The Institute of Jewish Studies, the History Department (research groups Power in History and Centre for Urban History) and the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of the University of Antwerp are organising a two-part lecture series on the history behind the Gaza conflict. The first part will take place on 16 May 2024 with Prof. Bernard Wasserstein as speaker, in the autumn you can expect What Remains! intergenerational trauma after collective violence, a lecture by Christophe Busch.
Israel/Palestine: Two States or One? A Historical Perspective will explore the background over the past century to contemporary discussion on paths towards resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Evolving ideological, strategic, and demographic pressures have shaped the debate between advocates of ‘one Palestine complete’ and those who favoured partition of the contested Holy Land. From its origins under the British mandate between 1920 and 1948 up to the present day, the issue has divided Zionists and Palestinians as much internally as from each other. In this lecture Wasserstein examines the obstacles that have impeded both unitary and separatist visions from being realized.
Bernard Wasserstein is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Chicago. Born in London and educated at Oxford, he has taught at universities in Britain and the USA and held visiting positions in Israel, Germany, and Sweden. From 1996 to 2000 he was president of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2008 and is a permanent Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy. His books, which have been translated into more than a dozen languages, include Israel and Palestine, Divided Jerusalem, and On the Eve: The Jews of Europe Before the Second World War (awarded the Yad Vashem International Book Prize, 2013). His latest book, A Small Town in Ukraine is published by Allen Lane/Penguin Books.
Practical information
16 May 2024 - 17h00
City campus UAntwerp - Building C - C.002
Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerpen
Language: English
