Ian Buruma
Says More…
This week in Say More, PS talks with Ian Buruma, the author of numerous books, including Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo Van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance, Year Zero: A History of 1945, A Tokyo Romance: A Memoir, The Churchill Complex: The Curse of Being Special, From Winston and FDR to Trump and Brexit, The Collaborators: Three Stories of Deception and Survival in World War II, and, most recently, Spinoza: Freedom’s Messiah (Yale University Press, 2024).
Project Syndicate: Last October, you highlighted the role of shame – specifically, the desire to “overcome the humiliation of centuries of persecution” – in guiding Israeli foreign policy, before warning that the resulting humiliation of the Palestinians will only perpetuate violence. How should this perspective inform how other countries – including Arab powers like Saudi Arabia, as well as the United States – approach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Ian Buruma: One way not to approach the conflict is to deport the entire Palestinian population of Gaza, as US President Donald Trump has suggested. Such a move would not only be illegal and inhumane; it would compound the humiliation of a long-humiliated people, thereby making conditions in the Middle East very much worse.
The only proper solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – the only one that would not perpetuate instability and violence through relentless humiliation – would still be the two-state solution. This means that efforts by Palestinians to rule themselves in Gaza and the West Bank should be supported and encouraged. Unfortunately, Israel, with US backing, is doing precisely the opposite, and the prospect of a two-state solution is growing dimmer by the day.