The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is once again in the news. On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian Islamist organization launched a raid from its basis in the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, killing as many as 1,200 Israelis and abducting many more, including women and children.
In response, the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu launched a military offensive into Gaza that has cost the lives of nearly 30,000 Palestinians, including, according to the United Nations, 8,000 children. The latest round of fighting has excited passions around the world.
For some, Israel is engaged in legitimate self-defense, while for others, it is nothing short of a campaign of genocide directed at liquidating the Palestinian population of Gaza. However, history did
not begin on October 7th. In this episode of Talking History, we journey back to the early twentieth century to discuss the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Dr. Louis Fishman, author of Jews and Palestinians in the Late Ottoman Era, 1908-1914: Claiming Homeland published by Edinburgh University Press in 2021.
Dr. Louis Fishman is an associate professor at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and writes on Turkish, and Israeli/Palestinian affairs. He has lived most of his life between the US, Israel, and Turkey. He is a regular contributor at the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
