{{Short description|Israeli historian and politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Simha Flapan | native_name = שמחה פלפן | native_name_lang = he | image = Aan het woord is de heer Sim cha Flapon, vertegenwoordiger van de MAPAM (MAPAM , Bestanddeelnr 920-4122).jpg | caption = Flapan in 1967 | birth_date = {{birth date|1911|01|27|df=y}} | birth_place = Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Congress Poland | death_date = {{death date and age|1987|04|13|1911|01|27|df=y}} | death_place = Israel | occupation = {{hlist|Historian|politician}} | movement = Israel's "New Historians" | political_party = Mapam }} '''Simha Flapan''' ({{langx|he|שמחה פלפן}}; 27 January 1911{{snd}}13 April 1987)<ref>{{BNF|161781135}}.</ref> was an Israeli historian and politician. He is known for his book ''The Birth of Israel: Myths And Realities'', published in the year of his death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kreisky.org/human.rights/deutsch/pt_detail.php?id=27&suchmodus=1&anfang=F|title=Bruno Kreisky Menschenrechtspreis|accessdate=13 July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/authors.php?auid=756|title=Simha Flapan (biographical details)|accessdate=13 July 2016|archive-date=3 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003181825/http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/authors.php?auid=756|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Biography== Simha Flapan was born in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Congress Poland. He died on 13 April 1987 in Israel.
==Political activism== Flapan was National Secretary of the left-wing Zionist Mapam party, and the director of its Arab Affairs department from 1959 to the mid-1970s; he also edited ''New Outlook'' magazine—a non-party monthly that promoted Arab-Jewish rapprochement.<ref>[http://ipsnewsite.mysite4now.com/enakba/history/Beinin,%20Forgetfulness%20for%20Memory.pdf Institute for Palestinian studies]{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Beinin, Joel "Forgetfulness for Memory: The Limits of the New Israeli History" Vol 34, no. 2 (Win. 05) 6-23.</ref>
==Views and opinions== Flapan was one of the New Historians, a term coined by Benny Morris in the 1980s.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/25618678 Politics and Collective Memory: The Debate over the "New Historians" in Israel], Anita Shapira</ref> In the preface to ''Zionism and the Palestinians'' (1979), Flapan writes:
{{blockquote|To dispel misunderstanding, I want to make it clear that my belief in the moral justification and historical necessity of Zionism remains unaffected by my critical reappraisal of the Zionist leadership. The history of Zionism demonstrates the extent to which the urge to create a new society, embodying the universal values of democracy and social justice, was inherent in the Zionist movement and responsible for its progress in adverse conditions. Israel's problem today lies in the disintegration of these values, due largely to the intoxication with military success and the belief that military superiority is a substitute for peace. Unless the liberal and progressive values of Zionism are restored and Palestinian rights to self-determination within a framework of peaceful coexistence are recognised, Israel's search for peace is doomed to failure. I firmly believe that these trends will ultimately become the deciding force in Israel.<ref>Flapan, Simha, 1979, 'Zionism and the Palestinians', Croom Helm London, {{ISBN|0-85664-499-4}}, p. 13-14</ref>}}
Flapan's personal and professional archives are located at Yad Yaari,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.givathaviva.org.il/english/yaari/jew-arb.htm |title=Archived copy |accessdate=26 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601210646/http://www.givathaviva.org.il/english/yaari/jew-arb.htm |archivedate=1 June 2012 }}</ref> Hashomer Hatzair Research and Documentation Center at Givat Haviva.
==Published works== *{{cite book|first=Simha|last=Flapan|year=1979|title=Zionism and the Palestinians|url=https://pdfhost.io/v/7Xu1BBASz_Zionism_and_the_Palestinians.pdf|location=London|publisher=Croom Helm|isbn=0-85664-499-4}} *{{cite book|first=Simha|last=Flapan|year=1987|title=The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities|url=https://pdfhost.io/v/nRDgxWMUk_The_Birth_of_Israel.pdf|location=New York|publisher=Pantheon Books|isbn=0-394-55888-X}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{New Historians}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flapan, Simha}} Category:1911 births Category:1987 deaths Category:20th-century Israeli historians Category:20th-century Israeli Jews Category:Jewish historians Category:Jewish Israeli writers Category:Mapam politicians Category:New Historians Category:People from Tomaszów Mazowiecki Category:Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Category:Burials at South Cemetery in Israel