A review by anotheranarchistdyke
On Palestine by Ilan Pappé, Noam Chomsky

4.0

This was a pretty wonderful introduction to the Israel-Palestine Conflict. While many of the names of key players and events initially went over my head because the Pappe and Chomsky have elucidated the history in detail elsewhere over their careers, that was okay because a general history is not what I was looking for in this book. What I was looking for was an erudite presentation of practical steps to take as a Westerner and how we should be conceptualising the conflict in order to make real change on the ground in Palestine, and that was granted in excess of my expectations. I enjoyed the mixed-form of the book which included conversations, interviews, essays, and speeches. It was able to expand ideas in multiple formats which, while repetitive towards the end, emphasised in different contexts and different words the plight of Palestinians. Repetition is not necessarily bad when articulating the need for universal human rights. In my opinion that should be articulated repeatedly from now until forever. I am now going to follow this up with an Australian-centred book about my own Government's support as I know that where the US is putting their money, so too is Australia.