New Historians

Not to be confused with New historicism.

The New Historians[a] are a loosely defined group of Israeli historians who have challenged traditional versions of Israeli history and played a critical role in refuting some of Israel's foundational myths,[1] including Israel's role in the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight and Arab willingness to discuss peace. The term was coined in 1988 by Benny Morris, one of the leading New Historians. According to Ethan Bronner of The New York Times, the New Historians have sought to advance the peace process in the region.[2]

Much of the primary source material used by the group comes from Israeli government papers that were newly available as a result of being declassified thirty years after the founding of Israel.[3] The perception of a new historiographical current emerged with the publications of four scholars in the 1980s: Benny Morris, Ilan Pappé, Avi Shlaim and Simha Flapan. Subsequently, many other historians and historical sociologists, among them Tom Segev, Hillel Cohen, Baruch Kimmerling, Joel Migdal, Idith Zertal and Shlomo Sand have been identified with the movement.[4][5]

Initially dismissed by the public, the New Historians gained legitimacy in Israel in the 1990s.[2] Some of their conclusions have been incorporated into the political ideology of post-Zionists. While influential in Western academia, the 'new history' narrative and post-Zionism have remained marginalized in Israel.[6]


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  1. ^ Sabbagh-Khoury, Areej (March 2022). "Tracing Settler Colonialism: A Genealogy of a Paradigm in the Sociology of Knowledge Production in Israel". Politics & Society. 50 (1): 44–83. doi:10.1177/0032329221999906. ISSN 0032-3292. The important work of such scholars, dubbed the post-Zionists or the "new historians," played a critical role in debunking some of the state's foundational myths among Israelis
  2. ^ a b Bronner, Ethan. "The New New Historians", The New York Times, 9 November 2003.
  3. ^ Gelvin, James L. (2007) [2005]. The Israel–Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War (2d ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-521-88835-6.
  4. ^ Erez Casif, Was the State of Israel ‘Really’ Established?, Cambridge Scholars 2013 p.15.
  5. ^ Haaretz Staff (22 May 2007). "Sociologist Baruch Kimmerling, 'new historian,' dies at age 67". Haaretz. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  6. ^ Masalha, Nur (May 2011). "New History, Post-Zionism and Neo-Colonialism: A Critique of the Israeli 'New Historians'". Holy Land Studies. 10 (1): 1–53. doi:10.3366/hls.2011.0002. ISSN 1474-9475.