Don't Forget the Palestinians! Jude Wanniski October 9, 2002

Memo To: J.J. Goldberg, Forward Editor
From: Jude Wanniski
Re: A new essay by Norman Finkelstein

As the editor of the most important Jewish newspaper in America, Mr. Goldberg, you are also one of the most important men in the world. On the margin, at a time when the entire Middle East is edging toward catastrophe, the Forward has been doing a great job of dealing with the issues in a responsible way, as balanced as you can be. You might think of extending your influence with your website, by linking to material that many Christians and Muslims would find illuminating. There are a host of books, articles and essays worth reading, some new, many old. If I were you, I would start with a controversial topic, Zionism and the Palestinians, by a controversial Jewish historian, Norman G. Finkelstein.

I’ve never met him or even spoken to him by telephone, but when I was searching for a good study of these issues earlier this year, I heard about him, found his e-mail, and heard back that the material I was looking for was in chapter five of his 1995 book, Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict. I found the book in paperback on Amazon and wound up reading the whole thing. I was most impressed with his ability to support all of his perspectives with direct quotes from the main figures of the era. He subsequently told me he had written a new introduction to the book that covers ground which brings it up to date. You yourself will find the introduction interesting, I think, and he has made it available on his website. It’s quite long, but I’ve read it twice now and plan to read it again.

Here is the link: http://normanfinkelstein.com/id128.htm

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Norman G. Finkelstein received his doctorate from the Department of Politics, Princeton University, for a thesis on the theory of Zionism. He is the author of four books: Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict (Verso, 1995), The Rise and Fall of Palestine (University of Minnesota,1996), with Ruth Bettina Birn, A Nation on Trial: The Goldhagen Thesis and Historical Truth (Henry Holt,1998) and: The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering (Verso, 2000). His writings have appeared in prestigious journals such as the London Review of Books, Index on Censorship, Journal of Palestine Studies, New Left Review, Middle East Report, Christian Science Monitor and Al Ahram Weekly. Currently he teaches political science at DePaul University in Chicago.

Norman Finkelstein was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1953. He is the son of Maryla Husyt Finkelstein, survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, Maidanek concentration camp, and Zacharias Finkelstein, survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto, Auschwitz concentration camp. He dedicated his first book to his parents in which he wrote: "May I never forgive or forget what was done to them." His brothers Richard and Henry Finkelstein would like all visitors to this web site to know that the surviving family fully supports Norman's efforts to maintain the integrity of the history of the Nazi holocaust. May we never forgive or forget what was done.