Synopsis: May 2018 will mark seven decades since the establishment of the State of Israel and the mass dispossession of Arab Palestinians that made it possible. This talk will reflect on patterns of continuity and change in the politics and culture of the Zionist-Palestinian conflict since 1948, as well on the ongoing clashes over its representation in academia and the American public.

Shira Robinson is Associate Professor of History and International Affairs at the George Washington University, where teaches the history of the Modern Middle East, with an emphasis on colonialism, citizenship, and nationalism after World War I. Her first book, Citizen Strangers: Palestinians and the Birth of Israel's Liberal Settler State (Stanford University Press, 2013), examined Israel's imposition of military rule on the Palestinian Arabs who remained within its borders after 1948. In 2014 Choice named the book an "Outstanding Academic Title” and listed it as one of the Top 25 academic books of the year. Her research has been funded by the Fulbright Institute, the Social Science Research Council, the Mellon Foundation, and the Palestinian American Research Center. For several years Prof. Robinson served on the editorial committee of the Middle East Report and co-edited its blog.