Ilan Pappe – opening words, debate May 8, 2007 / translation Adam Keller
Zionism was born out of two logical and justified impulses. The first was the desire to find a safe shore for the Jews of East and Central Europe, after decades of anti-semitic persecutions – and possibly also a premonition that there was worse to come. The second impulse was to redefine the Jewish religion as a national movement, under the influence of “The Spring of the Peoples” in the mid-Nineteenth Century.
When the leaders of the movement decided, for reasons which cannot be detailed here, that the only territory where these two impulses can be fulfilled is Palestine, where nearly a million people already lived – this movement turned into a colonial project.
Uri Avnery – opening words / based on Avnery’s notes
THIS IS not a duel to the death of gladiators in a Roman arena.
Ilan Pappe and I are partners in the battle against the occupation. I respect his courage. We stand side by side in a joint struggle, but we advocate two sharply opposing goals.
WHAT IS the disagreement about?