*(London: Profile Books Ltd, 2020, 221 pp., eISBN 9781781259344).*
With a war raging between Israel and Hamas, the latter portraying to represent Palestine, it is most important that there is a clear understanding of how this conflict came about, and perhaps also how to navigate it. Khalidi’s book is adding to this debate, offering an alternative view of the history of Palestine and Israel.
Whereas most sources, or narratives as the author would say, are rooting for Israel, this book offers a more nuanced version that highlights the Palestinian side of the story. This work utilises many primary and secondary sources, but also a unique first-hand perspective. Coming from a well-off Palestinian family, and through his experiences in negotiations and other important events directly connected to the conflict, Khalidi offers a special insight into the life of a Palestinian.
In a world of fast news and social media, the Israeli narrative seems to be the most propagated and accepted. The Palestinian side of this story has often been willingly overlooked. The author speaks of active erasure and myth-making from Israels’ side (p.78). Crucial elements in the history of Palestine that are often neglected, are well elaborated on in this book. Also, the atrocities that have been committed from the Israeli side, which are sometimes neglected, are described in full detail in this book. This makes the book a refreshing and valuable addition to the historiography of this subject.
With the Israeli-Palestine conflict as its central theme, this book deals with subjects such as Zionism, Palestinians, violence, war, refugees, world politics, and Israeli and Palestinian politics, focussing mostly on how this has been experienced by the Palestinians. The main argument of this book revolves around the latter: whereas for most of the world, the Nakba is perceived as a singular event, for the Palestinian people it is an ongoing event, to be understood as a colonial war waged against the indigenous population, by a variety of parties, forcing them to flee from their homeland.
The history that the author provides, is divided into 6 chapters, defined as declarations of war. In successive order, these deal with; the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the Nakba of 1948, the Naksa of 1967, the war in Lebanon of 1982, the 1987 Intifada and the events during the period of 2000–2014. In-depth stories about how Zionism came about, are followed by stories of the atrocities that followed, committed by Israel. Important to these stories is the fact that Israel has always been supported by its partners: first Britain, later the US and USSR. Also, Palestinian politics are highlighted, explaining how different groups rose, fragmented and where they lacked, leading to all sorts of complications such as the failed peace negotiations in Madrid and Oslo (p.131).
The author supplements this history with recollections and anecdotes about himself and his family. The Palestine point of view is often gripping and invigorating to the story. One such example is the bombing of his grandparents’ house in Tel Aviv (p.57-58).
An important point of criticism, however, is the bias of the author which is screaming from the pages. Of course, this is supposed to be a pro-Palestine narrative, but the level at which the author has romanticised Palestine and demonised Israel is making the work seem untrustworthy and the history less authoritative. The book is filled with examples of atrocities committed by Israel and its allies, which the author condemns. One example is the description of the bombing of civilians (p.104).
However, acts of violence have not always come from only the Israeli side: hijackings and other acts of terrorism have come from the Palestinian side. The author does not seem to condemn any violence that comes from this side, even going as far as praising the ‘masterminds’ behind certain terroristic attacks (p.82).
Another point of criticism that should be made is the lack of structure of this book. The arguments or the main points that the author wants to make are hard to find in the six chapters, each representing a declaration of war.
The introduction gives a clear enumeration of the main arguments, and in the conclusion, these are highlighted again. In chapters 1 to 6, however, it is hard to find the elaboration of these arguments in between the lines of the history that the author offers. These chapters seem to have no conclusion but simply enumerate and highlight events. It would have been helpful if the writer had used the examples that he gave to explain his main points. Leaving the reader in the dark as to why and how the author claims these arguments.
Not only that, but the structure also makes the conclusion rather vague. It is filled with events and stories about the history of Palestine, that probably should have been placed in a separate chapter. This makes the conclusion chapter hard to follow, and it is hard to decipher what the author actually offers as a solution.
One strong point of the book is when at some point in the conclusion Khalidi’s tone changes completely—writing how Israel is now a nation with a people, no matter how this came about (p.169). This shows that the author has also considered the other side of the story. Unfortunately, this point seems to be left hanging. It would have been nice to know Khalidi’s take on what to do with this knowledge.
The author, quoting George Duby (p.71), shows the insight that a narrative, just like a nation, is completely fabricated. It is a shame that the author seems to negate the responsibility of creating a fair story, aiding possible harmonisation, but instead chooses to actively polarise by demonising one side and romanticising the other.
The book, however, is an important addition to the historiography of Palestine, because of its atrocity-highlighting content—for example, the bombing by Israel that got almost no coverage in American media (p.65). Offering new perspectives is important for the sake of debate, and therefore I will recommend this book to anyone who would like to broaden his knowledge about the Palestine-Israel conflict.
by Expert_Storage8891