----------------------- Message requiring your approval ---------------------- From: "Hanna Geshelin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Ha-Safran] Biased research and library materials
Some years ago when I was historian for a professional society, I became acquainted with the chief archivist at one of New England's foremost universities; my society's materials were part of that collection. She and I had many conversations about acquisitions policies and problems. Archivists, like any other librarian or civilian who collects materials, have acquisition policies and select what they will and will not keep. These policies have everything to do with the kind of research that comes out of that archive.
Hebrew University was begun by Jewish intellectuals (Buber, Freud and others) whose philosophical view was that the Jews should establish an intellectual enclave in the middle of the Arabs, and would spread intellectualism and liberalism without establishing a state of their own. So HUs early archivists' policies probably were very anti-statehood, therefore anti-conservative groups, Zionist revisionists, the Irgun-types, as well as the religious. Freud was anti-religious and Buber was big in the Enlightenment. They were also pretty much anti-Sefardi because the Sefardim weren't intellectuals. So any research that comes out of Hebrew University's archives is certainly going to be limited in scope.
Also, don't you think it's na�ve to believe that researchers don't have an axe to grind, and won't select data depending on whether it fits their world-view? I have read things written by Israeli "scholars" that directly contradict things that I clearly remember from the era of the 6-Day-War, living in Israel in 1968 and 1969, and subscribing to _Near East Reports_ and other publications for many years after that. My memory is wrong and their "scholarly research" is right? I don't think so; not so often and only in these particular ways!
In 1988, when I was working as a Jewish storyteller, I read about 40 books about the establishment of Israel. Many of them were published in the 50's and 60's. They covered a wide variety of viewpoints across the political spectrum. While each one discussed events not covered in the others---personal experiences of the authors---they also covered the same events from different perspectives. These books were written early enough after statehood and by people who disagreed strongly enough with each other that collusion can be discounted. And they disagree with many, many of the points made by revisionist "scholars" like Segev and Benvenisti.
I had a much younger friend who got a Ph.D. in Linguistics at MIT under Noam Chomsky. Her politics did a 180-degree reversal as she became aware that unless she espoused and actively supported left-wing, pro-Palestinian politics her professional career would go nowhere. Segev and Benvenisti have earned thousands of dollars and countless accolades due to their political positions and "research," while right-wingers have been at best ignored and at worst jailed (in Israel) for their views. People who tout Segev, Benvenisti and their ilk as truth-tellers have to take a long look at the possibility that they sold out like my friend.
Hanna Geshelin
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