Critical Essays on Israeli Society, Politics, and Culture: Books on Israel, Volume II

1. Revisionism and the Reconstruction of Israeli History

Steven Heydemann Revisionism and the Reconstruction of Israeli History Benny Morris. The Birthojthe PalestinianRejugeeProblem. 1947-1949. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1987. Avi Shlaim. Collusion Across the Jordan: King AbduUah, The Zionist Movement and the Partition ojPalestine (New York: Columbia University Press. 1988). As the Israelis. Americans. and British gradually open their archives from the 1940s and 1950s. the history of Israel's early years. both its domestic policies and its foreign relations. is undergoing far-reaching and controversial revision.The appearance of these two volumes represents an important addition to a growing body ofrevisionist literature based on these newly available sources. Each establishes a definitive and indispensable documentary record. Morris of Israel's role in the creation and continuation ofthe Palestinian refugee problem and Shlaim of Israel's extensive relations with the Hashemite Monarchy . In keeping with the notion ofrevisionist historiography both volumes also present an image ofIsrael. with particular emphasis on the conduct of its leaders. their stYle of decision making and their historic legacy. which is broadly incompatible with a well-established orthodox Zionistview. Whether explicitly. as in Simha Flapan's The Birth of IsraeLI and in Shlaim's book. or implicitly as in Morris. and Tom Segev's 1949: The First Israelis2 • revisionist writings 4 Critical Essays on Israeli Society, Politics, and Cilltlffe seek to transform the status oforthodox Israeli historiography .3 They approach it not as the legitimate historical explanation of Israel's founding but as a set of ideological myths. This in and ofitselfis a controversial and significant innovation and explains a good deal ofthe criticism directed at revisionist scholarship. Equally important however. revisionism also subjects these myths to the historical record as revealed invarious archives. Though closely interrelated. the distinction between these two tasks is important. Revisionism 's positive contribution is not primarily the delegitimation of orthodox historiography. It lies instead in the critical reconstruction ofIsrael's early history as a state. in the "normalization" ofIsraeli history. Revisionist historians bring us an understanding of Israel's creation as an event that is less miraculous and monumental, more realistic. more human and. inevitably. flawed. This reconstruction has been accomplished. in part. merely by opening the doors to the "smoke-filled rooms" in Tel Aviv. Geneva. London. and Amman where the future of Israelis. the Hashemites. and. above all. Palestinians. was determined. and where a highly personalized and factionalized process of decision making prevailed. But revisionist literature thoroughly refutes orthodox notions ofthe Israeli state in more fundamental ways. Although the orthodox viewwas never monolithic. it was never accepted by Israel's critics. and while some of its tenets have become increasingly shopworn even to Israel's supporters, the cumulative impact ofrevisionism's critique oforthodoxy has been quite profound. It is important. therefore. to review the general nature of revisionism's challenge to orthodox Israeli historiography. and to outline some of the underlying conceptual assumptions which revisionist scholars bring to their work. taking Morris and Shlaim as examples. At the same time. because the distinctive concerns and themes of revisionism did not spring full blown from the word processors ofa few authors. it is also necessary to establish the setting from which it Revisionism and the Reconstruction ojIsraeli History 5 emerged and within which much of the debate about revisionism's claims has taken place. Thus, I first try to set revisionism in its historical context, then to discuss its critique of orthodoxy and finally to use these ideas to focus more directly on the work of MOrris and Shlaim. Revisionism and Social Change Despite its controversial reception, the image of Israel presented in the revisionist literature has a long past. The story Morris tells ofwidespread Israeli participation in the expulsion of the Palestinians is not new. Neither, despite the claim's ofShlaim's publicists and to an extent ofShlaim himself, does he "unveil" an "untold story" about clandestine Zionist diplomacy with Jordan's King Abdullah. Instead , the essential contribution of the revisionist "movement " in general, and ofthese books in particular. has been to provide crucial documentary foundations for a history of Israel whose contours have long been known but which is still deeply contested. whether regarding Abdullah. the expulsion ofthe Palestinians. or matters ofdomestic policy. In this sense. revisionism's challenge to the orthodox view of Israel's founding must clearly be located within a broader process of social and intellectual change. And because of the response it has generated. revisionism should also be...