How denial sustains the liberal imagination of a progressive and democratic Israel. The question that this book aims to answer might seem simple: how can a violent project of dispossession and discrimination be imagined, felt, and profoundly believed in as though it were the exact opposite--an embodiment of sustainability, multicultural tolerance, and democratic idealism? Despite well-documented evidence of racism and human rights abuse, Israel has long been embraced by the most liberal sectors of European and American society as a manifestation of the progressive values of tolerance, plurality, inclusivity, and democracy, and hence a project that can be passionately defended for its lofty ideals.
Exhbtion catalogue of contemporary Palestinian art, Station Museum, Houston, Texas
The secret alliance between Israel, Britain and France to destroy Nasser's rule in Egypt was a pivotal event in the history of the modern Middle East. The Suez crisis brought about both a humiliation for the old imperial powers and a remarkable victory for Israel. Mordechai Bar-On was General Moshe Dayan's personal assistant during the Suez campaign and has drawn on both his own diary and many years of research to produce a gripping, definitive account of the Israeli side to the war. The Gates of Gaza describes the fears, suspicions and agonizing debates that resulted in Ben-Gurion's decision to enter the clandestine pact with France and Britain, the military victory in the Sinai, and the subsequent withdrawal in the face of pressure from the United Nations. What was at the time a frustrating conflict for Israel should now be seen, in Dr Bar-On's view, as a crucial event in securing the new nation's position in the Middle East and providing a breathing space before the great Arab challenge of 1967.
A landmark of journalism and the art form of comics. Based on several months of research and an extended visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the early 1990s, this is a major work of political and historical nonfiction.
Modern Art in the Arab World: Primary Documents offers an unprecedented resource for the study of modernism: a compendium of critical art writings by twentieth-century Arab intellectuals and artists. The selection of texts--many of which appear here for the first time in English--includes manifestos, essays, transcripts of roundtable discussions, diary entries, exhibition guest-book comments, letters, and more. Traversing empires and nation-states, diasporas and speculative cultural and political federations, these documents bring light to the formation of a global modernism, through debates on originality, public space, spiritualism and art, postcolonial exhibition politics, and Arab nationalism, among many other topics. The collection is framed chronologically, and includes contextualizing commentaries to assist readers in navigating its broad geographic and historical scope.