The Wire

One of Israel’s more controversial historians is visiting Australia as a part of the Public Right to Know Conference, which was held at the University of Technology, Sydney, over the weekend. Ilan Pappe is a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Haifa, and the author of books such as “The IsraelPalestine Question” and “A History of Modern Palestine”. He’s part of a group of historians known as the post-Zionists, because their work challenges some of the fundamental historical beliefs, which support Zionism. As you might expect, this approach has generated plenty of controversy in Israel, and Pappe’s work and beliefs have led to an attempt by the University of Haifa to remove him from his tenured position there.