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| June 19, 2008 | ||||
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Mearsheimer and Walt in Israel
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| by Uri Avnery | ||||
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Contrary to some expectations, the visit of the two controversial American professors was a great success. John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, whose book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy has caused an uproar in the United States and was boycotted there by the Jewish establishment, were cordially received in Israel and aroused a lively debate. The professors came to Israel as guests of Gush Shalom, after visiting Jordan and the West Bank. They continued to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Contrary to the fears of some, they did not encounter any difficulty in crossing into Israel – unlike another American professor, Norman Finkelstein, who was recently detained at the airport and deported. Another worry that proved groundless was that the visit would be killed by silence, as happened to the visit of former President Jimmy Carter. On the contrary, they were overwhelmed with requests from the media, both Israeli and foreign, for interviews. Since the visit lasted for less than 48 hours, it was impossible to grant all the requests. During the entire visit, there was not a single negative incident. The professors expressed their satisfaction with the fact that the Israeli public was ready to listen and discuss, while such a debate is impossible in the United States. Before the event, an anonymous group distributed in the hall a pamphlet of the Israel lobby, including diatribes against the professors by extreme right-wing historian Benny Morris, Alan Dershowitz, and others of their ilk. The visit began with a lecture at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem before a crammed lecture hall. In the evening they appeared at a Gush Shalom event at the Journalists' Club in Tel Aviv, where the hall was again crowded. For two and a half hours they spoke and answered questions from the floor. The discussion continued in the street after the event. The entire event was held in English, with simultaneous translation into Hebrew. The positive attitude toward the guests was also due to their personality. If anyone expected dry and tough savants, they were proved wrong. They were seen to be warm, open, and modest, eager for debate and without a trace of fanaticism or hostility, extremely well informed about Israeli affairs. In between the public events and the dozens of interviews, the guests took time out for a tour along the Separation Wall and in the settlement areas, guided by Michael Warshawsky and Gush Shalom activists. They expressed their complete adherence to the two-state solution.
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| Archives |
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Mearsheimer and Walt in Israel 6/19/2008 No, Obama Can't! 6/10/2008 The Occupation Corrupts 6/3/2008 Escaping Forward 5/27/2008 Israel: The Next 60 Years 5/7/2008 Always the Military Option 4/30/2008 'Kill a Hundred Turks and Rest…' 3/11/2008 Good Morning, Hamas 3/4/2008 An End Foreseen 2/12/2008 From Stalingrad to Winograd 2/5/2008 Worse Than a Crime 1/28/2008 The Hands of Esau 1/15/2008 Israel's White Bird 1/8/2008 Paving the Road to Hell 1/1/2008 Help! A Cease-Fire! 12/25/2007 To Die With the Philistines 12/18/2007 The Tumult and the Shouting Dies… 12/4/2007 The Joke in Annapolis: How to Get Out? 11/23/2007 The Mother of All Pretexts 10/17/2007 Two Knights and a Dragon 10/6/2007 US, Israel Poised to Repeat Saddam's Error 10/1/2007 A Big Victory Against the Wall 9/11/2007 A Bruised Reed 9/5/2007 The Language of Force 8/30/2007 Stumbling Toward Another War 8/21/2007 Oslo Revisited 8/15/2007 White Elephants 8/7/2007 A Warning to Tony Blair 7/31/2007 A Trap for Fools 7/23/2007 An Israeli Love Story 7/9/2007 Occupation? What Occupation? 7/2/2007 Crocodile Tears 6/18/2007 The Rot of Occupation 6/12/2007 To the Shores of Tripoli 6/1/2007 Israel's Next War 5/21/2007 Israel's Exercise in Escapism 5/7/2007 Blood on Our Hands 4/17/2007 Olmert and the Pussycat 4/4/2007 Pick an Enemy, Any Enemy 2/28/2007 Israel's Provocations: The Method in the Madness 2/14/2007 'Kill Them! Kill Everyone! All of Them!' 11/28/2006 The Lovable Man? 11/3/2006 Who's Afraid of an Iranian Bomb? 11/1/2006 Lunch in Damascus 10/6/2006 When Napoleon Won at Waterloo 9/4/2006 From Mania to Depression 8/18/2006 What Has Happened to the Israeli Army? 8/14/2006 The Buck Stops Where? 8/12/2006 The Day After the War 8/4/2006 A Nice Little War Gets Out of Hand 8/1/2006 Stop That Shit, Indeed 7/22/2006 Missed Opportunities (Partial List) 5/31/2006 Peace Is Not Impossible 10/20/2005 From Bad to Worse 6/6/2005 Beat the Peaceful, Embrace the Violent 5/4/2005 For Whom the Bells Toll 4/25/2005 Lebanon and the Avaricious Superpower 3/10/2005 Beware of Dog! 2/22/2005 The Wreath Blair Didn't Lay 12/31/2004 Israel's Coming Civil War 10/27/2004 Sharon's One-Dimensional Worldview 10/19/2004 Don't Believe a Word 10/12/2004 The New Cult of the Temple 9/21/2004 A Kosher-Stamp on Murder 9/15/2004 Israel Must Rethink Prisoner Policy 8/26/2004 |
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Uri Avnery is a longtime Israeli peace activist. Since 1948 has advocated the setting up of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. In 1974, Uri Avnery was the first Israeli to establish contact with PLO leadership. In 1982 he was the first Israeli ever to meet Yassir Arafat, after crossing the lines in besieged Beirut. He served three terms in the Israeli Parliament (Knesset), and is the founder of Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc). Visit his Website. |
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