Dershowitz and Chomsky battle it out

[barb162]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475656640&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Nov. 30, 2005 18:23 | Updated Nov. 30, 2005 18:33
Dershowitz and Chomsky battle it out
By MATT RAND

Two noted academics offered vastly different views on the history and path forward in the Arab-Israeli conflict recently as Alan Dershowitz and Noam Chomsky debated each other at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Whereas Chomsky claimed "Israeli rejectionism" was the source of Arab-Israeli tensions, Dershowitz derided the Palestinian rejection of the peace offer made to Yasser Arafat by Ehud Barak at Camp David.

Dershowitz also called on academics to stop demonizing Israel. "At the moment, I am sad to report that many academics around the world are contributing to an atmosphere that makes peace more difficult to achieve," Dershowitz said. "Thank G-d Israel has to make peace with the Palestinians, and not with the professors!" Dershowitz went on to say that peace "will require that both sides give up rights."

Chomsky and Dershowitz were each given ten minutes for opening remarks, followed by forty-five minutes for a question-and-answer session with the audience, and two minutes for closing statements.

snip

[kenny blankenship]

1. How much more of their rights as human beings does Dershowitz

think the Palestinians should surrender?
Just curious. They've lost their country, most of them have lost their lands which is practically their sole means of making a living. They live like prisoners.
What's left?

[barb162]

6. Both sides have suffered

WHat is often not realized is that Jews and Christians owned land there also before and during the British Mandate.

[manic expression]

13. What is often ignored

is that Zionists stole land around that time period, most notably during al-Nakba, where 750,000 Palestinians were thrown off their rightful lands.

People on both sides have suffered, but that is the same in ANY conflict. What is clear is that one side has oppressed, the other has been subjected to this and has tried to fight back.

[muchacho]

2. any link to the recording in mp3 or streaming?

Thanks

[Wordie]

15. You'll find a video link to the whole debate here:

http://www.booktv.org/feature/index.asp?segID=6499&schedID=388

I'm looking for a text version, but haven't found one yet.

[tinnypriv]

3. Dersh was hysterical

As usual, although Chomsky did make several errors of omission with regards to the Geneva accords and did not seem to be aware of some published studies regarding them (will bring them to his attention).

It was quite interesting, though the time limits on questioning were ridiculous, and the moderator let pass some outrageous nonsense from Dershowitz.

[barb162]

5. Animated and involved, not hysterical

[tinnypriv]

7. If you can think of a better word

For somebody who thought citation of the "Shimon Peres Peace Centre" meant citation of Shimon Peres himself, and got so excited about it that he bellowed over the other speaker in the middle of a sentence, while blatantly violating the set rules (not keeping to the topic in the opening remarks), I'd like to hear it. Oh, and mistaking a prominent Israeli academic for a Palestinian - add that to the list.

"Animated" or "involved", it ain't.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. Polite and reasoned interjection, not bellowed!

And I think mistaking an Israeli academic for a Palestinian can be worded as 'insightful and thought-provoking academic discourse'. It works just as well as 'animated' or 'involved' ;)

Violet...

[tinnypriv]

11. You're right

Though I'm not sure how you define Dershowitz's characterisation of Ariel Sharon as "...a man of VISION!" (complete with animated hand gestures), in light of the fact that even the Attorney-General of Israel recently rebuked said former terrorist commander for "personally" advocating a "war crime" against civilian targets.

I would say 'either under a rock or as dumb as one', but that's me....

[barb162]

25. Dershowitz: "Planet Chomsky"

Dershowitz has Chomsky's number

[Violet_Crumble]

27. I'll make up my own mind after I watch it...

I've never seen Dershowitz talk before, and from a few of the posts in this thread I'm getting the feeling that there'd be a cheer-squad for him even if he'd recited the alphabet backwards and then told a few nursery rhymes in pidgin English...

Violet...

[barb162]

8. And NC was doing his usual delusional "thinking"

"Chomsky said ultimately the United States was to blame"

Yeah, blah, blah, blah, the US is always to blame. How many peace talks has the US held again?

[tinnypriv]

9. 'BUSH WILL STOP MEDIATING'

"US to reduce involvement in Israel/Palestinian conflict, not propose new solutions .... Roadmap plan to go into 'Deep Freeze'"

Headlines from the center-right Israeli press (Ma'ariv in this case). That's a tiny but representative citation.

[barb162]

16. One headline; I think the US will stay heavily involved in the

peace process and also the Quartet.

[Darranar]

28. Both made errors regarding Geneva.

It indeed does reject the right of return, effectively, and it does end refugee status for Palestinian refugees, thus resolving the issue - in fact this is quite explicit.

6. End of Refugee Status

Palestinian refugee status shall be terminated upon the realization of an individual refugee’s permanent place of residence (PPR) as determined by the International Commission.

7. End of Claims

This agreement provides for the permanent and complete resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem. No claims may be raised except for those related to the implementation of this agreement.

The Geneva Accord

Since the PPR is only Israel at Israel's "sovereign discretion", there is no longer a "right", merely a privilege. While the right is in theory recognized it is not honored.

Dershowitz proved his blatant ignorance with what he had to say on the subject, yet Chomsky failed to capitalize on it and accurately correct the distortion.

[Burried News]

4. There is nothing worse than an educated American is there Alan

Torture Warrants Dershowitz?

http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/facdir.php?id=12&show=bibliography

[Terran1212]

12. Video Links

http://www.iop.harvard.edu/events_forum_archive.html

[Violet_Crumble]

26. Thanks for posting that...

I've only just started watching it on and off, but I'm going to find a chunk of time to sit and watch it all the way through...

Violet...

[Jim Sagle]

14. The Dersh Man, doin' the best he can...to make the world a better place.

:beer:

[RSchewe]

17. C-SPAN 2: Chomsky & Dershowitz debate Israeli/Palestinian issue.

Taped from Tuesday.

Tune in.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

18. I don't think I could handle it

My head would explode.

[RSchewe]

19. Hahaha. I hear you. It sounds pretty good so far.

Chomsky is about to start.

[Rodger Dodger]

20. Saw it

In my view Chomsky cleaned Dershowits clock.

[ikojo]

21. Just started watching. I hope someone is recording

it and will post it as a .torrent file.

In a more sane world neither party could be accused of antisemitism, but many Jews, NOT this one, consider Noam Chomsky to be an antisemitic, self hating Jew because he wrote a forward to a book written by Faurrison.

[Wordie]

23. There's a link to video on the C-Span website.

Here's the link: http://www.booktv.org/feature/index.asp?segID=6499&schedID=388

Here's what it says on the site:
<snip>
Book TV Programs
A Weekly Look at Selected Book TV Programs

On Sunday, December 4 at 7:15 am and at 7:00 pm
Israel and Palestine After Disengagement
Alan Dershowitz and Noam Chomsky
Watch


Description: Alan Dershowitz, author of "The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved," and Noam Chomsky, most recently the co-author of "Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World," debate the issue of how to end the Israel/Palestine conflict. The authors talk about past and present proposals regarding the settlement of the Israel/Palestine conflict, Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, and Ariel Sharon and Shimon Perez's formation of a new political party in Israel. The event was hosted by Harvard University's Institute of Politics. Includes Q&A.

Author Bio: Alan Dershowitz, professor of law at Harvard Law School, is the author of many books, including "The Case for Israel," "Why Terrorism Works," and "Chutzpah." For more information on Prof. Dershowitz and his work, visit: www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/dershowitz. Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics and philosophy at MIT, is the author of "Hegemony or Survival," "Middle East Illusions," and "Fateful Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the Palestinians." For more, visit: web.mit.edu/linguistics/www/chomsky.home.html.

Publisher: (Dershowitz): Wiley 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030 (Chomsky): Metropolitan Books www.americanempireproject.com

Buy the Book

[Warren Stupidity]

22. Chomsky ought to nail Dershowitz for his support for torture.

[entanglement]

24. Real liberal (Chomsky) vs Faux liberal (Dershowitz)

n/t