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4.37 AVERAGE
4.37 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
“History lies at the core of every conflict. A true and unbiased understanding of the past offers the possibility of peace. The distortion or manipulation of history, in contrast, will only sow disaster.”
A very informative and comprehensive deconstruction of the myths we see continuously about Israel such as: “Zionism is Judaism” “Palestine Was An Empty Land” and more. I think this is a great starting point for anyone who doesn’t have much knowledge of the deep rooted history of Palestine and Israel’s colonization of the land and its people. I can see myself coming back to this for reference. this also makes a great starting point for me when I finally read The Hundred Years War on Palestine. And I’m interested to read more from Pappe in the future.
A very informative and comprehensive deconstruction of the myths we see continuously about Israel such as: “Zionism is Judaism” “Palestine Was An Empty Land” and more. I think this is a great starting point for anyone who doesn’t have much knowledge of the deep rooted history of Palestine and Israel’s colonization of the land and its people. I can see myself coming back to this for reference. this also makes a great starting point for me when I finally read The Hundred Years War on Palestine. And I’m interested to read more from Pappe in the future.
informative
sad
medium-paced
Wish it contained more detail
Systematic eradication of Palestinians from their own lands. The Zionists forgot the holocaust? The shame continues today. The Israeli govt is hell bent in genocide but use all sorts of propaganda and lies to hide what they're up to.
Systematic eradication of Palestinians from their own lands. The Zionists forgot the holocaust? The shame continues today. The Israeli govt is hell bent in genocide but use all sorts of propaganda and lies to hide what they're up to.
informative
medium-paced
It’s a perfect entry for understanding Palestine-Israel conflicts by debunking ten myths of Israel. Unfortunately, many people still consider them as truth, thus using them as an argument, especially to justify the cruel acts as a part of settler colonialism.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
A great unpacking of commonly accepted "facts" about Israel and its creation. Pappe did a great job demonstrating how "peace" has really always been on Israel's terms, and the yardstick keeps moving. Additionally, toward the end, Pappe (in 2017) accurately predicted to a tee the future of Israeli actions, which have been highlighted over the last 15 months.
I felt Pappe did an especially good job on his chapters covering the myths that "Zionism is Not Colonialism" and the various mythologies concerning Gaza.
Occasionally, I felt that some of the discussions in the early chapters, while informative, didn't tie directly to the stated myth. I'd also note that I wouldn't recommend this book for someone just beginning their learning on Israel-Palestine, as knowing some more historical background knowledge about specific events referenced is helpful.
***quotes***
"Zionism, as we can see, was therefore a Christian project of colonization before it became a Jewish one." (12)
"To this end, portraying this dispossession of Palestine as the fulfillment of a divine Christian scheme was priceless when it came to galvanizing global Christian support behind Zionism." (32)
"All these implications were totally ignored by the Israeli political elite. Instead a very different lesson has been learned from the events of 1948: that one can, as a state, expel half of a country's population and destroy half its villages with impunity." (64)
"Moreover, the only way to judge, in hindsight at least, what the Israeli strategy might be is not through the discourse of the state's policy makers but through their actions on the ground." (80)
"After the occupation [of 1967], [Israel] confined the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in an impossible limbo: they were neither refugees nor citizens--they were, and still are, citizenless inhabitants. They were inmates, and in many respects still are, of a huge prison in which they have no civil and human rights and no impact on their future." (80-81)
"As we have seen, additional territory was always welcomed by Israel, but an increase in the Palestinian population was not. Thus, at every juncture, when the state of Israel expanded, it looked for ways of restricting the Palestinian population in the recently annexed areas." (86-87)
"What [President Bush]'s advisors found hard to digest was the letter Sharon had asked Bush to sign as part of the US endorsement. It included an American promise not to pressure Israel in the future about progress in the peace process, and to exclude the right of return from any future negotiations." (127)
"The two-states solution, as noted earlier, is an Israeli invention that was meant to square a circle. It responds to the question of how to keep the West Bank under Israeli control without incorporating the population that lives there. Thus it was suggested that part of the West Bank would be autonomous, a quasi-state. In return, the Palestinians would have to give up all their hopes for return, for equal rights for Palestinians in Israel, for the fate of Jerusalem, and for leading a normal life as human beings in their home land." (142)
"The exceptionalism enjoyed by Israel, and before that by the Zionist movement, makes a mockery of any Western critique of human rights abuses in the Arab world." (146)
"Colonized people, even under the UN charter, have the right to struggle for their liberation, even with an army, and the successful ending to such a struggle lies in the creation of a democratic state that includes all of its inhabitants." (148)
It is very important to come to this book with the understanding that this book's intention is not to completely cover the history of the region and all the complexities surrounding it. Rather, this book's intention is specifically to delve into common myths surrounding Israel and then explain why they are not true. So of course, there are parts which are lacking and overly simplified. This book is good at what it is supposed to do: myth busting for newbies to the conflict. If you want a more detailed overview, Pappé has several other books. Though, I recommend [b:The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017|41812831|The Hundred Years' War on Palestine A History of Settler-Colonial Conquest and Resistance, 1917-2017|Rashid Khalidi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556345491l/41812831._SY75_.jpg|65247140].
If you are short on time but want a quick book on Israel/Palestine conflict, this is a good one to start with. There is no better time like the present to become more informed. Pappé is a Jewish historian who is very well-versed on the topic. Plus, this book was offered for free by the publisher Verso. :)
I also made a summary of this book on my IG to help people grasp the information in a more consumable format: @dorouu
If you are short on time but want a quick book on Israel/Palestine conflict, this is a good one to start with. There is no better time like the present to become more informed. Pappé is a Jewish historian who is very well-versed on the topic. Plus, this book was offered for free by the publisher Verso. :)
I also made a summary of this book on my IG to help people grasp the information in a more consumable format: @dorouu
On the academic side. I don't recommend it for the person who is really new to reading about Palestine/Israel, but it's still an excellent overview of how to counter the dominant narrative. I learned so much about the reframe of Hamas as a liberation movement and the one-state solution.
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
This was so powerful. It took me forever to finish but I’m so glad I did, as I now have a deeper understanding of the relations between Israel and Palestine and how many of the accepted views about Israel are false. Only by discussing the future of these two states without believing the myths discussed in this book will a solution be reached. Super important to read, or at least understand this topic!