Abstract

Thanks to the opening of new archival sources, since the end of the 1980s in Israel an intense historiographic debate has taken place, prompted by the thesis of the group of so-called "new historians". They have deeply shaken the foundations of the Zionist interpretation of the early years of the Israeli state, and have cast numerous doubts on the most widespread ideas regarding the events of 1948. This new generation of historians (born after the foundation of the Hebrew state) has revolutionised the image of Israel as an innocent David, engaged in self-defence against the mighty Goliath, constituted by a united front of Arab countries of superior military power. Similarly, the new historians put under discussion other linchpins on the classical idea of Israel, such as the Jewish élites' attitude towards the Shoah or the responsibilities behind the wave of Palestinian refugees.