Studying Zionism and Israel in the PLO

Speaker: Dr. Jonathan Gribetz, Associate Professor, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), founded in 1964, became famous, or infamous, over the decades primarily for its militants and its politicians. There was another group in the organization, however, that was less well known but no less important: PLO researchers. In 1965, the PLO established a Research Center in Beirut dedicated to carefully analyzing what it referred to as "the Palestine Problem," a crucial element of which was "knowing the enemy." This meant researching the Jews, Judaism, Zionism, and Israel. In this lecture, Professor Jonathan Gribetz will introduce you to the PLO Research Center, upon which he is currently completing a new book, and discuss the importance of this group of activist researchers and intellectuals on the history of the PLO.

Jonathan Gribetz's first book, Defining Neighbors: Religion, Race, and the Early Zionist-Arab Encounter (Princeton University Press, 2014), investigated the mutual perceptions of Zionists and Arabs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Defining Neighbors was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2015. His newest book is tentatively titled Reading Herzl in Beirut: The PLO’s Research on Judaism and Israel (under contract with Princeton University Press). Gribetz has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities which allowed him to spend the past year in Jerusalem.

Register here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

This event is co-sponsored by the Wagner College Holocaust Center and the Dr. Esther Grushkin Center for Arts and Culture at the Joan and Alan Bernikow JCC of SI.