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A review by jada
The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance by Rashid Khalidi
4.0
the conflict between israel and palestine is frequently portrayed an inevitable religious debate that has been going on since time immemorial, and since no one religion can be said to be better than the other, it is also perceived as one with is fated to go on forever. fortunately, that is not the case, well, not entirely. khalidi traces the history of the seemingly ever-present conflict from its origins in the 1800s to the circumstances in the present day. religion does have a part to play—jewish settlers justified their claim on palestinian land in the name of zionism—but it is fundamentally a settler-colonial conflict, as the book’s title says.
the book is structured into six chapters, with each bearing the title of a significant event in the conflict. this makes it easier for the reader (or for me at least) to keep the chronology straight. the more i learnt about the palestinian situation, the more i felt that this is a profound injustice. literally nothing about it is justified, and it still amazes me to this day that people still support israel, self-proclaimed colonists (well in the beginning of course, where colonialism was still in vogue). khalidi details the rise of israel as a nation with the assistance of britain, and later the united states, active participants in the oppression of palestinians.
the failures of various palestinian organisations, such as the PLO and Hamas are detailed, but never in a way that implied that they were hopeless. the resistance of the palestinains was underscored. i appreciated the way the conclusion coherently explained the reasons that countries at large have for siding with israel, which appears to be a normal nation just like any other. one point i found especially interesting is khalidi’s assertion that the conflict cannot be resolved as long as the national resistance of each is denied by the other. even though it has already been established that the israelis are colonialists, the fact does remain that over the past 100 years, there have been generations of people who believe they have a claim to the land, and that they can’t just throw them out. it really is the “irony of nationalism”.
very well written book; i definitely feel like i have a much better grasp of the palestinian situation having read it.
the book is structured into six chapters, with each bearing the title of a significant event in the conflict. this makes it easier for the reader (or for me at least) to keep the chronology straight. the more i learnt about the palestinian situation, the more i felt that this is a profound injustice. literally nothing about it is justified, and it still amazes me to this day that people still support israel, self-proclaimed colonists (well in the beginning of course, where colonialism was still in vogue). khalidi details the rise of israel as a nation with the assistance of britain, and later the united states, active participants in the oppression of palestinians.
the failures of various palestinian organisations, such as the PLO and Hamas are detailed, but never in a way that implied that they were hopeless. the resistance of the palestinains was underscored. i appreciated the way the conclusion coherently explained the reasons that countries at large have for siding with israel, which appears to be a normal nation just like any other. one point i found especially interesting is khalidi’s assertion that the conflict cannot be resolved as long as the national resistance of each is denied by the other. even though it has already been established that the israelis are colonialists, the fact does remain that over the past 100 years, there have been generations of people who believe they have a claim to the land, and that they can’t just throw them out. it really is the “irony of nationalism”.
very well written book; i definitely feel like i have a much better grasp of the palestinian situation having read it.