The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017

5 stars for a book that is both depressing and illuminating. This book tells the story of an indigenous people colonized and deprived of their own land over a 100 year period. The first colonization was by the British who conquered Palestine during World War I from the Ottoman Empire. They had issued the Balfour declaration in 1917, stating their intention to provide a national home for Jewish people in Palestine. Although 94% of the population in Palestine in 1917 was Palestinian, the declaration did not promise them the same political or national rights guaranteed the Jews.Britain then embarked on a program granting Jewish immigrants preferred status in their new colony.Britain even armed Jewish immigrants to help suppress the great revolt against the British from 1936-1939. Britain was following an old colonial strategy of divide and rule, setting two groups against each other. It had used this strategy, before, in India, Muslim against Hindu and Ireland, Protestant against Catholic. Britain savagely suppressed the revolt, killing , wounding or exiling 10% of the adult male population. This provided the Zionist movement 2 advantages: they had a nascent military force and it greatly weakened the native population. The subsequent 1947-48 war between the Palestinians and Jewish settlers saw the Zionists win and steal land and homes from thousands of Palestinians. This theft is continuing today. Israel calls it "settlements."The Palestinian point of view is rarely presented in the US today.The author frequently compares the Irish rebellion of 1919-21 to the Palestinian rebellion of 1936-39. He comments that the British even used veteran "Black and Tan" soldiers of the Irish rebellion. The "Black and Tans" were renowned for their cruelty. Many of them were criminals that Britain released in return for being part of the force suppressing the Irish rebellion..The US is actually complicit in the theft of Palestinian land, in that gives billions of dollars yearly to Israel.There are extensive footnotes, some of which have links to documents in the public domain.Thanks to the author and Henry Holt & Co for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.#TheHundredYearsWarOnPalestine #NetGalley

Rashid Khalidi has given us a well documented book of inestimable value in understanding the history of the Palestinian struggle over the last one hundred years. He explains with clarity why peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians has not been achievable since the Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917, yet offers glimmers of hope as to how it may be achievable still. His critiques are two-sided and fair with a writing style that is clear and concise. Both his prominent family history in the region and extensive personal experience lend layers of authenticity and devotion to the subject matter on which he writes. Highly recommended, beyond the 5 stars given.

This is the most compelling history documenting the establishment of Israel as a settler colonial project in Palestine. 100 Years' War on Palestine exposes the settler colonialist DNA of Israel that continues to oppress and displace the indigenous Palestinian population of Palestine. The well organized Zionist campaign to erase Palestinians that started at the turn of the 20th Century continues through today. This book documents the campaign with excruciating detail and sources. A must read!

If you're looking for a concise, unbiased history of the long standing conflict in the Middle East between Palestinians and Zionists, Rashid Khalidi's book will fill that bill. Documenting six pivotal events starting with the closing years of WWI and ending with the Oslo accords and their disastrous aftermath (including the annexation of Jerusalem and the Kushner failed peace plan), Khalidi deftly weaves a narrative that assesses the failings of both sides, from the intransigence of the hard-line Zionists who push for a greater Israel at all costs to the incompetence and corruptness of the Palestinian leadership on the other. Straddling the conflicting sides and aggravating the situation are the US enablers who blindly subsidize Israel's overwhelming power dominance over 7 million Palestinians living under occupation as well as the Arab despotic leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries who pay lip service to the peace cause but sabotage it in concrete, nefarious ways.Khalidi is not content with just summarizing the problems that led to the sorry state of affairs we live in, but closes with a potential way forward out of the quagmire - if only responsible, fair leader would heed and act on his advice.Lastly, disregard the fake 1-star reviews that are left by trolls who whip out the anti-Semitic moniker whenever someone criticizes Israel or attempts to shed light on the harsh plight of the Palestinians. These partisans who espouse a greater Israel at all costs are one of the main reasons why peace has been out of reach. I'm sure they'll attack this positive review as well in an effort to stifle the truth.

Really good history of the key 100 year span with the wide angle lens of a brilliant scholar. Told in concise and lucid language, this book has many lightbulb moments where you stop and think, “oh, THAT’S why that happened!?!” At only 250 pages, it’s essential reading.

Excellent historical telling of the side of this conflict that is rarely shared. This is for anyone that is trying to understand the "Middle East" (i.e. Palestinian/Israeli) conflict without the mainstream and heavily biased media perspective.

Excellent history of Palestine and the impact of Zionism on the region and the people of people.

Well-documented and well-written book with a thorough and detailed analysis. Highly recommended for anyone who would like to better understand the history of Palestine, from an authoritative scholar with vast knowledge and first-hand experience of the issue.

This book charts the key stages in the dispossession of the Palestinian people by Zionists, assisted in particular by Britain and the United States, over the course of one-hundred years. It’s a fluent historical account which succeeds in being simultaneously scholarly and very readable. It is also up to date and ends with President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (which as Khalidi notes was entirely consistent with the great powers’ history of disposing of Palestinian history, identity, culture and worship without even the pretence of consultation).It has a number of advantages over other books on the subject. The author is able to draw on texts in Arabic which lie outside the competence of many writers on this subject. Secondly, Rashid Khalidi was born into an elite Palestinian family, and the story of dispossession is a very personal one. He describes how his grandparents were forced out of their home by Jews in 1948 and how the ruins of their house still stand abandoned on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, preserved only because of a link to an early Zionist settler. He includes a photograph of the ruins of his brother’s home in the West Bank, bulldozed by the Israeli military. Thirdly, Khalidi’s family background gave him privileged access to many key figures in the twentieth century Palestinian struggle for justice, including the novelist Ghassan Kanafani and the PLO leader Yasser Arafat. Finally, as history, this is a balanced, humane and objective book which is not afraid to address failings on the Palestinian side. Khalidi is prodigiously well-read and draws on a vast range of sources.His central thesis is that the modern history of Palestine can best be understood as a colonial war waged against the indigenous population by a variety of parties, to force them to relinquish their homeland to another people against their will. In the course of this narrative history Khalidi deconstructs many myths about Palestine promoted by apologists for Israel. He identifies the early evidence for Palestinian identity and nationalism. As long ago as 1914, even before the Balfour Declaration, perceptive Palestinians saw the implications of European Zionism, writing ‘We are a nation threatened by disappearance.’ Zionism was always a sly, racist ideology which had at its heart a desire to expel all Palestinians from their land. It is a process which has continued now for over a century, and Khalidi records its progress in dispassionate detail. This is not, as so many books on the subject are, a polemical work but rather a scholarly accounting. Khalidi shows how the brutality of the Israeli state was preceded by the barbarism of the British military occupation of Palestine - tying civilians to the front of armoured cars and trains, demolition of homes, the execution of prisoners and resistance fighters, detention without trial, and the deportation of political leaders. Violent repression was paralleled by a political process which pretended to consider the Palestinian aspiration for nationhood while all the time giving the Zionist movement the right of veto. The bad faith of successive British governments was later replaced by the bad faith of successive US administrations. One of Khalidi’s arguments is that it is delusional to think that the USA is some kind of neutral arbiter, the ‘honest broker’ who can bring the two sides together. Donald Trump merely continues a process which began long ago.There is a great deal of forgotten history in this book, including the regular massacres which Israel has carried out against Palestinian civilians. In November 1956, in Khan Yunis and Rafah, for example, more than 450 civilians were summarily executed. Khalidi identifies such atrocities as part of a pattern of behaviour by the Israeli military, which can usually rely on a compliant Western media to ignore, downplay or sanitise such killings.The book ends with a paradox. After a century of dispossession the Palestinians are a broken people, imprisoned in fragments of a country which was once theirs, at the mercy of a bellicose, self-righteous and viciously repressive settler state, which has the ultimate goal of expelling every single one of them. At the same time the Palestinian cause is better-known and stronger than it has ever been, as knowledge of the true nature of the Zionist state and its pitilessly sectarian ideology becomes better known through the medium of print and, more recently, social media. Whereas Zionism was once able to pass itself off as a progressive movement it is now much more easily identifiable as a colonial enterprise which has always been sponsored by states which have no interest whatever in democracy or human rights. Rashid Khalidi recalls a demonstration he attended in 1967 outside Yale Law School, where Golda Meir had been invited to speak. She received a rapturous reception from her audience, while the protesters outside consisted of the author and three others. If this was repeated today the protest would be very much greater because over the past half century the ongoing displacement of the Palestinians from their land has been accompanied by a growth in awareness of why Israel is a pariah state, like apartheid South Africa. A book like this one adds to this growth in consciousness and is to be commended for its balance, its comprehensiveness and its impressive range of sources.

First hand and family testimony on how it has been for the Palestinian people for the past hundred years. From one of the central personalities, this book is painful to read. The Palestinians have been, and remain, terribly divided. This book explains how that came about, and ends on a note of hope that I find hard to share. I learned a lot. The view from the inside is a high level one, and therefore new to me. It’s a good book which I recommend.

This very well written book is a source of valuable information otherwise not available through standard news outlets.One can follow the history of the conflict step by step, with leaps forward and backward along the time axis, and acquire an understanding of why the events happened in the manner that they did. The interested reader will be able to connect many dots, hitherto inexplicable; which is an astonishing achievement, given the mantle of secrecy behind which things have been kept.Rashid Khalidi recommends at the end of his work, that both sides should understand and respect each other and that there should be equal rights for all people in the area, as with all people in the rest of the world.

great book in documenting the truth and obstacles in the face of justice