Podcast: a History of Modern Palestine
American Prestige did a series on the History of Modern Palestine. The first episode is always public, but they have unlocked the remaining episodes for this week in light of current events.
I listened to this back when it was posted and learned a lot about the role of colonial powers in the formation of Israel and Palestine and the way Palestinians are being treated today. The viewpoint is is not anti-Semitic but it is also not pro-Israel. For example, they discuss Israel's (then) current treatment of the Palestinians as apartheid.
I can't imagine what it would be like to live in those conditions. I don't mean to condone terrorist violence, but set against the background of the oppression in Palestine, it's hard to imagine what people might be driven to.
I would actually recommended the Martyr Made podcast as a more balanced view of the conflict, if you want to understand both sides.
I fully second the recommendation for Matrymade's Fear & Loathing (zionist history) and My Lai episodes, but as a heads up for new listeners, the host went full Greenwald and turned openly alt-rightish a few years back.
Darryl was always a bit of a twitter troll, but around 2018 he landed an appearance on Tucker Carlson, got hooked on the attention, and fell in the deep end. Podcast quality took a nosedive around the same time IMO, towards the end of the Jim Jones series, and especially after he started partnering up with Jocko.
The guy is such an interesting case study in the duality of man: he's obviously extremely intelligent and well-read, yet randomly drops some absolutely WTF hot takes on a consistent basis. I honest-to-god believe he's just been put to sleep a few too many times/suffered some hard takedowns while rolling and has some brain damage going on.
Interesting - I actually saw him recommended here a few days back, and noped out as soon as I saw Jocko Willink was involved. The early episodes are still ok though?
Oh seriously?! I had no idea. I just found it online and thought it was a good (and not overly detailed) summary. Thanks for letting us know!
EDIT: The more I think about it the more I'm pissed off about this revelation. This means I cannot in good conscious recommend this to anyone (even though it really is good) without being thought of as a Trumper ðŸ˜
with the caveat that I'm just reading the episode descriptions, and haven't listened to it yet, I don't get the impression that it is going to be particularly "balanced".
based on this part of the episode 1 description, it sounds like they're setting up a narrative that the land properly belongs to Jewish people, and the Palestinians are interlopers:
the mention of 1300 years seems like they're linking it to the founding of Islam, which I think glosses over a huge part of the history of the region. human settlement of the Levant has been dated back to 2 million-ish years ago, and Natufian culture to 15,000ish years. I kind of hope that description isn't an accurate summary of the podcast because if the claim they're making is that non-Jewish people "moved in" 1300 years ago that is frighteningly misleading.
and then it sounds like episode 6 stops at WW2 and the Holocaust, and doesn't cover the Nakba?
maybe they cover it and just didn't mention it in the episode description? I hope so because I don't think it's possible to do justice to the history of the conflict without covering the Nakba.
As @FluffyKittens mentioned, this isn't really what he's doing, I think that might be your interpretation. But I also think no narrative can be balanced without mentioned the jewish bond to the land. Jews who lived in this area were exiled and returned multiple times - the last of which were the Babylonian exile around 586BC and the Roman exile which stretched several centuries from the destruction of the second temple by Rome (70AD) to the Christian kingdoms who inherited it. That 1300 number represents the tail end of that exile, not the beginning of Islam.
Again, I think this is your interpretation. While human settlement has started a long time ago, those people have not survived to this day [to lay claim].
I generally find ownership claims to the land a little ridiculous, but this is a representation of the beliefs of a great deal of the Jewish public and it would be irresponsible not to include it.
To add to this, I think the only sensible way to interpret the conflict is to look at the outcomes and sort of disregard the stated motivations both sides provide.
Despite my Martyrmade-content-warning elsewhere in the thread, the zionism series is actually pretty damn evenhanded, and in line with most other sources I've read. It does a good job of exploring the human motivations on both sides, without dipping into a reductionist "both sides" moral equivalency.
That reading of the first episode description is not where the narrative goes.
Al-Nakba and the zionist paramilitary shenanigans (e.g. King David bombing) in the run-up are covered in heavy detail - keep in mind all the episodes are many hours long.
I am always skeptical of podcasts[1] but I have to say (from a source analysis point of view) that the OPs podcast has some expert involvement (from a professor of history) whereast Martyr Made seems to be a (possibly valliant) effort by amateurs.
[1]: I think by nature they are a lot less rigorous than actual books where there is at least some quality control in the form of an editor, and academics tend to review other academic works, so the errors tend to get picked up on.
[1] Oh absolutely. But podcasts are the most commitment I can expect from anyone who hasn't literally lived through this conflict (or is an academic)
As for the source analysis, I agree with you. Though in addition to the professional merits you must also consider the pedigree of the source - Rashid Khalidi is Palestinian. While that doesn't disqualify him from writing about this history, I would be a little skeptical about whether the narrative he's exposing really represents the full picture.
would you have the same skepticism about an Israeli source?
what about someone from a third country (say, the US, or Canada, or whatever)?
Absolutely I would. But I feel uncomfortable saying this before listening to his content and forming an opinion, so maybe let me rephrase - I would search for prominent sources from both narratives to form a more complete picture.
I would highly recommentd Ian Black's Enemies and Neighbors which gives a comprehensive high-level overview of Arab-Israeli relations over the past ~100 years.
They have it on Downpour, so I will check it out.
If you go back enough in history, everything can be eventually blamed on the British Colonizers!
It's been a while since I listened to it, but in this case, a factor was Britain no longer being a global power after WWII and having to do what the Americans wanted.
This is awesome! Thank you!