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The Dartmouth
July 24, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Shipler: Israeli strikes linked to Iraq war

New York Times writer and winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize David Shipler '64 talked about changing attitudes and the growing awareness of mutual responsibility on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict last night.

As part of his lecture, Shipler gave a screening of his acclaimed "Arab & Jew: Return to the Promised Land." The documentary was a follow-up on his previous documentary titled "Arab and Jew," which won a 1990 Dupont-Columbia award for broadcast journalism.

For the documentary, Shipler interviewed Palestinians and Israelis drawn from a broad spectrum of society.

According to Shipler, the central issue behind the Middle Eastern problem is that both Palestinians and Israelis live by an "ideology of return." Israelis believe that God has designated the land for them and Palestinians see the injustice in being forced out of their homes. New generations grow up on the belief and idea that they will one day return "home."

Most Palestinian homes hold keys to houses that now no longer exist and demonstrations on the streets frequently involve large models of keys in representation of their stolen homes, Shipler said.

Danny Seidmann, an Israeli lawyer quoted in the documentary, summed up Shipler's views, "We know what the end looks like; the gods [just] have not had enough blood yet."

Shipler believes that Israel's newfound boldness, as seen in the recent attack on Syria, is directly linked to the dismantling of the Iraqi regime. "Without Iraq, Israel is free to be aggressive," Shipler said.

Given control of the Middle East, Shipler said he would tell Israel to get rid of its settlements and give the Palestinians control of a contiguous state; he would tell the Palestinians to abandon the Right of Return and to teach their children that their lives now belong in a new state; and to the United States he would say, "Help them, but don't do the deal for them." In the end, the United States will bear the financial burden for resolving the dispute, Shipler said.

Overall, Shipler said that he perceives a marked change in attitudes. Ten years ago, when he went to Palestinian and Israeli high schools to interview students, the typical response to the question "Who is the victim?" was "We are." When Shipler returned to the area in 2000, students almost unanimously responded, "There are victims on both sides."

The lecture, given in the Loew Auditorium, was the first in a series of events in Dartmouth's Montgomery Endowment series, "Truth and Ethics in Journalism." The series celebrates the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Endowment's 25th anniversary.

In addition to giving the lecture, Shipler is the Montgomery fellow-in-residence for Fall 2003 and is teaching the Government 83.4 seminar "Civil Liberties in a Time of Terrorism."

The author of several books, Shipler won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for his book "Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land." His latest book is due out next year.

The Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Endowment was created in 1977 in order to bring various distinguished individuals to the campus for varying lengths of time. These individuals -- called Montgomery Fellows -- have responsibilities that vary from teaching to lectures to informal interactions with students and faculty.

One of the founders of the Montgomery Endowment, Harle Montgomery, also attended the event.

Other speakers scheduled to headline the lecture series include Roger Wilkins, author of "Jefferson's Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism" (Beacon Press, 2001); Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism; Christopher Wren, a 28-year veteran of The New York Times; and National Public Radio foreign correspondent Anne Garrels. A detailed schedule of the series and more information can be found at www.Dartmouth.edu/~montfell/. The series runs until February 3rd.