Acknowledging the Nakba (catastrophe) and Israel’s legitimacy are often juxtaposed as a zero-sum game. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s recent speech at the United Nations during the first ever formal commemoration of this day (May 15th) did little to assuage this polarization. But many who live in Israel encounter fellow Israeli citizens for whom the Nakba is a central part of their identity. Donniel Hartman, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Elana Stein Hain explore these tensions and complexities as Zionists. They ask: can we acknowledge Palestinian suffering, especially in relationship to Palestinians who are citizens of Israel? Can we hear their stories without endorsing their political conclusions, and is there room for a cautious Zionist exploration of the Palestinian narrative of Nakba?
A transcript of this episode is available here.
