent. Yet, this is precisely what Israel has demanded. In addition, now Israel demands that others recognize its right to exist as a Jewish state.
As the book points out in terms of a comparison, Iran has named itself an Islamic Republic, yet that does not mean it can demand that it be recognised as such. Returning to Israel and Palestine, the Palestinians (from Hamas to the Palestinian Authority) have acknowledged that Israel exists as a geographical fact; however this does not require them to officially recognise that. As a comparative example, Washington did not even recognise the People’s Republic of China until 1979, thirty years after the fact of its existence.
Some readers of On Palestine will want to emphasise the differences between the two men, specifically in regards to their differences regarding the academic aspect of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. However, a more useful reading in reviewer’s mind would be one that sees this and other disagreements that arise in the conversations transcribed in the text as the beginnings of an attempt at synthesis between the various approaches that have arisen in support of the Palestinian struggle.
As both men point out, the Palestinian groups that compose the national liberation movement itself are anything but unified. This therefore makes it more difficult for those supporters who are not Palestinian to come up with a single approach in their work, as well.
This book is a very accessible discussion of the issues surrounding the question of Israel/Palestine. It is a lesson in the politics and history of the conflict between the two peoples that by its nature includes philosophical inquiries into questions of nationhood and nationalisms, religion and ethnicity, imperialism and the struggle against it.
Through the questions from Frank Barat, Ilan Pappe and Noam Chomsky provide the interested reader with an honest and profound discourse on all of the above. While doing so, the discussion broadens and deepens the context of this issue into an exploration on the meaning of history and politics as only these two intellectuals can. The inclusion of a few essays by each man at the conclusion of the text enhances the dialogue that precedes them.
Courtesy: Counterpunch.org