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4.51 AVERAGE
4.51 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
tense
good and informative, but just so dense. you gotta be mentally ready for this one!
slow-paced
An in depth look at the colonial invasion of Palestine- how it began and how itβs maintained. I hope the author will give us an addendum or a new edition since so much has changed since 2017.
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
sad
medium-paced
In short, so far as Palestine is concerned, the Powers have made no statement of fact which is not admittedly wrong, and no declaration of policy which, at least in the letter, they have not always intended to violate.
A book so heavy I feel like I was constantly drowning in the breathless grief of a repressed people, thrust from their land and pushed to the wayside of their own homeland by the collective collusion of the world's predominant powers. This presents an informative and illuminating history of the ongoing colonization of Palestine, clearly and concisely, in an understandable format that leaves little out and neglects nothing to the imagination. With the rich personalized historical accounts of the author and his family, it was insightful and intimate, a glimpse into a century-long struggle for freedom and recognition that does and will continue to persist.
Harrowing and often hard to read, it provides detailed descriptions of the bloody conflicts inflicted upon the Arab region and its inhabitants. Using expertly interwoven recollections and scholarly sources, Khalidi explores the complicity of the world's leaders in inciting and supporting the expulsion and oppression of a nation and its people, tackling the frequent lies and misinformation spouted about Palestine. My eyes were never closed; I've never had that privilege, but seeing the brutal and terrible truth of prevailing imperialism and the lingering colonial mindset, never wavering over 100 years laid out so plainly, was as exhausting as it was infuriating.
The two superpowers of the US and UK, both deciding at two different points in history that it will be this way, with no one to stop them, that the Palestinian people do not exist, and this land is not and has never been theirs at all. Repeat, repeat, repeat in an endless, cynical loop. It's like a broken, bloody record. When does it end? Where do we draw the line? Where do they? Does empathy not exist in the hearts of the powerful? Does humanity not live in the body of the exploiter? I know the answer, but I have never been able to accept it.
The modern history of Palestine can best be understood in these terms: 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.
It's thick and dense and full of footnotes, and requires you to sit and digest the information fully. It will enrage you and sadden you, it will bring tears to your eyes and leave your temples pounding with a resigned sense of understanding. It will make you reflect on a history recited by an author who has been involved in the region all his life. There's so much to take in, and it can feel like too much. There were moments when I had to take long breaks to digest what I had read, but I never got lost, and I never got confused. Khalidi manages to condense a century-long history into 300 pages and does it so well that you'll leave with a new understanding and a draining clarity.
The purposeful propaganda and partnership of the US in systemically erasing Palestine and pretending its people were obvious for all to see, but in this, we are taken along the narrow path from the beginning of the star-spangled banner's involvement in the Arab world to the present day, all the cruelty of those in power in shaping the horrors we see today.
Reading the conclusion of this was infuriating, knowing the ongoing genocide happening in Palestine right now, and the hope that Khalidi had for the future tastes only like ashes in my mouth. He had such faith in a better tomorrow, and what did it all come to? An ethic cleansing for which there seems to be no end, where Israel can act without impunity and the world does nothing but watch? In the often cited words of James Baldwin, 'I'm appalled at the moral apathy and the death of the heart.'
But despair has no role in standing up for what was right, you do it loud and you do it proud, and with all the empathy you can bear, you fight for the people with silenced voices. Khalidi was right about that at least, about the shifting perspective of the younger generation in seeing this 'conflict' for what it is, about protesting and boycotting and fighting for the nation of Palestine. These images and videos we see every day of the atrocities committed in the name of a nation will stay with me forever, as will this book, and the terrible truth of what it presents.
There will always be those who do not see the Palestinians as people or as a country at all, who scrub their existence from the pages, or see them only to look away, but their resilience and fortitude in the face of the world's dominant powers attempting to crush them beneath their boot was impeccable. They are all members of stubborn resistance who refuse to be smothered, fighting to free themselves from an oppressor held up by the powers of the world like a child on their father's shoulders. A true David and Goliath. None of us are free until all of us are free, and I hope with a burning fervency that Palestine shall be free in my lifetime and that the children of Palestine, that all the people of that land will one day know only a persistent, prevailing peace.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
If you want to learn more about the genocide and struggles of the Palestinian people then I highly recommend this book. This book presents the long history of Israels illegal founding, settling, and consisten one-sided war against a whole people in an easy to understand format. At times I wished this book was longer and went deeper into the conflicts present but overall the book is a great starting point for understanding the topic of Israel and Palestine. After listening to the audiobook and seeing the continued bombardment of the Gaza strip it is clear that Israel should not exist. How a group of people can flee persecution and genocide only to enact that same violence on another group of people is an evil that is incomprehensible. Free Palestine π΅πΈ π
slow-paced