mbf: I can understand the pragmatic need to directly address the current status on the ground, 'try to get it stop behaving like apartheid S.A.', but I don't understand why history, and even historical analysis guided by theory, must be "pseudo-analysis" "socio-biology" or "comparing...brain sizes"?? As far as I'm concerned, the history of the region from the spread of Islam and even further back up through the rise and fall of the Ottomans is all of relevance to understanding the last 125 years. So is the traditional mode(s) of production of the indigenous people(s) and certainly the importance of and impact on the region of the rise and development of global capitalism. I don't know how I would make sense of the situation if I hadn't examined the history of Imperialism, nationalism, and class formation in Palestine as part of the (Pan-)Arab world. I understand we have a great crisis that demands immediate attention and action, but I don't see why that means history and theory are 'pseudo-analytical socio-biology'?