http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/shlomo-sand

The Edinburgh International Book Festival

13 - 29 AUGUST 2011

Shlomo Sand

ARE JEWS THE ONLY 'PEOPLE OF ISRAEL'?

An academic at Tel Aviv University, Shlomo Sand describes himself as a 'post-Zionist'. His recent book, The Invention of the Jewish People sparked a furious worldwide controversy with his claim that Jewish people are not a genetically defined race. Sand defends his position by discussing the work of the 19th century historian Ernest Renan, using Renan's lectures to argue that Israel needs to reform itself to become a state of all its citizens – Jews and Arabs.