Israel’s Iron Wall Still Stands After Nearly a Century
Over the years, the Israeli historian Avi Shlaim and his fellow “New Historians” have punctured a long series of Zionist myths about the country’s past and present. Now, Shlaim — once a supporter of the Oslo “peace process” — is adding the two-state solution itself to that list of dispelled myths.
Israel’s wall in Bethlehem, West Bank, in 2009. Montecruz Foto / Flickr
Avi Shlaim, a professor emeritus at Oxford University, is a leading historian of Israel and the Middle East. Born in Baghdad and raised in Ramat Gan, he’s known as one of the New Historians, a group of intellectuals whose research, beginning in the 1980s, undermined traditional Zionist narratives of Israeli history. His books include Collusion across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement and the Partition of Palestine and The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World.
Earlier this year, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled that he was close to a decision to unilaterally annex the Palestinian West Bank, an aggressive and illegal move long championed by the Israeli right. Though Netanyahu ultimately abandoned the plan for temporary and tactical reasons, it illustrated a major theme of Shlaim’s historical work: the central role of unfettered military coercion in Israel’s conception of security vis-à-vis the Palestinians.
In light of these developments, Douglas Gerrard spoke to Shlaim about the history of the two-state solution, the promise and reality of the Oslo Accords, the future of Gaza, and the prospect of a binational state in Israel-Palestine.
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