Bashir Bashir, Ph.D.

Project

Egalitarian Bi-nationalism for Israel/Palestine

Given the deadlock of the “peace process,” the deep and irreversible entanglements between Israeli and Palestinian lives, and the precariousness of the two-state solution in Israel/Palestine, many scholars and politicians are asking “what next for Israel/Palestine”? The proposed research suggests that egalitarian bi-nationalism is the most promising and defensible answer to this pressing and timely question. It argues that egalitarian bi-nationalism is better equipped to address the underlying issues of the conflict in Israel/Palestine than conventional and new frames in the existing literature. Egalitarian bi-nationalism, the proposed research argues, better satisfies the urge for self-determination of Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews than the benign neglect majoritarianism of the liberal state or ethnic secession and the partition of the two-state solution. The proposed research argues that egalitarian bi-nationalism’s insistence on envisioning affective relations of co-belonging based on an ethics of equality, parity, mutual legitimacy, and cohabitation offers rich resources for historical reconciliation and decolonization in Israel/Palestine.

Recommended Reading

Bashir, Bashir. “The Strengths and Weaknesses of Integrative Solutions for the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.” The Middle East Journal 70, no. 4 (2016): 560–578.
Bashir, Bashir, and Amos Goldberg, eds. The Holocaust and the Nakba: A New Grammar of Trauma and History. New York: Columbia University Press, 2018.
Bashir, Bashir, and Leila Farsakh, eds. The Arab and Jewish Questions: Geographies of Engagement in Palestine and Beyond. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020.

Colloquium, 17.12.2024

Rethinking the Politics of Israel/Palestine: In Defense of Egalitarian Bi-nationalism

There is a growing agreement among scholars, politicians and experts that the oppressive realities and colonial policies in Palestine/Israel are politically unacceptable and morally indefensible. Lead-ing human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and B’Tselem have published extensive reports that identify these colonial policies and their disastrous impacts on the lives and rights of the Palestinians. The question of putting an end to these wretched and segregation-ist realities and policies and moving to more transformative and inclusive solutions has preoccupied several scholars and politicians in Israel/Palestine and beyond. Liberal and national principles in the forms of one-person one-vote or territorial and ethnic partition have been at the center of debates on these transformative solutions.

This talk argues that egalitarian bi-nationalism is better equipped to address the underlying issues of the conflict in Israel/Palestine than the liberal and secessionist national frames. Egalitarian bi-nationalism, the talk goes on to argue, better satisfies the urge for self-determination of Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews than the benign neglect majoritarianism of the liberal state or ethnic secession and the partition of the two-state solution. The talk concludes that egalitarian bi-nationalism’s insist-ence on envisioning affective relations of co-belonging based on an ethics of equality, parity, mutual legitimacy, and cohabitation offers rich resources for historical reconciliation and decolonization in Israel/Palestine.

Publications from the Fellows' Library

Bashir, Bashir (New York, 2020)

The Arab and Jewish questions : geographies of engagement in Palestine and beyond Religion, culture, and public life

Bashir, Bashir (New York, 2019)

The Holocaust and the Nakba : a new grammar of trauma and history ha-Shoʼah ṿe-ha-nakbah

Bashir, Bashir (London [u.a.], 2018)

The politics of decolonisation and bi-nationalism in Israel/Palestine

Bashir, Bashir (Washington, 2016)

The strengths and weaknesses of integrative solutions for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict