David Littman (historian)

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David Gerald Littman (b. July 4, 1933, London) is a British historian[1][2] and human rights activist at the United Nations in Geneva.[3]

He was educated at Canford School, Dorset, England and Trinity College, Dublin, where he earned his BA and MA degrees in Modern History and Political Science, followed by postgraduate studies at the Institute of Archaeology, University of London.

He married in 1959 and moved to Switzerland the next year with his wife Gisèle who later became known as historian under the pseudonym Bat Ye'or. In 1960, they moved to Lausanne, Switzerland. For four months in 1961, Littman ran the Casablanca office of the Geneva-based international NGO for children Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants de l'Afrique du Nord (OSSEAN). In 1970, with friends, the Littmans founded the Centre d'Information et de Documentation sur le Moyen Orient in Geneva, which published studies on Middle East subjects till the mid-1980s.

From 1986 to 1991, Littman was accredited to the United Nations in Geneva by the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) as its main representative at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). In this capacity, he campaigned for the rights of Soviet Jews who were denied their requests for emigration (refuseniks). At the request of the U.S. ambassador, he accredited Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky to speak under WUPJ’s auspices on March 5, 1987, causing the Soviet delegation to leave the hall. A 1988 Special Report on the CHR, published by Harvard Law School's Human Rights Reporter, described Littman as "a byword for tenacity in the sisterhood of NGOs, deeply resented by some fellow lobbyists who are worried that he might enrage the Arabs by his attacks on Islamic calls for Jihad (holy war)… Littman remained convinced [on the refusenik issue] that the pressure must be maintained … Gorbachov may have opened the floodgates. If so a sea of Littmans is preparing to pour through."

After 1991, Littman worked with René Wadlow, main representative of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation, then with the World Federalist Movement, and the Association of World Citizens. He has been a representative at the UN in Geneva for the Association for World Education since 1997 and the World Union for Progressive Judaism again since 2001. During his work at the UN, he has delivered or drafted over 300 oral and written NGO statements to the CHR and the Sub-CHR.

Early in his publishing career, Littman's writings were published in the Wiener Library Bulletin, a periodical of the Wiener Library. Others have been published by the Centre d' Information et de Documentation sur le Moyen-Orient (CID), an organization of which Littman and his wife were co-founders. The CID disseminated its publications by mailing them to prominent people and institutions. Littman has also published historical writings with Les Editions de l'Avenir, which distributed its publications in a similar manner.[3] He also published a chapter in The Century of Moses Montefiore, published by the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, under the auspices of the Oxford University Press. [4] The Littman Library of Jewish Civilizationan was founded by his brother, Louis Littman.[5]

Since 1971, Littman has published articles on historical and human rights issues in academic journals, in the press, and in three books. [3] He has translated into English many articles by Bat Ye’or, and co-translated three of her major books, the last published in 2005.

[edit] Publications

  • Arab Theologians on Jews and Israel (edited and introduction by D. F. Green – pseudonym of David Littman and Yehoshafat Harkabi), Editions de l'Avenir, Geneva, 1971-1976: 3 eds. in English, 2 eds. in French, 1ed. in German (over 70'000 copies of all editions).
  • David Littman, "Mission to Morocco (1863-1864)", in The Century of Moses Montefiore, (ed. Sonia and V.D. Lipman), Oxford University Press, 1985, pp. 171-229.
  • "Human Rights and Human Wrongs," N° 1 – 11 (verbatim oral and written statements: 1986-1991 made by all accredited representatives of the WUPJ to the UNCHR and UN Sub-Commission, Geneva: 84 texts, of which 68 (oral) and 9 (written) by David Littman (WUPJ, Geneva, 1986-1991). (344 pages)
  • David G. Littman (ed.) "Human Rights and Human Wrongs at the United Nations," Part 5 (pp. 305-472) in (Ed.) Robert Spencer, The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims (Prometheus Books, Amherst, N.Y. 2005).
  • "Protected Peoples under Islam" by David Littman and Bat Ye'or, CID, Geneva, 1976
  • "Jews under Muslim Rule in the late Nineteenth Century," Wiener Library Bulletin 28, n.s. 35/36 (1975)
  • "Jews under Muslim Rule, II: Morocco 1903-1912", Wiener Library Bulletin 29, n.s. 37/38 (1976)
  • "Quelques Aspects de la Condition de Dhimmi: Juifs d'Afrique du Nord avant la Colonisation," in Yod, Revue des Etudes Hébraiques et juives modernes et contemporaines (Publications Orientalistes de France), 2: 1, October 1976 (Geneva, Avenir, May 10, 1997)
  • "Jews under Muslim Rule: The Case of Persia," Wiener Library Bulletin, 32, n.s. 49/50 (1979)
  • "Les Juifs en Perse avant les Pahlevi," Les Temps Modernes, 395, Juin 1979 (pp.1910-35).
  • The U.N. Finds Slavery in the Sudan, Middle East Quarterly (Philadelphia), September 1996.
  • "Dangerous Censorship of a U.N. Special Rapporteur," by Rene Wadlow and David Littman, Justice (Tel Aviv) No. 14, September 1997.
  • "Universal Human Rights and 'Human Rights in Islam,'" Midstream (New York) February/March 1999, pp. 2-7
  • "Islamism Grows Stronger at the United Nations," Middle East Quarterly, September 1999, pp. 59-64.
  • "Syria's Blood Libel Revival at the UN: 1991-2000," Midstream, February/March 2000.
  • "Utopia: A 'United States of Abraham'," Part 5, Chapter 48 (pp. 453-68) (Lecture: Society for Semitic Studies, Lund University, Sweden, November 23, 1994). Part 5, Chapter 48 (pp. 453-68), in The Myth.

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Littman, David. "Islamism Grows Stronger at the United Nations". Middle East Quarterly. September 1999: "David Littman, an historian, is a representative to the United Nations (Geneva) of the Association for World Education."
  2. ^ Littman, David. "The Truth About the Mideast: Fourteen fundamental facts about Israel and Palestine." National Review Online. October 7, 2007: "David G. Littman is a historian. Since 1986, he has been active on human-rights issues at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. His recent statements on this subject were made as a representative of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, a nongovernmental organization."
  3. ^ a b c David G. Littman website
  4. ^ Amazon link for The Century of Moses Montefiore
  5. ^ Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
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