BARNARD PROFESSOR ALAN SEGAL gave a lecture last night contesting the claims of Assistant Professor Nadia Abu El-Haj in her book Facts on the Ground. The Columbia Spectator reports:

Prof Contests Abu El-Haj’s Claims
By Hayley Negrin
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 18, 2007

Last night, Barnard religion professor Alan Segal lectured on the lack of academic accuracy in the work of assistant professor Nadia Abu El-Haj, whose tenure process has sparked controversy due to her book in which she denies the existence of the ancient Jewish state of Israel.

In his lecture, titled “What Biblical Archaeology Tells Us About the First Temple Period,” Segal focused on the role of archaeology in proving certain aspects of the Bible to be true, including the existence of a Jewish state in Israel in ancient times.

“The problem is that everyone wants someone like her for the diversity of the college, and I agree, she looks great on paper. But then you read the book and you say, ‘No, this isn’t the right person,’” said Segal, who stated he does not believe that Abu El-Haj, a Fulbright Scholar and Palestinian-American, should be granted tenure.

During his speech, Segal cited several ancient artifacts, including a ninth-century-BCE stone tablet called the Mesha Stele which refers to the “Kingdom of Israel” in Hebrew text, as proof that Abu El-Haj has made false claims. “The point is we do have a lot of evidence that there were people called Israel living in the land,” Segal said. He also discussed how professor Abu El-Haj’s lack of knowledge of ancient Hebrew causes her to “make mistakes that affect her conclusions.”

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For more on this tenure controversy go here and just keep following the many links back.

UPDATE (19 September): More here.