Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Oren Kessler is a historian and journalist who spent five years researching the Arab Revolt of 1936–39—one of the most consequential and least understood episodes in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His book Palestine 1936 tells the story of the three-way struggle between Arabs, Jews, and the British that set the template for nearly everything that came after. In this episode, Kessler and Coleman dig in to who actually introduced terrorism to the region, why Palestinian violence worked in the short term and backfired catastrophically in the long term, what the revolt reveals about the murky origins of Palestinian nationalism, and the role of the Grand Mufti in radicalizing Palestinian politics in ways that still echo today.
0:00- Introduction
1:42- Background: Writing Palestine 1936
4:16-Writing History as a Partisan
8:31-The Word "Zionist"
18:07-Did Jews Introduce Terror to the Region?
23:12-Seeing Both Sides of the Conflict
33:28-Did Palestinian Terror Work?
39:38-Nationalism vs. Religious Jihad
42:52-When Did Palestinian Identity Arise?
51:24-Lebanese Christians and the Peel Commission
57:18-Lebanon as a Warning
1:00:48-Optimistic and Pessimistic Outcomes
Oren Kessler is a historian and journalist who spent five years researching the Arab Revolt of 1936–39—one of the most consequential and least understood episodes in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His book Palestine 1936 tells the story of the three-way struggle between Arabs, Jews, and the British that set the template for nearly everything that came after. In this episode, Kessler and Coleman dig in to who actually introduced terrorism to the region, why Palestinian violence worked in the short term and backfired catastrophically in the long term, what the revolt reveals about the murky origins of Palestinian nationalism, and the role of the Grand Mufti in radicalizing Palestinian politics in ways that still echo today.
0:00- Introduction
1:42- Background: Writing Palestine 1936
4:16-Writing History as a Partisan
8:31-The Word "Zionist"
18:07-Did Jews Introduce Terror to the Region?
23:12-Seeing Both Sides of the Conflict
33:28-Did Palestinian Terror Work?
39:38-Nationalism vs. Religious Jihad
42:52-When Did Palestinian Identity Arise?
51:24-Lebanese Christians and the Peel Commission
57:18-Lebanon as a Warning
1:00:48-Optimistic and Pessimistic Outcomes
