The Battle for Justice in Palestine

by Ali Abunimah

Efforts to achieve a “two-state solution” have finally collapsed; the struggle for justice in Palestine is at a crossroads. As Israel and its advocates lurch toward greater extremism, many ask where the struggle is headed. This book offers a clear analysis of this crossroads moment and looks forward with urgency down the path to a more hopeful future.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Middle East, History, Social Justice, Current Affairs, Islam

292 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2013

About the author

Ali Abunimah is a Palestinian-American journalist who has been described as "the leading American proponent of a one-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict".

Abunimah is one of the founders of The Electronic Intifada website, a non-profit online publication which covers the Israeli–Palestinian conflict from a Palestinian perspective, and which was established in 2001. He is also the author of two books, One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Picador, 2007) and The Battle for Justice in Palestine (Haymarket, 2014).

Born in Washington, D.C., Abunimah spent his early years in the United Kingdom and Belgium before returning to the United States to attend college. His mother is originally from the village of Lifta, now part of Israel, but she became a refugee in the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. His father is from the village of Battir, now in the West Bank, and is a former Jordanian diplomat who served as ambassador to the United Nations.

Abunimah received degrees from Princeton University and the University of Chicago. A resident of Chicago who contributes regularly to publications such as the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, he has served as the vice-president on the board of directors of the Arab American Action Network, is a fellow at the Palestine Center, and is a co-founder of The Electronic Intifada website.

He has appeared on many television discussion programs on CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and other networks, and in a number of documentaries about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, including Collecting Stories from Exile: Chicago Palestinians Remember 1948 (1999).

Reviews

[Sleepless Dreamer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hey Ali, next time you're in the region, let's go get coffee and talk. We can even go to Tel Aviv to a joint Israeli-Palestinian coffee shop so you can see it as proof for a one state solution and I can see it as proof for a two state solution.

I think it's ironic that I read most of this book on the flight back to Israel.

Anyway, the main claim of this book is that the only way for there to be peace is one democratic equal state. The author claims that Israel has no legitimacy and therefore, the state should be a Palestinian one, as they apparently are the local population. Israeli Jews would be able to stay but I suppose not all of them, by how he describes it.

However, what I find most telling about this book is the fact that out of 300 ePub pages, about 100 are dedicated to the way the conflict is viewed in universities. He goes into great detail talking about the debates of free speech and such. It makes sense because as an American, I suppose this is his battleground. I find that American Jews also speak a lot about the universities and how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is viewed there as it is where it meets them.

With no offense to the students of Berkeley, I don't think their opinions matter nearly as much as the opinions of the students of Birzeit and Beer Sheva (I really tried to keep the B theme). It's great that the youth is getting involved in international politics but surely whatever breeze the university activism is flowing towards isn't what determines the solution in a region approximately 7,459 miles away, despite Abunimah's attempts to convince us otherwise.

There's something very irksome about an American, one who has lived his entire life outside of Israel/Palestine who somehow thinks he is an authority on this topic. It's ironic because he talks about giving the Palestinians the power and hearing their voices but here, we really only hear his voice. As a side note, he occasionally sites his own blog, something that struck me as even more arrogant and annoying.

As an American, he is not personally invested in this conflict. For him, it seems this is just a conversation about justice and inequality. Earlier today, as I was in a bus in Jerusalem, with a girl in a hijab, an ultra-orthodox man, tons of soldiers cause it's Sunday, and plenty of students, and all of the other Israeli cliches, I found myself thinking that honestly, in those moments, all of us just want the same thing. We want the bus to get to its destination as fast as possible with no traffic. And in many ways, this conflict is about us, the people, who just want to live our lives. That's it.

There is no such thing as pro-Israel or pro-Palestine. All there is are civilians who all have different views and are trying to make this work. We can't only see the interests of one group because this will never lead to peace.

Abunimah has some basic misunderstandings about Judaism and the connection to Israel. Judaism is an ethno-religious group that is not only based around Europe. In fact, European Jews are apparently the minority, most Israelis are actually Mizrahi, from MENA countries who were kicked out following the war in 1948, just like the Palestinians. However, unlike the Palestinians who somehow still consider themselves refugees despite being settled in different countries, the Jews came to Israel and no longer consider themselves refugees.

What gives a group a right for self-determination? I've always gotten the impression that it's something that belongs to everyone equally. I mean, no one can really have the power to acknowledge a group's ability to determine themselves, they give that to themselves. So I don't quite understand where his disagreement with Jewish nationality comes from, how is it different from French nationality?

There are many issues with the BDS movement. Starting with how Omar Barghouti, its founder, has studied in Israeli universities. It's hilarious because if BDS works out and there's an academic boycott, wouldn't his papers also suffer?

BDS is problematic because it ignores the massive amounts of Palestinians that work in Israeli places, especially in the West Bank. Fighting for BDS is exactly like fighting against their livelihood and sure, it would be great if they had their own Palestinian- owned workplaces but BDS doesn't even help them towards that goal. (Not to even mention that bit in this book where he seems to claim Israel owes Palestinians free entry into its borders).

Truly though, my biggest issue with BDS is that it offers no solution. Like okay, let's say them manage to cripple Israeli economy, what now? Even if the occupation were to end tomorrow, this is no solution. The Palestinians live in horrid humanitarian conditions regardless of Israel, how does BDS help them? There is not enough infrastructure, not enough of a base to build up the country. The Palestinian society, as he shares, is filled with corruption. There is so much to do but BDS doesn't do it because it's much easier to blame Israel than understand that this is complicated.

We spoke to an activist that works on agriculture and environmental concerns with Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis. Her project was fascinating. She was asked about whether her opinions changed due to her work with Palestinians and she answered by saying that she feels more guilty, that communication can't happen because at the end of the day, everyone returns to their own life, some more privileged than others.

It made me think. On one hand, she's right. I have never suffered in the same quantity of a Palestinian, simply because I was born on the other side of the border. When it comes down to it, there's no question who is suffering more because of this conflict.

On the other hand, we don't base justice by who's suffering more. And I can genuinely say that I am not the cause of Palestinian suffering. I'm not going to feel guilty about something that I didn't actively do. Yet, I do realize that simply by living as an Israeli, I am enjoying privileges that other can not. This isn't a reason to feel guilt, it's a reason to act, to work on improving this region for us all.

This is my biggest problem, this type of thinking is nonexistent here because he genuinely seems to believe one state would solve everything.

I am actually close to reaching the character limit here and I've got to go work out so I'm going to write out everything briefly:

- Pinkwashing, or "I can't stand to hear about Israel doing something good". Pinkwashing may exist but I also don't know of another army that was willing to pay for any physical transition I'd need, let me break army dress codes to help me with dysphoria, offered to help me fight transphobia in my base and referred to me with my pronouns. Please show me another middle eastern army that does this to non binary soldiers.

- I have never heard of greenwashing, if anything, it seems Israel is way way behind on environmental issues so I don't know what he's talking about.

- Referring to Israelis as colonialist is pretty much an antisemitic claim as it ignores the very long connection Jews have had with this land.

-"Ellwood did not condemn the conference for its clear lack of “balance”: while the Harvard Israel Conference was obviously intended to promote Israel, no speakers had been invited to make the case against Israel."Can't there be a conference about Israel without there being someone against it? Where are the pro Israel people in BDS conferences?

- In the same vein as the people wanting to ban pro Israeli speakers, pro Palestinian actions have led to antisemitism and therefore their speakers should also be outlawed. That's how flimsy this claim is. Freedom of speech means letting people speak, even if you disagree with their actions. For example, Rasmea Odeh and the support she received despite literally murdering two students.

- "...some audience members danced and sang “Am Yisrael Chai,” the ultranationalist song associated with the West Bank settler movement and Israel’s racist far right.” It literally means "the Jewish people are alive, we have nothing to fear", please explain how this is racist?

- “The first step is to abandon the illusion that the formal recognition of a Bantustan-like Palestinian state alongside Israel would do anything to free Palestinians from an exploitative economic system that is already deeply entrenched.” Granted but like, he talks about Palestinian-owned initiatives. Why not a Palestinian state next to an Israeli one? We're not after formal recognition, we want two functioning countries.

-This guy: Palestinians are improvised and need help.
Israel: attempts to help provide aid to build up Palestine with the hope for peace.
Also this guy: Palestinians should have the right to reject aid projects that are supported by Israel.

-“The kind of state Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and their backers envisage would entrench a neoliberal system in which Israeli and Palestinian elites continue to collaborate in enriching themselves while millions of Palestinians, and indeed poorer Israelis, are left in misery." Inequality is a problem for many countries. Shall we first solve the conflict and then figure out how to create a proper welfare state that would help Palestinians and Israelis?

-“IPCC’s goal is to provide Israeli companies with up-to-date information about the “Palestinian market” for “Israeli and foreign companies who wish to find business partners in the West Bank”—in other words, explicitly undermining the boycott movement." And in other words, helping the Palestinian economy?

-“Israel thus becomes the aggrieved party to whom Palestinians have to prove their good intentions and faith.”- the heck? Literally all everyone is saying is that Palestinians need to acknowledge that Israel exists. That would be the end of the occupation. Does it not make sense that in order for countries to reach peace they need to prove their good intentions?

- This author seems to describe the intifadas as a good thing and I don't get it, isn't BDS meant to be nonviolent?

- Right now, in Canada, there's a conversation about how the university student board is refusing to supply kosher food because "they don't support Israel". So really, BDS is impacting Jews and you can see how these mindsets do lead to antisemitism.

There's more but ahh, I've got to be productive. In any case, I always support reading but go into this book critically, there is much that he simply does not say. Reading about the conflict is always good and I'm glad I read this, even if I disagreed with essentially everything (apart from how important it is for the Palestinian economy to stand on its feet).

What I'm Taking With Me
- The writing is a bit too heavy as well.
- Why does he refer to it as Palestine and not Israelistine or Palestael?
- I get way too defensive of Israel, I've got to work on this. My Peruvian roommate keeps bringing up the conflict but through a Palestinian viewpoint and like, I come across as way more patriotic than I am just because I want her to get the Israeli side too.

[Muberra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Israel's "right to exist as a Jewish state" translates into a right to colonize Palestinian land, to occupy it, and to discriminate against the non-Jewish Palestinian people.

Perfectly said.

[Marcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful follow up to Abunimah's "One Country." From the opening, where Abunimah grounds his thinking about Palestine in parallel struggles and histories that African Americans have faced--especially in the context of the prison industrial complex--Abunimah does a terrific job explaining Palestinians' struggles by way of analogy. Later in the book he highlights other apt examples comparing Mexican Americans' struggles to Palestinians. The bulk of the book focuses on the headway the BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) movement is making in the U.S., especially on college campuses and the ways in which the Zionist movement is struggling to fight back. Ultimately, the book leaves one with both a lucid understanding of the present state of movement for justice in Palestine while also leaving one feeling inspired about all the progress being made on that front.

[Ahndrea Sprattling · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a compelling and comprehensive book. If you want to learn about the ongoing battle for justice in Palestine, read this book. It will give you hope and make you angry.

[Randall Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zionism: Those looking can see millions of Jews living in democracies and choosing to stay there; in fact, a significant number of Jewish Israelis emigrate because they too feel safer elsewhere. Remember that Zionism “was until the middle of the 20th century a minority position.” “The United States and Israel were established by European settler colonists who usurped lands inhabited by indigenous peoples.” Ethnic statehood “promises only continued violence” while true democracy protects Jews by protecting all citizens so all can feel safe. As international pressure increases, it will become obvious to enough Israelis “that ethnic statehood has done little to ensure their security.” “Israel’s record of state-sponsored racism and inequality …is broadly supported by Israeli Jewish opinion and justified as necessary for the state’s survival.” Due to Israel wanting always to have a demographic majority in its faux democracy, the births of non-Jewish babies are seen “as an assault on their rights and on the very existence of Israel.” In Israel, “many jobs are advertised as requiring the applicant to have completed military service, which acts as an effective bar to Palestinian citizens of Israel who, with a few minor exceptions, do not serve in the Israeli army.”

US New Jim Crow: “No other country in the world imprisons so many of its racial or ethnic minorities” as the United States. “More African American adults are in prison or under correctional supervision, probation, or control than were enslaved in 1850 in the United Sates.” US incarceration of blacks “functions in a manner strikingly similar to Jim Crow.” With present day incarceration, “we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.” Michelle Alexander writes that “mass incarceration tends to be categorized as a criminal justice issue as opposed to a racial justice or civil rights issue.” This colorblindness baked into the US system means there is no need to overtly call the present “War on Terror” a “war on Muslims” (unless you are as Islamophobic as Bill Maher).

Optimism: Know that the end of Jim Crow seemed unthinkable in 1950, and the end of South African apartheid seemed unthinkable in 1987, and the brand new 2025 book just released, “The Fall of Israel” by Dan Steinbock says justice for Palestinians will come in as little as 12 years, and top Israel experts (Lawrence Wilkerson and Ilan Pappe) agree with him. Once again pride came before a fall. Remember that the South African racial “regime had retained its unassailable military advantage to the very end.”

The Lesson of South Africa: Like Zionists, there were white South Africans who also thought they were chosen by God to live in a racist paradise enforced by violence. South Africa ended apartheid when its powerful military could not prevent “the complete loss of the legitimacy of the apartheid regime and its practices. Once this legitimacy was gone, whites lost the will to maintain a system that relied on violence and repression and rendered them international pariahs.” The (Israeli) parallels to the fears of white South Africans in an earlier era are obvious.” For example, Israel deals with constant insecurity “since it requires the active and violent suppression of the rights of millions of non-Jews.” It doesn’t help that, as Noam says, in 1967 Israel chose expansion over security. An important worry of the author comes in the fact that although apartheid ended in South Africa, economic apartheid remained. Palestinians will need to dodge that same bullet when their time comes. This means that economic justice MUST become “an integral part of the Palestinian struggle for liberation from Zionism.”

The Lesson of Ireland: “Patrick Cockburn compared Israel to Northern Ireland.” A former UK prime minister said, “The basic fear of Protestants in Northern Ireland is that they will be out-bred by the Roman Catholics. It is as simple as that.” The Brits job then was to keep “Catholics economically, politically, and socially subordinate.” Sound familiar?

Israel faces the threats of a Resistance Network and a Delegitimization Network. And so it attempts to attack the catalysts of both networks through mounting smear campaigns – when truth and morals clearly aren’t on your side, smear campaigns are the way to go. If anyone disagree with Israel, call them a terrorist sympathizer – the joke is anyone who agrees w/ Israel or US foreign policy (two rogue states) is infinitely MORE a terrorist sympathizer but as Noam says, terrorism is what THEY do, not what WE do. Deflection is also a standard Hasbara move: “Don’t look at Gaza where we are besieging 1.6 million people, look over here where we are having a gay pride parade! (p.139)” The goal of Hamas and Hezbollah is not “military victory but to bring about Israel’s political implosion”.

Pinkwashing and Greenwashing: They are both “part of Israel’s effort to appeal to progressive constituencies.” Greenwashing is a way of duping outsiders into ignoring Israel’s “record of ecological devastation in the region” – cutting down millions of trees destroying Gaza’s water and orchards, turning Gaza into rubble. Thanks to Israel, “more than half of the seventeen million cubic meters of sewage Jerusalem and the settlements around it produce flows directly into the occupied West Bank as well.” Israel’s “settlement are generally perched high up on hilltops; their sewage flows down into the Palestinian fields, villages, and towns below.” Israel has stolen 80% of West Bank water leaving Palestinians with only 20%. 50,000 Settlers now use as much water as 2.3 million Palestinians – fairness Israel-style. The Jewish National Fund is notorious for a “habit of densely planting nonnative pines” – it will never mention how “these exotic trees are highly flammable in Palestine’s arid Mediterranean climate” and how nonnative trees injure existing native ones.

Controlling the Narrative: Ynet estimates that Israel controls 20 million computer screens to defense of its Hasbara (p.166) countering any criticism of Israel leading Electronic Frontier’s Jillian York to say, “When a state needs to stoop to the level of paying citizens to fight its public relations wars, it has already lost.” Amen… This battle is being fought most fiercely on college and university campuses. Israeli analysis warns that endless US funding for genocide and occupation might be threatened if US higher education is “largely negative towards the Jewish state” because it serves “as an incubator for social trends that go on to have a wide impact in society at large” as during the Vietnam War. How dare US Colleges teach students about marginalized voices, or to think critically instead of non-stop shouting Israel Uber Alles, or US Uber Alles? US and Israel leaders do NOT want you to study “Tecumseh, Black Hawk, Sojourner truth, Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X or even George Carlin when your focus instead should be on our “white, slave owning, land-conquering ‘Founding Fathers’.” In college, I was taught that no struggle against oppression can be divorced from another. Can’t have people standing together, instead of atomized, misinformed and helpless.

Racism R Us: Many Americans became oh-so-sad when they read that in 2012, “for the first time in recorded US history, white births were no longer the majority”. The same sadness happened in Israel when they read that Palestinians were out procreating “the chosen”. The sadness of racist entitlement – poor babies… As Eli Yishai, Israel’s interior minister summed it up for all morality-deprived bigots when he declared, “this country belongs to us, to the white man.” Eli didn’t want his wife saying, “My God, their penis size IS bigger!” Israel knows the more land it steals now, the less it will have to deal with on the diplomacy table should Israel ever have to negotiate with the “non-chosen” rabble.

Palestinian and Israeli Rights & Privileges: As it is, “Israel’s claim of self-determination for the ‘Jewish people’ is not only unsupported in international law, but it violates the well-established collective self-determination rights of the Palestinian people as a whole.” Progressive Palestinians and Israelis in 2007 created a road forward called the One State Declaration which stated, “the historic land of Palestine belongs to all who live in it and to those who were expelled or exiled from it since 1948, regardless of religion, ethnicity, national origin or current citizenship status.” This would also mean “Israeli Jews would have to relinquish their enshrined and socially normalized privileges” in favor of “unmitigated equality.” All citizens would need to be “free from all colonial subjugation and discrimination.” Palestinians also want Right of Return and reparations for Palestinian refugees in their list of demands, “because expulsion does not remove one’s right of residency.” In addition, for those with intact morals, there is a difference presently between “the inalienable rights of the indigenous population and the ACQUIRED rights of the colonial-settler population.”

Great book. Super glad I read it. You will be too.

[Samar Dahmash Jarrah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great resource to understand how Israel is trying to delay what will eventually happen. One democratic nation for all.

[Pearl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost hot off the press as I read it, Abunimah's book is a very up-to-date discussion of the situation in Palestine. Published in the first half 2014, this book contains commentary and analysis of events just up to the most recent war (summer of 2014) between Hamas and Israel, which hadn't quite started when I began reading it and is still going on as I write my impressions of it. I think this is an important book for anyone who wants to understand more fully why Israel would be content to return to status quo and Palestinians most definitely would not.

Abunimah begins his book with a rather startling statement: "The Palestinians are winning." Say how? Gaza is in extremely dire straits, their borders are closed; unemployment is very high; industries are dying because of border closures; former allies seems to have abandoned them; often they lack electricity for most of the day and, with pumps not operating, raw sewage floods the streets; their one international airport, destroyed in an earlier war, has not been rebuilt. Their adveersary is strong and is supported by the world's strongest nation. The list of what's against them is endless. Yet Abunimah is optimistic, cautiously so. But he believes justice, in the end, will prevail. His book is about this battle - the battle for justice. He doesn't advocate armed conflict. He advocates such tactics as BDS (boycott, divest, sanction). He sees road maps in what worked in S. Africa and in N. Ireland. S. Africa, he points out, reached a workable one-state solution although almost no one believed it could. (He doesn't point out that no Mandela seems to be looming in Palestine's future.)

So, what is justice for Palestinians? It is sovereignty, of course; but more importantly, Abunimah argues, it is self-determination - the right of legitimate residents to determine their own future. The right not to be pawns of outside powers to move them around in keeping with their own interests, or to partition them, or to expel them, or to take away their land. It is an inalienable right and one recognized the UN Charter and by UN Resolutions. Abunimah writes about what this would mean for Palestinians and what it would be mean Israel. Hint: it is not Israel's annihilation.

His book is well documented, well organized, clearly written and is often fierce but always rational. As he details what has happened in Gaza and the West Bank he finds very few (perhaps no one) to praise and very many (perhaps everyone) to criticize, including foreign corporations who have invested in Gaza and the West Bank much more for their own profit than for those territories' benefit and including the elite of the West Bank who, according to Abunimah, have profited themselves only.

Depending upon the interests of the individual reader, some chapters will be more interesting than others, but it is not a long book. I, for example, found these two chapters the most interesting: "Does Israel Have a Right to Exist as a Jewish State?" and "Israeli Jews and the One-State Solution."

You don't have to agree with everything Abunimah says to recognize the truth he is writing and to admire his intelligence and his passion for justice in Palestine.

[Soph Nova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic analysis (even if it is a bit dated, given its publishing in 2014 and the rapidly moving terrain of Palestine solidarity work). Highly recommended, especially for the ways that it touches on different connections to other struggles and lenses for viewing solidarity work re: Palestine while retaining a strong core of BDS with an eye towards a one-state solution.

[Laila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't really like to get too political but this really hit home, I was stuggling with my Palestinian identity for a while then I read this. It really helped <3

[Evanston Public Library]

This past August, a book talk by Mr. Abunimah generated great controversy at our library. Abunimah is an ardent defender of Palestinian rights: one of his central views (expressed in both of his books) is that the modern Israel was established wrongly on Palestinian territory and has no right to exist as a Jewish state. Some would say this reflects blatant anti-semitism. He rejects the charge, drawing a distinction between anti-Jewishness (which he decries) and two core anti-Zionist beliefs: that Judaism can't serve as a basis for nationhood, and that Jewish nationalism can't trump Palestinian rights. In Abunimah's view, Israel-Palestine must become a bi-national state, or else the majority of Palestinians will continue to suffer indefensible oppression in the Gaza Strip, the occupied territories, and in Israel itself.

The problem, of course, is that a majority of Jews in Israel and elsewhere -- along with many non-Jews -- believe strongly in Israel's necessity and legitimacy as a Jewish state. Defenders of the modern Israel argue that Jews have constituted a "people" for millennia and have powerful historical ties to the disputed land. Some defenders, Ari Shavit among them, argue further that nations are always born bloodily and tragically, and that Israel couldn't have been born any other way--and needed to be born. In the same way that Abunimah rejects the charge of anti-semitism, Shavit would reject any anti-Palestinian charge, drawing a distinction between such bias and two of his own core beliefs: that what looks to some like cruelty is actually the ugly reality of nation-building throughout history, and that Jews and the world are better off with Israel than without it. In Shavit's view, Israel must not become a bi-national state because such a state (given the region's demographics) would no longer be a Jewish homeland, or even safe for a Jewish minority.

Before picking up either Abunimah or Shavit, consider Jack Ross's biography of Elmer Berger. Berger (1908-1996), a Reform rabbi, was the longtime de facto spokesperson for liberal Jewish anti-Zionists. From 1942 to 1968 he led the anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism, then, for nearly thirty years, American Jewish Alternatives to Zionism. Ross's book is less readable than Abunimah's or Shavit's, and factually inaccurate in places, but it effectively details the dogged efforts of Berger and others to counter the push for Israeli statehood. Ross is as much a disciple as a biographer, supplementing Berger's arguments with his own.

The Israel-Palestine controversy won't be resolved anytime soon, and these authors probably won't sway anyone with a strong opinion on the matter. But collectively they are worthy guides for the perplexed. (Jeff B., Reader's Services)

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started reading this book because it was chosen as the nonfiction book for March for the #1book140 club at The Atlantic. However, I will echo the words of another reviewer... life is just too short and there are just too many great books to read. I read the beginning of the book, and found myself disagreeing with the author's interpretation of African-American life in the United States. Therefore, as I read further, I found it nearly impossible to believe or even contemplate the author's interpretation of Palestinian life in Israel. Although I do believe that he has some valid points, overall this book was too extreme for me.

[Reading · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devastating indictment of the failed and disingenuous 'two state solution' peace plan that has been the mantra of most parties in recent years. I would like to follow up by reading a book that presents a different POV/opinion as at times this book did feel like it had a strong bias. That said the author thoroughly footnoted his reference material and seemed genuinely passionate about presenting a true path forward.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Abunimah is firm in his indictments of Israel as an apartheid state, but most crucial to this piece is Abunimah's optimism. He notes how activism toward a free and just Palestine for all people in it has been on the rise (and been met with vicious attacks, and yet continues), and he advocates for and presents a path to a better future. That hopefulness sets this book apart from the many theses on Palestine that ignore the possibility for a just peace.

[6r36.v1073t · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoever says this "conflict" is unsolvable had better read this book. The best articulation for a One-State Solution and the voice of the future of Palestine. Monumental! Abunimah is immense, and lovely.

[Maya Forster-giernet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe that everyone should read this book. How, in this day and age, can we support a state where you have to be a white Jew to be a citizen.

[Beorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off remarkably strong before hitting somewhat of a plateau for the rest of the book.

[Alexander Segatta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book for the first 3/4, but towards the end the author let's composure fall away and writes more accusatory with less facts to back up claims

[Maximus Skinner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book for understanding the conflict in a modern context. Exemplifies most of my opinions. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[Joel Valentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

'...the apartheid regime in South Africa was never defeated militarily. The regime had retained its unassailable military advantage to the very end. Rather, something else did apartheid in: "The loss of legitimacy in the practices of the [South African] apartheid regime is what changed, and when a system loses its legitimacy, all the weapons in the world cannot protect it [and] we're beginning to see a similar loss of legitimacy for Zionism."' p127

'Sarah Schulman... defines pink washing as "the co-opting of white gay people by anti-immigration and anti-Muslim political forces in Western Europe and Israel." Pink washing typically includes intensely marketing Israel as a destination for gay (male) sex tourism, depicting Israel as a haven for gay life... These efforts, Schulman says, amount to "a deliberate strategy to conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians' human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life." At its core... "Pink washing is an attempt to change the subject: 'Don't look at Gaza where we're besieging 1.6 million people, look over here where we're having a gay pride parade!'" p139

Self-determination in Woodrow Wilson's words: "The settlement of every question, whether of territory, of sovereignty, of economic arrangement, or of political relationship" is to be made "upon the basis of the free acceptance of that settlement by the people immediately concerned and not on the basis of the material interest or advantage of any other nation or people which may desire a different settlement for the sake of its own exterior influence or mastery" p229

[bianca]

I’m not sure what to rate this book — I’m thinking about a 3.5 but that’s not an option on the app.

I learned a lot from my first read of it but it is so unwieldy and needs to be better organized. I think the author is trying to do so much (probably for good reason) — he’s trying to establish ties between current activism among POC in the US and Palestine, explain the violence Palestinians have faced in the last twenty years or so, explain BDS, explain that economic peace is a farce, and so much more.

I do think there’s a quantity of historical knowledge the reader needs to fully engage engage and think critically about the text (which I lack but I made do). If the book had a smaller scope, clearer intention/thesis up front. and better organization/structure, it would have been easier to follow and get through for someone like me who is just starting to learn about Palestinian struggles.

[K.A.L.M · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the details on the West Banks 'Industrialised Zones' alone I'm giving this a rating of 5! What a dirty business that is!
Anyone, like me reading this during the Genocidal onslaught in Gaza, Oct 2023 to current date, will fully understand why 'Israel' and the West are so intent on keeping the PA in power and wanting to install them in Gaza! What an opportunity to turn virtually the whole of Gaza into an 'Industrialised Zone' and steal their Gas Reserves! What an opportunity to contract out the rebuilding of Gaza with the profits going to the West and 'Israel'!
Imperialism needs to end! Exploitation of the worlds resources for the benefit of a few at the expense of billions needs to end!
Justice for Palestine! Justice for All! It's time for change!

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I definitely think this book is worth reading and provides relevant information about and precise examples for key factors in the conflict. However, some parts could have been presented in a better way - for example as graphs instead of dense text describing data - to make them more easily digestible (when it comes to the reading process, not the atrocities - those are rightfully "indigestible").

[Wendy Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very informative book. I found it took me a long time to read because it was hard for me to get in the mood for it, but overtime I picked it up I learned a lot. I really liked the comparisons between Israel/Palestine and the USA, Ireland and South Africa.

[Jeremy Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great information regarding the neoliberal exploitation of the west Bank in particular by capital foreign and domestic as well as the attempts by the Israel lobby to squelch didsent to their settler colonial project in the United States.

Given recent events the book is a bit dated, though.

[Roman Loban · Rating 5 out of 5]

@AliAbunimah wrote very good book, which shed lights on the roots of Palestine-Israel conflict and this essential reading on Middle East politics.

[Nathan Colquhoun · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive and insightful take on the last sixty years for Palestine and what the future could hold.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

With Democratic meaning, like in probably all other states, the ability to be impoverished by an Elite chosen by the mob.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth it for the chapter on economics, alone. Well-researched and dense. Highly moralistic - for all the positives and negatives that entails.

[Ren Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant dissection of Zionism’s structure and enforcement in Palestine and America.

[Nicole Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

outstanding, would widely recommend