Moderated by Jihane Sfeir, Université libre de Bruxelles
Abstract
Although Britain's desire to occupy Palestine goes back a long way, it only became directly involved in the occupation after the First World War. This panel looks back at the time when the British were " aux affaires " in Palestine, and questions the convergence of interests between British imperialism and the Zionist movement. Using a number of points of inquiry - land, resources, populations, coercion - it highlights the concrete role of the British in the progressive dispossession of the Palestinians.
Speakers
- Michael R. Fischbach, Randolph-Macon College : How did the British government facilitate Jewish immigration and land purchases in Palestine ?
- Elisabeth Davin-Mortier, École polytechnique de Lausanne : Thinking about Mandate Palestine in terms of technology and resources : the example of water control.
- Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Rice University : La trahison des intellectuels : l'académicide et le déclin de l'université occidentale.
Michael R. Fischbach
Michael R. Fischbach is Professor of History at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia (USA). Among his many publications, he is the author of : State, Society, and Land in Jordan ; Records of Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict ; The Peace Process and Palestinian Refugee Claims: Addressing Claims for Property Compensation and Restitution ; Jewish Property Claims Against Arab Countries ; Black Power and Palestine: Transnational Countries of Color ; and The Movement and the Middle East: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Divided the American Left. His next book, Sirhan Sirhan and the Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: Depoliticizing Middle Eastern Violence in America, will be published in 2026.
Élisabeth Davin-Mortier
Élisabeth Davin-Mortier is a lecturer in contemporary history in the Faculty of Letters at Sorbonne University. She specializes in environmental history and the history of technology in the Middle East. After writing her dissertation on water in Palestine during British rule (1917-1948), she is now working on eucalyptus in the Mediterranean from the 19th century to the present day.
Abdel Razzaq Takriti
Abdel Razzaq Takriti is a historian and lecturer at Rice University, where he holds the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Arab Studies. He specializes in revolutions, state formation and anti-colonialism in Palestine and the wider Arab Mashreq. He is currently writing a history of the Palestinian anti-colonial struggle. He is co-author, with Karma Nabulsi, of the digital humanities project The Palestinian Revolution (2016), and author of Monsoon Revolution: Republicans, Sultans, and Empires in Oman (2013).
