Background reading on Israel and Palestine
I'm going to try and avoid ranting about Israel and Palestine because there's much more heat than light right now. But I want to recommend some background reading that seems useful, and it's historical/background stuff rather than partisan:
- Adam Curtis: "Save All Your Kisses For Me" - from 2012, a history of the region told through cut-n-paste archive film footage. This takes a while to read - at least 30 mins if you watch the videos - but well worth it.
- 9 questions about the Israel-Palestine conflict you were too embarrassed to ask - this article in "Vox" (no idea, but it seems to be US-based) is even-handed and written in plain simple English.
- The reasons why Gaza's population is so young - this New Scientist article discusses Palestine's unusual demographics, and how it relates to both the death toll and the socio-political situation.
- Peter Schwartz responds to Brian Eno's open letter on Israel-Gaza crisis - particularly handy in this piece is his description of how the USA came to the relationship it did with Israel/Palestine.
I also want to point to a more "one-sided" piece (in the sense that it criticises one "side" specifically - I've no idea about the author's actual motivations): Five Israeli Talking Points on Gaza - Debunked. I recommend it because it raises some interesting points about international law and the like, and we in the UK don't seem to hear these issues filled out on the radio.
Also this interview with Ex-Israeli Security Chief Diskin. Again I don't know Diskin's backstory - clearly he's opposed to the current Israeli Prime Minister (Netanyahu), but the interview has some detail.
As usual, please don't assume anyone is purely pro-Palestine or pro-Israel, and don't confuse criticism of Israel/Hamas with criticism of Judaism/Islam. The topic is hard to talk about (especially on the internet) without the conversation spiralling into extremes.
Syndicated 2014-07-31 18:09:27 (Updated 2014-08-14 07:36:33) from Dan Stowell