Israel Matzav

Bir Zeit on the Hudson opens 'Center for Palestine Studies'

The last time I wrote a post in which I referred to my alma mater as Bir Zeit on the Hudson, I got a direct message on Twitter from Martin Kramer, who corrected my attribution of the name to Caroline Glick. Martin pointed me here and here to prove that he was the originator of the name Bir Zeit on the Hudson. On Thursday night, it was proven once again that the academic institution located on Morningside Heights in New York City deserves its name.

On Thursday night, the university launched a 'Center for Palestine Studies,' which, "when it receives its funding," will "sponsor research in the newly independent field of Palestinian culture and history." Unfortunately, the (apparently) Jewish students at Bir Zeit on the Hudson seem only to be concerned about the new Center's name, and not about what it means for their welcome at the university otherwise known as Columbia.

The creation of the center offers new opportunities, but it’s problematic in at least one important way—its title. The faculty involved, from Professor Rashid Khalidi to Professor Joseph Massad, should address this type of structural question in order to clarify the mission of the center, presented only in broad strokes on its website.

Speakers at the launch event discussed the center’s goals in terms of the legacy of Edward Said. Professor Brinkley Messick said of Said, “He was one of the most prominent scholars of the late 20th century in literary criticism and public intellect,” and added that one of his main interests was “the question of Palestine.” In his afterword to “Orientalism,” Said wrote that only a “negotiated settlement between the two communities” could bring about peace in the Middle East. This vision had space for a Palestinian and an Israeli state.

But this is not a center for the study of Edward Said, but rather for Palestine—the name of a state that does not officially exist. The title of the center, then, implies a position on the state of Israel that is not necessarily consistent with Said’s vision.

As far as the question this column poses—why call it the Center for Palestine Studies?—we need not wade into the contested history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What we know is that, from the moment the British Mandate for Palestine ended in 1948, there was no place on the United Nations’ maps of the Middle East called “Palestine,” and that there is no such place on them today. Yes, there are territories mainly occupied by those who identify as Palestinians, but no Palestine. The geographical region that used to be referred to as Palestine has been relabeled “Israel.”

What does it mean that the Center for Palestine Studies draws reference to a time before the creation of the state of Israel?

Sophomore Amanda Gutterman goes on to present a number of possible reasons for this 'mistake' in the name, while ignoring the possibility that the name was deliberately chosen, because choosing the name 'Center for Palestine Studies' is supposedly not in keeping with the 'legacy' of Edward Said. The real and obvious reason why the name was chosen is that the Center and those who teach in it are planning to advocate for the replacement of the State of Israel - a UN member state - with a 'state of Palestine,' a 23rd (24th if you count Gaza) Islamic state that would also be a base for Islamic terrorism. Said would not have objected to that outcome. For him, as for his cohorts in the Fatah terror organization, the 'Palestinian state' is in any event a way station on the way to destroying the Jewish state.

Given the history of at least some members of the Center's faculty, who have been found to have terrorized students who disagreed with them, if I were a student at Bir Zeit on the Hudson, this news would have me looking to transfer elsewhere.

The picture at the top is the spiritual mentor of both the Center, and the Obama administration's policies on the Middle East, Rashid Khalidi. We're still waiting to see video of Khalidi's departure party from Chicago.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:51 PM