The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge

(Paperback)

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In this groundbreaking work, Ilan Pappe looks at the continued role of Zionist ideology. The Idea of Israel considers the way Zionism operates outside of the government and military in areas such as the country's education system, media, and cinema. In particular, Pappe examines the way successive generations of historians have framed the 1948 conflict as a liberation campaign, creating a foundation myth that went unquestioned in Israeli society until the 1990s.
The Idea of Israel is a powerful and urgent intervention in the war of ideas concerning the past, and the future, of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Reviews

Papa's book explores is whether Zionism as the cornerstone of Israel has in fact been manipulated by the state and institutions such as universities and the media to provide a justification for the reality on the ground. The book comes at an interesting time for Israel and its neighbours. John Kerry's peace process refuses to die, despite elements on both sides seemingly united only in their opposition to it, and realities in a turbulent Middle East mean that Israel and traditional foes, especially those in the Persian Gulf, find themselves in rare agreement, especially in relation to the thorny issues of Syria and a nuclear Iran. * Independent *
Ilan Papp is a scholar and a pro-Palestinian political activist. He is one of the most prominent Israeli political dissidents living in exile, having moved from the University of Haifa to the University of Exeter. He is also one of the few Israeli students of the conflict who write about the Palestinian side with real knowledge and empathy. Papp places Zionism under an uncompromising lens. The Idea of Israel is not a history book but a close study of the role of Zionist ideology in the making of modern Israel and of the continuing relevance of this ideology today in politics, the education system, the media, the cinema and Ashkenazi-Sephardi relations. -- Avi Shlaim * Guardian *
Along with the late Edward Said, Ilan Pappe is the most eloquent writer of Palestinian history. * New Statesman *
Even those who are familiar are likely to find Papp's elegantly narrated account useful and stimulating... An excellent overview of the Israeli field of knowledge production and its relationship to the making of (the idea of) Israel. -- Gil Hochberg * Journal of Palestine Studies *
Israel's bravest, most principled, most incisive historian. * John Pilger *
An angry, polemical, eloquent, and often mordantlywitty book. [an] uncompromising rebuttal of the foundation myths on whichIsraeli historiography has been based -- David Goldberg, * Jewish Quarterly *
An essential read for anyone trying to understand the politics and history of the Middle East. * Frontline *

Author Bio

Ilan Pappe is an Israeli historian and socialist activist. He is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter, director of the university's European Centre for Palestine Studies, and co-director of the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies. He writes for, among others, the Guardian and the London Review of Books.