Writing a Common History Textbook in a Conflict Zone: The European Model and the Israeli-Palestinian Case

Date: 

Monday, April 8, 2019, 4:30pm to 6:00pm

Location: 

Harvard Center for European Studies, Adophus Busch Hall, 27 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (Entrance at Cabot Way)

Speaker: Eyal Naveh, Visiting Professor of History and CES Resident Faculty (Spring 2019); Professor of History, Tel Aviv University

Chair: Derek Penslar, William Lee Frost Professor of Modern Jewish History and Resident Faculty, CES, Harvard University

In the talk, Naveh will reflect on the experience of contributing to the writing of an Israeli-Palestinian history textbook that ended in a dual narrative structure and method, of which he was involved in the first decade of the 21st century. In addition, Naveh will analyze the process and interpret the goals and consequences of such an endeavor while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains. Inspired by European models of post-conflict history education, especially the French-German case, a group of Israeli and Palestinian historians and teachers tried to write a similar book for their respective societies. The project was supported and financed by a European Union grant and resulted in the creation of a history textbook in Arabic and Hebrew where Israeli and Palestinian historical narratives appeared on the same page side by side. The project won many international prizes and the book appeared as a great success, having being translated to English German, French, Swedish and other languages. However, it also experienced great failure, being banned both in Israel and Palestine.

For more information: Visit the Center for European Studies page for this event