More than one half century after the First Arab-Israeli War, the truth behind the conflict in the Middle East remains to be known, according to visiting Brownstone Professor Benny Morris.
Morris, whose seven books use recently declassified official Israeli documents to challenge widely held beliefs about the foundation of the State of Israel between 1947 and 1949, is a controversial figure in academic and political circles across the globe.
Yesterday in Filene Auditorium, he outlined several points of his research in a lecture entitled, "Israel Confronts Its Past: The New Historiography."
He began cinematically, describing an episode in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. According to Morris, Israeli troops killed 250 civilians in the Palestinian town of Lidda, and then expelled all of its Arab residents by force. Until declassification of documents in the 1980s, the government of Israel, supported by Israeli historians, maintained that the Arabs had voluntarily left the town.
"This view of the past was purveyed by politicians, journalists, historians and participants in the events themselves to forge the collective memory of Israel," he said. "These myths have influenced the opinions not only of Israelis, but of the West and Diaspora Jews in their conception of the Arab-Israeli conflict."
Among other findings, Morris said that Israel was interested in expansion at the expense of its Arab neighbors in 1948, and was not fighting for mere survival, as the government would later claim.
Morris contrasted the falsified, pro-Israel accounts of what he called the "Old Historiography" with the "New Historiography," exemplified by his work and the scholarship of fellow Israeli historian Avi Schleim of Oxford University, among others.
According to Morris, the New Historians come from a generation that did not participate in the First Arab-Israeli War, and so can better write objective accounts about that period.
But on several occasions, Morris emphasized that his mission is not to blame one side or the other. He reminded listeners that both Arabs and Israelis have been guilty of injustices against one another throughout the course of the long conflict.
"These things just happen in war," he said. He pointed to widespread massacre and genocide in other parts of the world, and said that, in comparison to violent activity in Central Europe during past decades, "Israeli misbehavior in 1948 was kindergarten."
When asked what effect his work may have on international relations, he was less than optimistic. He told the audience that historiography has little effect over diplomacy and settlements, which are settled by more tangible issues such as land, population growth, and the military.
However, he drew laughs from the crowd when he added, "historiography can have a marginal effect on some individuals, that is, the more intellectual ones. But unfortunately, intellectuals in power are pretty few." He then reconsidered his joke, and said, "but then again, if they were all intellectuals, they probably wouldn't get anything done."
But in the end, although he conceded that the New Historiography would probably be slow in reaching lower levels of Israeli society due to a conservative education ministry, Morris ended on an optimistic note.
"I do believe the truth can be arrived at," he affirmed.
Morris' class, "History of the Arab-Zionist Conflict, 1881-1948," is being taught at 10A, and remains open to students interested in enrolling.
