Colin Shindler talks to Con Coughlin

Leading authority on the Middle East and supporter of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict Professor Colin Shindler asks how we can approach the truth about a perpetual war that has devastated the region.

Shindler looks at conflict in the region since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. He examines war, persecution and claims of genocide and asks whether it is possible to write an impartial account of events. Shindler looks at whether the Balfour Declaration was a disaster, whether conflict could have been avoided, at divisions among Israelis and other Arab nations about the Palestinians, and at the extremism on both sides of the divide.

Shindler is emeritus professor of Jewish studies at SOAS University of London. He is a founding chairman of the European Association of Israel Studies and author of A History of Israel. Here he talks to Daily Telegraph defence and foreign affairs editor Con Coughlin, author of Assad: The Triumph of Tyranny.

Part of the festival’s programme of Jewish and Hebrew culture.