Share
![cover art for Ep 18 James Barr on the History of the Israel Palestine dispute](https://res.cloudinary.com/pippa/image/fetch/h_750,w_750,f_auto/https://assets.pippa.io/shows/65196b0b1488340011cf14a1/show-cover.jpg)
Behind The Lines with Arthur Snell
Ep 18 James Barr on the History of the Israel Palestine dispute
The crisis in Israel - Palestine continues, currently unfolding with the Israeli attack on Gaza, immediately preceded by the Hamas-led massacre in Southern Israel. Unpicking the history and origins of these events remains a particularly difficult task, with history used and abused by people with points to prove on all sides. For that reason I was particularly happy to be able to conduct an extended interview with the historian James Barr, whose books on the history of the Middle East, including A Line in the Sand and Lords of the Desert are some of the best regarded guides to the region, particularly in the early years of the twentieth century.
With James, in this first episode, we got to the bottom of famous moments in the Levant region in the early twentieth century, including the Sykes-Picot agreement and the Balfour Declaration, as well as the underlying colonial tensions, notably between Britain and France that drove much of these events. In a subsequent episode we will talk about Jewish militancy in the mid-twentieth century, the events of 1948 including the Nakba and the establishment of the State of Israel.
You can follow James via his website https://www.historythatmatters.org/ as well as on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/jamesbarr.bsky.social
I am on Twitter @snellarthur, Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/snellarthur.bsky.social and arthursnell.substack.com
If you’ve enjoyed this podcast why not subscribe, and give us a positive review.
Also, please check out the podcast Disorder, featuring Jason Pack and Alex Hall Hall
More episodes
View all episodes
1. MBS - Saudi Arabia's ruthless ruler
51:16||Season 3, Ep. 1Veteran foreign correspondent Jonathan Rugman is the author of The Killing in the Consulate about the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. More recently he has produced a fascinating two-part documentary about MBS and his rise to power. You can find it on BBC Iplayer here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001zprq/the-kingdom-the-worlds-most-powerful-prince-series-1-1-game-of-thrones and you can find Jonathan's enlightening article about MBS here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gz8934wrroJonathan is on Twitter at https://x.com/jrug29. Westlessness with Samir Puri
01:07:59||Season 2, Ep. 29Have we entered a post-Western world? What does that mean and how does it look from the other side of the world? Singapore based academic and former British diplomat has published a new book, Westlessness about this idea and I spoke to him for a wide-ranging discussion on the decline of the west, the rise of Asia and the potential implications.28. The Battle for Soul of Islam
58:04||Season 2, Ep. 28James Dorsey is a writer and journalist and author of the new book The Battle forthe Soul of Islam - Defining the Muslim Faith in the 21st Century, published by Macmillan.27. The Caucasus: Europe's troubled border
46:50||Season 2, Ep. 27In September last year, an established community in a European country of hundreds of thousands of people was removed in its entirety after a devastating military campaign. This was not Ukraine, but the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, which has now ceased to exist. To understand this and the dynamics of a little understood region including the complex interplay between Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, all under the watchful and interfering Russian eye, it was a great pleasure to speak to Neil Hauer, a Canadian journalist based in the region for several years.26. Back to Ukraine - Away from summitry, what is happening on the ground?
49:38||Season 2, Ep. 26Away from NATO's glitzy summit 75th anniversary summit in Washington DC, the war in Ukraine drags on. Ian Bond, a former British ambassador and now Deputy Director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank spoke to me about his recent visit to Ukraine and Moldova and what it portends for the war in Ukraine and wider European security.25. The British Elections - an Outsider's perspective with Annette Dittert
46:05||Season 2, Ep. 25In this episode I speak to Annette Dittert, London correspondent of German TV channel ARD since 2008. She has lived here since 2008, but she remains someone who can look dispassionately at our politics, culture and institutions.24. What have they go to show for fourteen years of power? With Nick Cohen
41:30||Season 2, Ep. 24I spoke to Nick Cohen, veteran political journalist and author of the Writing from London substack https://nickcohen.substack.com/ about the record of the past 14 years of Conservative government and what we might expect from a Labour one.23. EMERGENCY EPISODE: Jason Pack on Biden's debate disaster
25:29||Season 2, Ep. 23I spoke to Jason Pack about the fallout from President Joseph Biden's poor debate performance on 27 June. Jason has written about this in his substack and also recorded his own podcast on the subject, both available here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-146086715?source=queueWe covered: does the poor debate even matter? What is the process (if one exists) for replacing Biden as the presidential nominee? Who are the likely candidates? What is at stake if Biden doesn't stand down and Trump wins?22. France's election with Peter Ricketts
38:57||Season 2, Ep. 22President Macron did something truly unexpected when he called a snap election in the aftermath of the European parliamentary elections. It now looks very likely that France's next legislature will contain a plurality of hard right deputies from Marine Le Pen's National Rally. I spoke to Lord Peter Ricketts, former British Ambassador to France about this unexpected election and what it portends.