A few hours ago, the rectorate of the University of Vienna decided to no longer make the lecture hall for Rashid Khalidi’s talk, who will join online, available. We will therefore be holding our event exclusively online.
Please use the following link to join our public lecture and discussion with Professor Rashid Khalidi starting on the 14th of May at 06.30pm CEST:
univienna.zoom.us/j/62877795110
Ongoing Nakba? The War on Gaza and its Historic Roots
with Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies, Columbia University
Chair: Helmut Krieger, Department of Development Studies, University of Vienna
Tuesday, May 14, 2024, 06:30-08:00pm CEST, ONLINE
The rectorate’s decision not only illustrates once again a repressive understanding of academic freedom including teaching, but also makes clear how much it fears an open and differentiated debate on the war on Gaza on campus itself.
By defending academic freedoms, I emphasize again that fear and suppression of critical voices can never be part of a university that has yet to be democratized and decolonized.
In view of the rectorate’s decision at very short-notice, I will ensure as far as possible that everyone who doesn’t receive this message in time can still experience hearing and seeing the online event in front of the lecture halls C1/C2 on campus.
I am sorry for the inconvenience caused by the rectorate of the University of Vienna and I hope you will enjoy the public lecture!
Thank you and best wishes,
Helmut Krieger
Public Lecture and Discussion
Ongoing Nakba?
The War on Gaza and its Historic Roots
with Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies, Columbia University
Chair: Helmut Krieger*, University of Vienna
Tuesday, May 14, 2024, 18:30-20:00
Online - see above
Abstract
This talk with Professor Rashid Khalidi from Columbia University, who will join the public event online, will discuss his analysis of Israel’s war on Gaza from a historical perspective.
In his latest book The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017, published in 2020, Rashid Khalidi argues that developments in Palestine since 1917 stemmed from a multi-staged war waged on the indigenous Palestinian population by great powers in order to force them to relinquish their homeland to the settler-colonial and nationalist Zionist movement. By referring to this settler-colonial paradigm as basic historical condition, Khalidi understands the period from 1917-2017 as a long war that can be divided into six distinguished phases he characterizes as declarations of war, the last one lasting from 2000 to 2014.
Based on his analysis, we will discuss the following questions: How does the current war on Gaza fit into the historic framework Khalidi established in his book on the hundred years’ war on Palestine? In what way can we speak about a continuity of the Nakba? What are postwar political horizons beyond a two-state solution? How can we deal with a repressive atmosphere currently also enforced on university campuses in the US and Europe?
Rashid Khalidi
Rashid Khalidi is one of the most renowned historians on Palestine and the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. After having received his B.A. from Yale University in 1970, and his D.Phil. from Oxford University in 1974, he has taught at the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, Georgetown University, and at the University of Chicago. He was President of the Middle East Studies Association, and also an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 until June 1993.
In addition to being editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, Khalidi has authored many books, among them: The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 (published in 2020), winner of the 2020 MEMO Book Award; Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. has Undermined Peace in the Middle East (2013), winner of the Lionel Trilling Book Award and the MEMO Book Award; Sowing Crisis: American Dominance and the Cold War in the Middle East (2009); The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (2006), winner of the 2007 Arab American National Museum Book Award; Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America’s Perilous Path in the Middle East (2004); Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (1997), winner of the Middle East Studies Association’s Albert Hourani Prize, new edition, 2010.
The German edition of The One Hundred Years’ War on Palestine has just been published by Unionsverlag (Der Hundertjährige Krieg um Palästina. Eine Geschichte von Siedlerkolonialismus und Widerstand).
*Although embedded in my seminar on Palestine at the Department of Development Studies at the University of Vienna, this event is open to the public as well.
Please note that this lecture will be recorded by the organizers. By participating, you consent to the recording.