Norman Finkelstein purports to be a scholar on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but even those whom he repeatedly cites in his work or calls his inspirations (e.g., historian Benny Morris and Robert Novick) call him a fraudulent historian and accuse him of distorting or selectively citing their work. His thesis is that the conflict and the solution are really SO SIMPLE (basically Israel has to do everything the biased UN and ICJ say) and that everything is Israel's fault. However, he often ignores or trivializes the problems of Palestinian terrorism or the repeated military attacks by Arab countries on Israel, which have nearly destroyed the state's existence. The conflict is so simple, he says, and most of the controvery is fabricated by people who want to draw attention from Israel, who is the real perpetrator of violence. Of course, he easily maintains this by dismissing anyone who doesn't agree with him as outside the fold of sane or legitimate scholarship, or lacking in moral values. He essentially rips out pages from the book of Middle East history, selectively ignoring the facts which are not convenient to his point of view, in order to support his ideas. His latest lecture at our campus was a two-hour or so Israel bashing session (sparing the Palestinians the rod) as well as personal attacks on our university and its president, as well as on other scholars in the field.We must stand up and demand honest intellectual scholarship on this matter.
