Many people have chronicled the history of violence — the actions and reactions, attacks and retaliations — that is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the structural, systemic causes of the conflict have gotten far less attention, even though they’re far more significant. The most important cause of the conflict is the internationally-celebrated idea of the nation-state — “national self-determination” — from which the Zionist project for a “Jewish state” was born.
But the nation-state idea is an absurdity in today’s multi-ethnic, multicultural world, an absurdity that inevitably leads to violence. As Robert Lansing, the secretary of state under Woodrow Wilson, described it: the principle of national self-determination is “a principle loaded with dynamite.” To understand why, listen to this article (and you can also find other articles on this topic here and here).
This is a recording of an article from December 19th, 2023. You can find the written version of the article here.
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Listen (9 min): The only solution for a lasting peace in Israel-Palestine