I am listening to this interview in the early morning in London. It is good to hear your voice. The broadcast is chilling - an understatement - and compelling. Your work is important and, I say again, displays great courage and a high degree of intelligence. I shall continue to read your very thorough and informative reports. If you ever need anything from London [UK], please let me know.
I'm looking forward to listening to the podcast, so maybe I'm ahead of myself, but I'm curious about this phrase:
"first as a way to manufacture a sense of national identity"
Despite my anit-zionist sentiment, I do think theres something to be said about the validity of Jewish history in the Levant. Regardless of how Zionists leverage archeology to enact atrocities, uncovering history doesn't imply "manufacturing"... For instance, my father visited Jewish cemeteries in Vilnus where our family escaped from -- the govt wanted to put a sports stadium on top of them so there were protests a few years back -- but I wouldn't say protecting that history is simply to manipulate people into acknowledging the Holocaust. History is history, the issue is how people use it to justify their actions.
Again, I'll give the pod a listen and I'm guessing you address this point!
You might have already written about this and I just forgot, but do you know what they do with archeological findings belonging to different time periods? Do they just stash them away & they never see the light of day? 🤷
Also, this makes me realize that even though selectively framing history to fit a national myth of some continuous & uninterrupted lineage or point of origin is a global phenomenon b/c nation states are a relatively modern invention, I guess it just becomes more stark and violent when the context is settler colonialiasm, military occupation & apartheid?
We don't really pay much attention to national myths in France, for example, even if we recognize that national origin stories are made up. National myths in other places become ossified. In Palestine, it's ongoing & the colonialist narrative needs to be constantly emphasized and asserted. So the myth making is an ongoing violence process.
On the first question — I think it depends where it’s happening and who’s doing it. There are definitely *some* legit archaeologists in Israel-proper who are doing real research. In the West Bank, they’re pretty much destroying anything that doesn’t fit the linear narrative.
And on the part about national mythmaking — yes, 100%. You should read my Drift piece if you haven’t already.
Reread your article. Wow. So many chilling examples of how violence has become mundane & built into bureaucracy. It's like the banality of violence, the casual way they speak about it, anesthetizes them from actually confronting the horrors they are inflicting. So maddening.
Jasper -
I am listening to this interview in the early morning in London. It is good to hear your voice. The broadcast is chilling - an understatement - and compelling. Your work is important and, I say again, displays great courage and a high degree of intelligence. I shall continue to read your very thorough and informative reports. If you ever need anything from London [UK], please let me know.
Have a good day!
Robert.
I'm looking forward to listening to the podcast, so maybe I'm ahead of myself, but I'm curious about this phrase:
"first as a way to manufacture a sense of national identity"
Despite my anit-zionist sentiment, I do think theres something to be said about the validity of Jewish history in the Levant. Regardless of how Zionists leverage archeology to enact atrocities, uncovering history doesn't imply "manufacturing"... For instance, my father visited Jewish cemeteries in Vilnus where our family escaped from -- the govt wanted to put a sports stadium on top of them so there were protests a few years back -- but I wouldn't say protecting that history is simply to manipulate people into acknowledging the Holocaust. History is history, the issue is how people use it to justify their actions.
Again, I'll give the pod a listen and I'm guessing you address this point!
You might have already written about this and I just forgot, but do you know what they do with archeological findings belonging to different time periods? Do they just stash them away & they never see the light of day? 🤷
Also, this makes me realize that even though selectively framing history to fit a national myth of some continuous & uninterrupted lineage or point of origin is a global phenomenon b/c nation states are a relatively modern invention, I guess it just becomes more stark and violent when the context is settler colonialiasm, military occupation & apartheid?
We don't really pay much attention to national myths in France, for example, even if we recognize that national origin stories are made up. National myths in other places become ossified. In Palestine, it's ongoing & the colonialist narrative needs to be constantly emphasized and asserted. So the myth making is an ongoing violence process.
On the first question — I think it depends where it’s happening and who’s doing it. There are definitely *some* legit archaeologists in Israel-proper who are doing real research. In the West Bank, they’re pretty much destroying anything that doesn’t fit the linear narrative.
And on the part about national mythmaking — yes, 100%. You should read my Drift piece if you haven’t already.
Reread your article. Wow. So many chilling examples of how violence has become mundane & built into bureaucracy. It's like the banality of violence, the casual way they speak about it, anesthetizes them from actually confronting the horrors they are inflicting. So maddening.
How does it feel that, like it or not, all this is being done in your name? And that the majority of your community support it?
Bad?