The Invention of Ancient Israel, the Silencing of Palestinian History

Chris | 09.02.2012 00:24 | History | Palestine | Sheffield

On 8th Feburary 2012, Professor Keith Whitelam addressed a packed room at the Friends Meeting House in Sheffield, on the subject of "The Invention of Ancient Israel, the Silencing of Palestinian History", the meeting was organised by the Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Audio The Invention of Ancient Israel, the Silencing of Palestinian History - mp3 39M

Audio Q and A - mp3 44M

Professor Keith Whitelam is author of The Invention of Ancient Israel, the Silencing of Palestinian History and Palestine, the Bible and the Imperial Imagination.

He writes “Biblical studies, as a discipline, has evolved a rhetoric of representation which has been passed down without examination and has dispossessed Palestinians of land and a past… The struggle for the Palestinian past is only just beginning. For it to succeed, it will be necessary to expose the political and religious interests which have motivated the invention of ancient Israel within the discourse of biblical studies.”

http://sheffieldpsc.org.uk/content/events/invention-ancient-israel-silencing-palestinian-history

Chris
Homepage: http://sheffieldpsc.org.uk/

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not the first time...

09.02.2012 11:54

they did the same thing with Atlantis and the ancient Celtic Empire.

Behold, the Celts will rise again and all will unite behind the ancient ways and wipe the fascist scum off the face of our beautiful Gaea.

Breogan

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Not sure a good tactic

10.02.2012 17:17

If the intent is to argue that the "Zionists" should have right to the land BECAUSE ancient Israel did not exist the implication is that if this history was correct, they would.

Agreed, the Bible is not what we today would accept as evidence. If Ancient Israel really did exist then there would be material remains from this culture dug up by the archeologists. Also should have been found contemporary records from the neighboring countries, all of which were already literate. There should be records of diplomatic correspondence from Canaanite city states asking the larger powers like Egypt for assistance against the invaders. Later there should be references in the records of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria and even later Persia, Greece and Rome. Records of when the Jews were allieed with them, allied with their enemies, conquered by them, etc.

Oh, that archeological evidence does exist, does it.

MDN

making facts

12.02.2012 10:37

i have seen the israelis build new walls around settlements in the west bank, but make them look much older, as if to say it was there for a long time
I have also witnessed the israeli army dynamiting an ancient pre roman water cistern which local bedouins were using to water their flocks. The army said that there had not been any planning permission for a water cistern there!
This is the situation in the west bank, a total remaking of history.
Non semitic white skinned european jews, claiming to be returning home (to a desert!!), and kicking semitic palestinians off the land.
its racism at best.
Israel is a racist state.
But i don't think a palestinian state would be any less racist, 2 states is not the answer, the answer is for the young people of both sides to reject the tired patriarchal dogma which keeps them apart and to accept eachothers equal rights and live in harmony. Might sound a bit far fetched..... but thats the only thing that will solve the mess.

dst