Tucson: 5/5 talk on Roots of Conflict and Prospects for Peace in the Middle East : AZ IMC

*Renowned Author and Professor to Speak on the Roots of Conflict and the
Prospects for Peace in the Middle East

Norman G. Finkelstein Public Lecture

Title: Israel and Palestine: Roots of Conflict, Prospects for Peace

Finkelstein Bio and Background Info:

Norman G. Finkelstein, the prolific and highly acclaimed professor of history
known for his academic rigor and controversial style, is expected to attract a
large audience to the U of A.

Tucson, AZ: On Monday, May 5, 2008, Voices of Opposition, a student club which
has presented academic lectures and documentaries at the University of Arizona
for over 5 years, has arranged to host a talk by internationally esteemed
author Norman G. Finkelstein (http://www.normanfinkelstein.com). The talk, entitled
"Israel and Palestine: Roots of Conflict, Prospects for Peace," will present a
sweeping history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while addressing the issue
of what can be done today to find a resolution. Finkelstein will be speaking at
the Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering Bldg. Auditorium (Rm. S202), at 7pm.
(AME is located 1130 N MOUNTAIN AVE (SE corner of Mountain Ave. & Speedway
Blvd. A map may be viewed online at:
(http://iiehttp://www.ccit.arizona.edu/uamap/staticLarge/119.html).

Professor Finkelstein received his doctorate from Princeton University and has
held teaching positions at New York University, Brooklyn College, and DePaul
University, among others. His wide publishing credits include numerous
articles which have appeared in leading journals such as the London Review of
Books, the New Left Review, and the Christian Science Monitor. He is also the
author of several books including Beyond Chutzpah, The Holocaust Industry, and
Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict.

The son of parents who survived the Warsaw Ghetto and Nazi concentration camps,
Finkelstein was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1953. The late Raul Hilberg,
world-renowned Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont and
widely regarded by the New York Times and others as the primary founder of
Holocaust studies in the United States, described Professor Finkelstein as a
careful scholar with an "acuity of vision and analytical power." Hilberg
praised Finkelstein's work in The Holocaust Industry as a critical
"breakthrough" in political economy of Holocaust representation in the United
States. Finkelstein's dedication of The Holocaust Industry, in devotion to his
parents, concludes with the passage, "May I never forget or forgive what was
done to them."

Most recently, Finkelstein was at the center of well-publicized controversy
during his last appointment at DePaul University when outside pressure
concerning his views on the issue of Israel/Palestine forced the university
administration to deny him tenure. Dr. Hilberg again publicly expressed a deep
admiration for Finkelstein's "academic courage to speak the truth when no one
else is out there to support him...I would say that his place in the whole
history of writing history is assured, and that those who in the end are proven
right triumph. And he will be among those who will have triumphed, albeit, it
so seems, at great cost."

Finkelstein's on-campus appearances are both free and open to all students and
community members. The event is co-sponsored by the UA Muslim Student
Association, UA History Department, Tucson Women in Black, Middle East Justice
Now!, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and the Tucson
chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.