Avraham Sela

Last updated

Avraham Sela is an Israeli historian and scholar on the Middle East and international relations.

Contents

Education and career

Sela studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, gaining a BA in 1971, an MA in 1974 and a PhD in 1986. He currently serves as the A. Ephraim and Shirley Diamond Professor of International Relations and a senior research fellow at the Harry S. Truman Institute, both at the Hebrew University.

He is the author of The Decline of the Arab Israeli Conflict: Middle East Politics and the Quest for Regional Order (1998) and co-author of The Palestinian Hamas: Vision, Violence and Adjustment (2000).

Views

Sela is fairly critical of the writings of the New Historians, particularly of Benny Morris and Avi Shlaim. [1]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zionist political violence</span> Violence or terrorism motivated by Zionism

Zionist political violence refers to politically motivated violence or terrorism perpetrated by Zionists. The term is used to describe violence committed by those who support the political movement of Zionism, and violence committed against opponents of Zionism. The violence often takes the form of terrorist attacks and has been directed against both Jewish and Arab targets. The most active period of most notable Zionist political violence began on June 30, 1924, through the 1940s, and continues to the present day, usually for the purpose of expanding Zionist settlements in Palestine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1948 Arab–Israeli War</span> Second and final stage of the 1947–1949 Palestine war

The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had been issued earlier that day, and a military coalition of Arab states entered the territory of Mandatory Palestine in the morning of 15 May.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli–Palestinian conflict</span> Ongoing military and political conflict in the Levant

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict in the Levant. Beginning in the mid-20th century, it is one of the world's longest-continuing conflicts. Key areas of the conflict include the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the status of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, borders, security and water rights, as well as Palestinian freedom of movement and the Palestinian right of return.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Intifada</span> 1987–1993 Palestinian uprising against Israel

The First Intifada, also known as the First Palestinian Intifada or the Stone Intifada, was a sustained series of protests, civil disobedience and riots carried out by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. It was motivated by collective Palestinian frustration over Israel's military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as it approached a twenty-year mark, having begun in the wake of the 1967 Arab–Israeli War. The uprising lasted from December 1987 until the Madrid Conference of 1991, though some date its conclusion to 1993, with the signing of the Oslo Accords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdullah I of Jordan</span> Ruler of Transjordan and Jordan from 1921 to 1951

Abdullah I bin Al-Hussein was the ruler of Jordan from 11 April 1921 until his assassination in 1951. He was the Emir of Transjordan, a British protectorate, until 25 May 1946, after which he was king of an independent Jordan. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, Abdullah was a 38th-generation direct descendant of Muhammad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine war</span> Overview of massacres in the 1948 Palestine war

Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine war resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and unarmed soldiers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benny Morris</span> Israeli historian (born 1948)

Benny Morris is an Israeli historian. He was a professor of history in the Middle East Studies department of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the city of Beersheba, Israel. Morris was initially associated with the group of Israeli historians known as the "New Historians", a term he coined to describe himself and historians Avi Shlaim, Ilan Pappé and Simha Flapan. Scholars have perceived an ideological shift in Morris's work and a departure from the critical scholarship of his New Historian colleagues starting around 2000 during the Second Intifada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict</span>

The history of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict traces back to the late 19th century when Zionists sought to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in Ottoman-controlled Palestine, a region roughly corresponding to the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition. The Balfour Declaration of 1917, issued by the British government, endorsed the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which led to an influx of Jewish immigrants to the region. Following World War II and the Holocaust, international pressure mounted for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, leading to the creation of Israel in 1948.

The Khartoum Resolution of 1 September 1967 was issued at the conclusion of the 1967 Arab League summit, which was convened in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, in the wake of the Six-Day War. The resolution is famous for containing what became known as the "Three Noes" or "The Three Noes of Khartoum".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli–Palestinian peace process</span> Efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Intermittent discussions are held by various parties and proposals put forward in an attempt to resolve the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict through a peace process. Since the 1970s, there has been a parallel effort made to find terms upon which peace can be agreed to in both the Arab–Israeli conflict and in the Palestinian–Israeli conflict. Notably the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, which included discussions on plans for "Palestinian autonomy", but did not include any Palestinian representatives. The autonomy plan would not be implemented, but its stipulations would to a large extent be represented in the Oslo Accords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilan Pappé</span> Israeli-British historian (born 1954)

Ilan Pappé is an Israeli historian, political scientist and former politician. He is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, director of the university's European Centre for Palestine Studies, and co-director of the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arab–Israeli conflict</span> Geopolitical conflict in the Middle East and North Africa

The Arab–Israeli conflict is the phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between various Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century. The roots of the Arab–Israeli conflict have been attributed to the support by Arab League member countries for the Palestinians, a fellow League member, in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict; this in turn has been attributed to the simultaneous rise of Zionism and Arab nationalism towards the end of the 19th century, though the two national movements had not clashed until the 1920s.

This is an incomplete bibliography of the Arab–Israeli conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezra Danin</span> Israeli spy

Ezra Danin was the head of the Arab section of the SHAI, the intelligence arm of the Haganah, Israeli politician and an orange grower. Danin specialized in Arab affairs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaul Mishal</span>

Shaul Mishal is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Tel Aviv University. Mishal is Head of the Middle Eastern studies Program at IDC Herzliya, researcher of Arab and Palestinian politics who founded and directed the Center for the Study of Arab Society in Israel. Mishal authored and co-authored several books and numerous articles in subjects related to Arab and Islamic political cultures and Palestinian politics.

The New Historians are a loosely defined group of Israeli historians who have challenged traditional versions of Israeli history, including Israel's role in the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight and Arab willingness to discuss peace. The term was coined in 1988 by Benny Morris, one of the leading New Historians. According to Ethan Bronner of The New York Times, the New Historians have sought to advance the peace process in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avi Shlaim</span> Israeli-British historian (born 1945)

Avi Shlaim is an Israeli and British historian of Iraqi Jewish descent. He is one of Israel's "New Historians", a group of Israeli scholars who put forward critical interpretations of the history of Zionism and Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1948 Palestine war</span> First war of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence and in Arabic as a central component of the Nakba. It is the first war of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the broader Arab–Israeli conflict. During the war, the British terminated the Mandate and withdrew, ending a period of rule which had begun in 1917, during the First World War. Beforehand, the area had been part of the Ottoman Empire. In May 1948, the State of Israel was established by the Jewish Yishuv, its creation having been declared on the last day of the Mandate. During the war, around 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were displaced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palestinian nationalism</span> Movement for self-determination and sovereignty of Palestine

Palestinian nationalism is the national movement of the Palestinian people that espouses self-determination and sovereignty over the region of Palestine. Originally formed in opposition to Zionism, Palestinian nationalism later internationalized and attached itself to other ideologies; it has thus rejected the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the government of Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War. Palestinian nationalists often drawn upon broader political traditions in their ideology, examples being Arab socialism and ethnic nationalism in the context of Muslim religious nationalism. Related beliefs have shaped the government of Palestine and continue to do so.

<i>1948: A History of the First Arab–Israeli War</i>

1948: A History of the First Arab–Israeli War is a non-fiction work written by Israeli historian Benny Morris. It was published by Yale University Press in 2008. The author is otherwise known for multiple other books such as Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem and Righteous Victims, being a member of the group called the 'new historians' and the individual who most popularized the term.

References

  1. Avi Shlaim, "The Debate about 1948" in Benny Morris (ed.), Making Israel, 2007, ISBN   0-472-03216-X, pp. 135-138