چکیده:
The West’s support for Israel constitutes a central controversy in the Middle Eastern Studies; knowledge production about the question of Israel/Palestine in Western academia, where a pro-Israeli is the dominant one, is one significant extension of that controversy. This article starts with considering ‘fresh developments in the field’, to examine the real dimensions, and the capacity to introduce a fundamental transformation in the field of the Palestine studies in the West. Formulated within Kuhn’s theory of ‘paradigm’ and the conditions he proposes for a ‘paradigm shift’, this study analyses the way the ‘counter attack’, by those supporting the pro- Israeli paradigm, behaves towards the new challenge posed by a competing (alternative) paradigm. According to the main argument of this study, what those supporting the pro-Israeli paradigm do/say, when dealing with the alternative knowledge, might suggest that a paradigm
خلاصه ماشینی:
Seyed Hadi Borhani Abstract The West’s support for Israel constitutes a central controversy in the Middle Eastern Studies; knowledge production about the question of Israel/Palestine in Western academia, where a pro-Israeli is the dominant one, is one significant extension of that controversy.
Furthermore, a book published in 2001 by a leading pro-Israeli think tank (The Washington Institute for Near East Policy) was dedicated to explaining what ‘went wrong’ in Middle Eastern Studies in American Universities, labelling them ‘Ivory Towers on Sand,’ (Kramer 2001).
Following are a number of most important institutions which promote pro-Israeli paradigm in the US academia: ‘Campus Watch, 2002; Israel Academia Monitor, 2004; IsraCampus, 2008; Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, 2002; Israel Campus Roundtable, 2002; The Academic Friends of Israel, 2002; Engage, 2005; Stand With Us, 2001; Israel on Campus Coalition, 2002; The David Project, 2002; and Students for Academic Freedom (SAF), 2003.
Pro-Israeli think tanks also work to remove the academic centres that are considered as the main source of the alternative knowledge, from occupying a position from which they can inform the public about the Israel/Palestine question.
Two other books, at least, can be mentioned in this category that belongs to pro-Israeli published attacks on the alternative knowledge; ‘Academics Against Israel and the Jews’ (Gerstenfeld 2007), and ‘Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (Shapiro 2004).
Conclusion How can all the data provided in this article about pro-Israeli treatment of the alternative knowledge support the idea that a paradigm shift in Palestine Studies is taking place in Western academia?