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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
Interesting, and important, but hangs together poorly as a coherent book.
The fact that this could have been written today is chilling, but I so hope all three men have seen in the last few months how the people of the world have rallied around Palestine and to quote Frank, “We are many. We will prevail.”
This should be required reading for everyone and anyone.
This should be required reading for everyone and anyone.
accessible, powerful, helpful — should be required reading for everyone!
challenging
informative
sad
medium-paced
This slim volume features conversations between editor Barat and two preeminent Palestine scholars, Chomsky and Pappé, followed by excerpts from essays and speeches by the latter two.
This book is aimed at those who already have background knowledge on the Israeli occupation of Palestine and wish to add more nuance to their arguments. It's also important to note that while the book is called 'On Palestine', it predominantly focuses on the role of Israel and the US on the lives of Palestinians. It's not a discussion on Palestinian history or culture but rather life under occupation and how we might possibly be able to change that life.
Another thing to note is how, despite being a decade old, and referencing events that took place 10, 20, 40 years before publication, the actions by Israel and the US are nearly identical to what we've been seeing over the last 16 months: incremental genocide, ceasefire violations, expansionism over security, and willful blindness.
The main thing I disliked about the book was the lack of hope in its pages, yet I understand why the authors aren't very optimistic: nothing has substantively changed in 75 years. It's a prescient read, though; vital to our times.
This book is aimed at those who already have background knowledge on the Israeli occupation of Palestine and wish to add more nuance to their arguments. It's also important to note that while the book is called 'On Palestine', it predominantly focuses on the role of Israel and the US on the lives of Palestinians. It's not a discussion on Palestinian history or culture but rather life under occupation and how we might possibly be able to change that life.
Another thing to note is how, despite being a decade old, and referencing events that took place 10, 20, 40 years before publication, the actions by Israel and the US are nearly identical to what we've been seeing over the last 16 months: incremental genocide, ceasefire violations, expansionism over security, and willful blindness.
The main thing I disliked about the book was the lack of hope in its pages, yet I understand why the authors aren't very optimistic: nothing has substantively changed in 75 years. It's a prescient read, though; vital to our times.
If I could give this book & its authors 10/5 stars. I would be joyous at the occasion. I am not being hyperbolic when I say that Ilan Pappe is one of the greatest historians of Israel and the ethnic cleaning of the native Palestinian people, and Noam Chomsky’s writing as a social critic and intellectual professor makes what one could fathom an extremely overwhelming topic, quite simple in linguistics.
On Palestine is a book where both of the greatest minds of our time come together to dialogue about Palestine. Its history, present, future, UN Resolutions violated, and the supreme role of the US in maintaining the “normalcy” of settler colonialism. Half of the books are distinct thoughts and records from each author, while the other half is wrote in an interview format, where there is a moderator asking questions to Pappe and Chomsky.
If you are looking for good authors, and a good book to begin your journey with Palestine and its annexed culture, heritage, traditions and communities.. This is a good place to begin.
*Highlight from the book:*
"..But the two camps existed and therefore the government offered two versions of the mega-prison to the people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. One was an open-air prison and the other a maximum security one. Should they not accept the former, they would get the latter. The open-air prison allowed a measure of autonomous life under indirect and direct Israeli control; the maximum security one robbed the Palestinians of all the autonomies and subjected them to a harsh policy of punishments, restriction, and in the worst-case scenario execution. The open-air prison became the false paradigm of peace as it was marketed by Israel, and by American and European allies of the Jewish state, as an ingenious idea for how to solve the conflict. The best open prison was eventually propagated first as an autonomous zone, in the 1979 Camp David agreement between Israel and Egypt that led to nowhere, and later on as an independent Palestinian state in the Oslo Accord of 1993.
Hence “the peace process” and talk about “two states for two peoples” are not in any contradiction with the occupation, not even the “temporary occupation” of 1967. They are a political and conceptual framework designed to enable and perpetuate the status quo for as long as possible. It creates a situation where even if a Palestinian state is announced, headed by Mahmoud Abbas as president, it will not have any practical significance. There is no chance of getting out of the deadlock in Palestine without tearing apart the façade of a fake peace process and the two-state solution. It is time to look for the key where we lost it.
Zionism has done, and continues to do, whatever it can to divide the Palestinian people and guide all of them to a dead end." Ilan Pappe
On Palestine is a book where both of the greatest minds of our time come together to dialogue about Palestine. Its history, present, future, UN Resolutions violated, and the supreme role of the US in maintaining the “normalcy” of settler colonialism. Half of the books are distinct thoughts and records from each author, while the other half is wrote in an interview format, where there is a moderator asking questions to Pappe and Chomsky.
If you are looking for good authors, and a good book to begin your journey with Palestine and its annexed culture, heritage, traditions and communities.. This is a good place to begin.
*Highlight from the book:*
"..But the two camps existed and therefore the government offered two versions of the mega-prison to the people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. One was an open-air prison and the other a maximum security one. Should they not accept the former, they would get the latter. The open-air prison allowed a measure of autonomous life under indirect and direct Israeli control; the maximum security one robbed the Palestinians of all the autonomies and subjected them to a harsh policy of punishments, restriction, and in the worst-case scenario execution. The open-air prison became the false paradigm of peace as it was marketed by Israel, and by American and European allies of the Jewish state, as an ingenious idea for how to solve the conflict. The best open prison was eventually propagated first as an autonomous zone, in the 1979 Camp David agreement between Israel and Egypt that led to nowhere, and later on as an independent Palestinian state in the Oslo Accord of 1993.
Hence “the peace process” and talk about “two states for two peoples” are not in any contradiction with the occupation, not even the “temporary occupation” of 1967. They are a political and conceptual framework designed to enable and perpetuate the status quo for as long as possible. It creates a situation where even if a Palestinian state is announced, headed by Mahmoud Abbas as president, it will not have any practical significance. There is no chance of getting out of the deadlock in Palestine without tearing apart the façade of a fake peace process and the two-state solution. It is time to look for the key where we lost it.
Zionism has done, and continues to do, whatever it can to divide the Palestinian people and guide all of them to a dead end." Ilan Pappe
informative
medium-paced
challenging
dark
informative
sad
that was an incredibly sobering read. very good introduction to the contemporary conflict in the Levant, as well as explaining the mechanisms by which Israel is able to commit various war crimes and face few, if any, consequences.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
What can I say that hasn't already been said by every reviewer here? Before I read this I was painfully ignorant and now I am not; in fact, I'd worried that this conflict would be too difficult for me to unravel - now I realize that that very notion is itself propaganda and that there is no ambiguity here! This book has given me immense perspective as a young westerner and I hope to now use that perspective to help others by at the very least providing awareness and knowlege on the issue.