The Querelle Between Alain Badiou and Éric Marty, Contrasted With Régis Debray's Lettre Ouverte to Élie Barnavi and Barnavi's Response.

This article contrasts two major debates in book form on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, so central to French political discussion today—the ‘quarrel’ between Alain Badiou(with Cécile Winter, inCirconstances 3: Portées du mot ‘juif’)and Éric Marty(Une querelle avec Alain Badiou, philosophe), and the debate between Régis Debray and Élie Barnavi(À un ami israélien, by Debray with a response from Barnavi). The Badiou/Marty exchange is hostile and polarised, Badiou arguing strongly against the existence of a separate Israeli state and Marty vehemently in its favour, whileÀ un ami israélienevidences what I describe as Debray's post-Zionism in dialogue with Barnavi's Left Zionism. What emerges from the two exchanges is, it is argued, a taxonomy of attitudes towards Israel substantially more complex than the traditional, and often misleading, polarity between ‘Zionist’ and ‘anti-Zionist’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]