Many in the audience of some 100 scholars and community members had read Morris’ work, and expressed disbelief, even anger, at the tone of his lecture. . . . The question and answer period following the talk erupted into controversy when audience members repeatedly confronted Morris about the contradiction they perceived. . . . Morris defended himself in what became a heated dialogue with audience members who repeatedly interrupted him . . . .Welcome to Berkeley, Professor Morris.
Morris said he had not expected such a response. “It’s left-wing, politically correct, Berkeley intolerance,” he said in an interview following the talk. “I’ve lectured at Dartmouth and Middlebury and I didn’t encounter such a uniformity of intolerance.”
UPDATE: Reader Ben notes:
I took a seminar class last year with Morris. He pointed out quite rightly that if you read his books he has always said that the Palestinians started the War for Independence and have historically shown no inclination for accepting a partition deal, as opposed to the Zionist Movement, which always did. I think a lot of Lefties took the aspects of Morris' work that were most critical of Israel and blew them totally out of proportion to serve their own political ends.Wouldn't be the first time that's happened . . . .
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