I want to imagine an emancipatory memory that integrates the story of the Holocaust and the story of the Nakba-now-becominga-genocide within its colonial context, despite the differences between them, into one entangled narrative. This narrative will support an emancipatory political project of full equality of rights— personal, civil, and national— for Jews and Palestinians " from the river to the sea ". Together with the Palestinian political theorist Bashir Bashir, I have been deeply engaged for more than ten years in this " entangled memory " project. It is about narrating the two national stories in what Bashir calls an " egalitarian binational " way which should also lead to an egalitarian binational political solution and perhaps even an historical reconciliation in the future. This is a painful process of decolonization that includes the dismantling of all forms of Jewish supremacy in Palestine / Israel, mutual recognition, self-determination for both peoples, and establishing mechanisms of compensation, accountability and justice. This vision could be implemented in various political settings of one state, two states, federation, confederation etc. Together with other scholars we developed this thought in our book The Holocaust and the Nakba: A New Grammar of Trauma and History.
and many times are even more important for understanding the event. This " return " might take the whole field of Holocaust and Genocide studies decades back to a crude form of " intentionalism ". I wrote about this in an article in the Journal of Genocide Research called " The problematic return of intent."
8. At a time when Europe is increasingly confronting its colonial past, do you think there has been insufficient attention to the idea of Israel’ s creation as a potentially colonizing project— one that was, in part, supported or promoted by certain European nations in the aftermath of the Holocaust?
In Zionism and in Israel, and as some of the big figures of Zionism acknowledged, foremost among them Ze ' ev Jabotinsky(" The Iron Wall 1923 "), there is a central component of settler colonialism. This concept cannot exhaust the understanding of Zionism, which is a very complex phenomenon, but it is necessary in my opinion for any true understanding of it. Understanding Israel only from the European-Christian and Jewish perspectives of the people of the Bible returning to their land, and of a safe haven for Holocaust victims who found refuge and a place where they could recover, suppresses the understanding that Israel is a political project that has a very strong component of settler colonialism. Part of the terrible violence of Zionism— whose two peaks are the Nakba of 1948 and the unfolding genocide in Gaza whose end is not yet in sight— stems at least partially from this as settler colonial projects contain an inherent eliminatory impulse within them. They want to replace the native population, not to integrate into it. Understanding the State of Israel only as a " response " to the Holocaust and as a refuge for many of its victims( which is of course true) gave Israel an aura of sanctity which was translated into destructive political policy( for example the notorious German " Staatsräson ") that did not allow and still does not allow seeing these inherent violent aspects in Israel and in Zionism. This is part of the reasons for what is happening now in Palestine-Israel.
I want to imagine an emancipatory memory that integrates the story of the Holocaust and the story of the Nakba-now-becominga-genocide within its colonial context, despite the differences between them, into one entangled narrative. This narrative will support an emancipatory political project of full equality of rights— personal, civil, and national— for Jews and Palestinians " from the river to the sea ". Together with the Palestinian political theorist Bashir Bashir, I have been deeply engaged for more than ten years in this " entangled memory " project. It is about narrating the two national stories in what Bashir calls an " egalitarian binational " way which should also lead to an egalitarian binational political solution and perhaps even an historical reconciliation in the future. This is a painful process of decolonization that includes the dismantling of all forms of Jewish supremacy in Palestine / Israel, mutual recognition, self-determination for both peoples, and establishing mechanisms of compensation, accountability and justice. This vision could be implemented in various political settings of one state, two states, federation, confederation etc. Together with other scholars we developed this thought in our book The Holocaust and the Nakba: A New Grammar of Trauma and History.
I must admit though that I am not sure whether and in what ways these ideas are still relevant following October 7 and in the midst of the genocide in Gaza. They seem now more remote from reality than science fiction. Sometimes I think that it is immoral to even talk about such ideas when dozens of children are dying of bombs and hunger every day in Gaza. But on the other hand, one hears also such voices coming now from Gaza itself.
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Observing Memories ISSUE 9