Tidbits - Annoyances

1. Norman Finkelstein is kinda like the Energizer bunny. He just keeps going and going - in the same direction. Recently at UC Irvine, he gave his stock speech on Israel's faults. Once again, he repeated the myth that "most historians" agree that Israel committed "ethnic cleansing" in 1948. Once again, he quoted Morris' interviews rather than his actual scholarly works. ...and going and going and going...
2. It is now the year 2006, and not one scholarly study has been written on the city of Jaffa during the Mandate. Arab Haifa has been studied, even Arab Safed. Yet people keep insisting on only analyzing Jaffa through "cultural visions" and "mutual perceptions" with Tel Aviv. What is so hard about studying the actual city, its people, its economy, its development? Is there no historical material? Is it just easier not to do the footwork? Please, someone explain this to me!