Seminars

Seminar: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Politics of Knowledge

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Created on Tuesday, 28 July 2009 16:11

Written by Safiyyah Surtee

The Afro-Middle East Centre will co-host, with the School of Social Sciences based at the University of Witwatersrand (WITS) and the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) a seminar to be delivered by Professor Norman Finkelstein. The lecture will be entitled "The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politics of knowledge", and will be delivered at WITS at 13:15 on the 13th August 2009.

A son of survivors of the Nazi holocaust in the mid-20th Century, Finklestein is an outspoken critic of Israel's policies towards the Palestinian people, and has repeatedly questioned the abuse of the holocaust and the misuse of anti-Semitism for Zionist objectives.

The former is thoroughly exposed in his book The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the exploitation of Jewish suffering (Verso, 2000; expanded paperback edition, 2003). These positions are widely credited for his being denied tenure at De Paul University in Chicago, USA, where he had taught for six years.

Norman G. Finkelstein received his doctorate in 1988 from the Department of Politics at Princeton University. For many years he taught courses on political theory and the Israel-Palestine conflict. He is currently an independent scholar. Finkelstein is the author of five books which have been translated into more than 40 foreign editions: Beyond Chutzpah: On the misuse of anti-Semitism and the abuse of history (University of California Press, 2005; expanded paperback edition, 2008); The Holocaust Industry; Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict (Verso, 1995; expanded paperback edition, 2003); A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen thesis and historical truth (with Ruth Bettina Birn) (Henry Holt, 1998), and The Rise and Fall of Palestine: A personal account of the Intifada years (University of Minnesota, 1996). He has just completed a new book entitled A Farewell to Israel: The coming break-up of American Zionism, which is to be published later this year.

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politics of knowledge"

Date: 13 August 2009

TIme: 13:15

Venue: WITS University

For more information please contact AMEC by calling +27 11 782 6754 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.