A note from FMEP’s Lara Friedman:
As people consider the remarkable articles published last week by Peter Beinart in Jewish Currents and The New York Times—which break new ground in the thinking of American Jews and liberal Zionists and are framed for an audience that, like Peter, is going through or has gone through a painful journey and moral reckoning when it comes to Israel—it is important to note that Palestinian intellectuals have been thoughtfully articulating similar thinking for decades. In this regard, there is an intellectual and moral obligation to reflect on the fact that across these decades, most American Jews, including liberal Zionists, not only ignored these Palestinian voices, but actively or passively contributed to their marginalization and delegitimization. Below are some notable examples (among many) – my own recommendations, plus recommendations from Peter on his Twitter thread acknowledging some of the writing that has shaped his thinking.
In addition, I encourage people to seek out other Palestinian voices, especially Palestinian women, including Noura Erekat, Yara Hawari, Inès Abdel Razek,Rania Muhareb, Mariam Barghouti, Diana Buttu, Zena Agha, Randa Wahbe, Nadia Hijab, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Nur Arafeh, Marwa Fatafta, Leila Farsakh [the list goes on and on…]
Articles:
- Edward Said’s 1999 New York Times magazine feature, “The One-State Solution”
- George Bisharat’s 2008 academic article “Maximizing Rights: The One State Solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict“
- Diana Buttu’s 2012 article in the Boston Globe, “A united, democratic nation with equal rights for all“
- Noura Erekat’s 2012 article in Jadaliyya, “Singular Legal Regime Necessitates One-State Solution”;
- Yousef Munayyer’s 2013 New Yorker article “Thinking Outside the Two-State Box”
- Iyad el-Baghdadi’s 2017 Washington Post op-ed, “How the end of the two-state solution can transform the Palestinian struggle”
- Yousef Munayyer’s 2017 Time article, “Let’s Talk About a One-State Solution Where Israelis and Palestinians Are Equal“
- George Bisharat’s 2019 piece in the Los Angeles Times, “The case for a democratic one-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians“
- Yousef Munayyer’s 2019 piece in Foreign Affairs, “There Will Be a One-State Solution“
Books
- Rashid Khalidi’s The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood
- Ussama Makdisi’s Age of Coexistence: The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of the Modern World
- Ali Abunimah’s One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse
- Noura Erekat’s Justice for Some