Israel, Palestine, and ‘personal history in times of crisis’

Trending Globally: Politics and Policy

How do our individual experiences shape our political views? What role do our own stories and memories play in how we think about the world around us? How can we use our memories — even our most painful ones — to help build a more peaceful politics?

These are complicated questions, and not of the variety we often ask on this show. But historian Omer Bartov thinks that trying to answer them is essential to finding political solutions to our most vexing problems. And in his new book “Genocide, the Holocaust and Israel-Palestine: First-Person History in Times of Crisis,” Bartov powerfully makes the case.

On this episode of Trending Globally, Dan Richards talks with Bartov about the book — which weaves together personal stories, historical analyses and a moral critique of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians — and how individual stories and personal memories are inextricably linked to the politics we create.

Although this podcast was scheduled before the current Israeli-Palestinian crisis, the interview took place in the wake of the events of October 7 and therefore those events are a big part of the conversation. But as this conversation hopefully makes clear, Bartov’s book and analysis are even more important and relevant in our current moment.

Learn more about an purchase “Genocide, the Holocuast, and Israel-Palestine: First-Person History in Times of Crisis”

Reading recommendations from Omer Bartov:

• “Gate of the Sun” and “Children of the Ghetto” by Elias Khoury
• “Khirbet Khizeh” by S. Yizhar
• “Facing the Forests” A. B. Yehoshua
• “Return to Haifa” by Ghassan Kanafanl

Learn more about the Watson Institute’s other podcasts