Then & Now

Reimagining Israel-Palestine: A Conversation with Peter Beinart on American Jews, Israel, and the the Principle of Equality for All

July 20, 2020 UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy Episode 17
Then & Now
Reimagining Israel-Palestine: A Conversation with Peter Beinart on American Jews, Israel, and the the Principle of Equality for All
Show Notes

The seemingly intractable Israel-Palestine conflict may well be moving into a new phase, one in which the long-dominant two-state solution is no longer viable or desirable to the parties involved.  How did this occur?  And what would replace it? 

Peter Beinart, noted journalist and editor-at-large of Jewish Currents magazine, recently published two pieces in the Jewish Currents and The New York Times about abandoning his own faith in the long-sought two-state solution.  Beinart now proposes a vision of equality for all in a single state. He joins Then & Now in conversation with LCHP Director and UCLA professor of Jewish history David Myers to discuss his shift in perspective and the role of history in his present-day analysis

The conversation revisits the definition and historical foundations of Zionism, the role of the Holocaust in Jewish approaches to Israel, and the related dynamics of other geopolitical conflicts. Ultimately, Beinart complicates the lines between utopianism and realism, challenging listeners to approach a longstanding conflict with new perspective.