"Informed and passionate . . . Khalidi's is an elegy for the Palestinians, for their dispossession, for their failure to resist conquest."
—The Guardian
"The Hundred Years’ War is one of the best-researched general surveys of 20th and early 21st century Palestinian life, but it’s also a deeply personal work. . . . For a people whose history is all but criminalized, this act of retelling is itself a form of resistance."
—The Nation
"Rigorous and lucid . . . Rashid Khalidi, the intellectual heir to Edward Said, has written one of the great books on the Israeli-Palestinian question."
—Financial Times
"A book of witnessed historical accounts and enlightening deep analysis . . . each chapter is rich with revelations . . . I doubt if my experience of reading this great intellectual contribution could have been any more enriching."
—Mondoweiss
"Masterful . . . brilliant . . . This major work will occupy a central position in the literature of Palestinian history."
—Al-Quds
“After decades of scrupulous objectivity, Khalidi has now written a very personal book. . . . The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine is a roller-coaster ride through Palestinian history, one hundred years without a moment of solitude.”
—The Baffler
“For those who want to learn about the course of the Israel-Palestine conflict up till now, and are open-minded: read this book. It comes over as a brilliant synthesis of high scholarship and experience, fair-minded, and highly readable.”
—Jacobin
"Meticulous . . . Rashid Khalidi's exhaustive research leaves no doubt that the Jewish colonizers were acutely aware from the start that the Palestinian people had to be subjugated and removed to create the Jewish state."
—Chris Hedges, TruthDig
"This book is a masterful work of scholarship and personal history excavating unlike any I’ve seen before; this will become a major force in the Palestinian historical canon in the years to come."
—Literary Hub
"This book’s undertaking is remarkable: renowned historian Khalidi captures over a century of history in strong, compelling prose, including that of his own family (his great-great-great-uncle was the mayor of Jerusalem in the late 19th-century). It is widely considered required reading for anyone truly wishing to understand Palestine."
—Electric Literature
"A richly informed, personalized account of a century of repression of a peoples’ national aspirations. . . . original and distinctive . . . a remarkable testament to the stubborn resistance that characterizes the Palestinians."
—Washington Report on Middle East Affairs
"Riveting and original . . . Khalidi skillfully balances his professional analysis of historical and diplomatic documents with insights of his own and his relatives who had leadership roles throughout the twentieth century. . . . A profoundly moving account."
—Hespéris-Tamuda
"Heart-wrenching . . . powerful . . . brave . . . The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is a valuable violation of the taboo against injecting personal narrative into historical accounts. . . .Though it is difficult to look to the future with any degree of optimism, Khalidi manages to find hopeful signs of the growing international support for Palestinian rights."
—Weekly Worker
"The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is lived history, a testament not only to what Palestinians experienced as a collective but also to what this meant in very immediate ways to the author himself. . . . Khalidi's personal stories make an already tragic history even more poignant."
—Portside
"Rashid Khalidi has written a remarkable book. . . . The personal anecdotes add flavour and analytical depth to the historical narrative. . . . Khalidi discusses Palestinian errors with a deep sincerity, while emphasizing how the cards have been greatly stacked to their disadvantage."
—Journal of Peace Research
"Dogged . . . a timely, cogent, patient history of a seemingly intractable conflict told from a learned Palestinian perspective."
—Kirkus
"Khalidi skillfully balances analysis of historical and diplomatic documents with insights of his own and his relatives who had leadership roles throughout the 20th century . . . Highly recommended."
—Library Journal
"The Hundred Years' War on Palestine presents a vital perspective on one of the planet's most intractable geopolitical and humanitarian crises."
—Shelf Awareness (starred review)
“One of the many merits of the book is the way Khalidi uses his family and his own life experience to tell this tragic, yet-to-be-righted, story. . . . While his condemnation of Israel’s policies and historic Zionism is unrelenting, Khalidi has straight talk for the Palestinians on the question of compromises.”
—Balfour Project
“Rashid Khalidi enjoys a well-deserved reputation as one of the greatest living historians of the Palestinian people. . . . Khalidi is a sophisticated and unapologetic exponent of an increasingly widely held view of the Israel–Palestine conflict.”
—The Literary Review (UK)
“A superb, no-holds-barred history of the Palestinian struggle for liberation . . . Rashid Khalidi pulls no punches in criticizing the abject failings of both global and domestic politicians who have helped perpetuate the continued misery in Palestine.”
—Morning Star (UK)
“Focused on the Palestinians’ lived experience of a century of war, never losing sight of the geo-political forces that fostered it, Rashid Khalidi has written a book of comprehensive scholarship with the delicacy and intensity of a novel.”
—Ahdaf Soueif, author of The Map of Love
“With wisdom and insight, Rashid Khalidi lays to rest the illusions of Israelis and Palestinians alike. He combines brilliant scholarship with extensive first-hand experience of war and diplomacy in a call for mutual acceptance and equality of rights as the only way to end a century of conflict. An outstanding book.”
—Eugene Rogan, author of The Arabs: A History
“A riveting and original work, the first to explore the century of war against the Palestinians on the basis of deep immersion in their struggle—a work enriched by solid scholarship, vivid personal experience, and acute appreciation of the concerns and aspirations of the contending parties in this deeply unequal conflict.”
—Noam Chomsky, author of Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy
“Brave, brilliant, and magisterial, this outstanding work of historical scholarship is also full of high drama and fascinating narrative. Rashid Khalidi presents compelling evidence for a reevaluation of the conventional Western view of the subject in a book that is a milestone in the study of the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
—Avi Shlaim, author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World
“This is the first true people’s history of the hundred-year struggle of the Palestinian people, a beautifully written text and a call for justice and self-determination.”
—Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
“A meticulous account of Palestinian history that provides a brilliant framework for the study of settler colonialism on a global scale. You can disagree with Khalidi but you cannot afford to miss the opportunity of arguing with him.”
—Homi K. Bhabha, author of The Location of Culture
“Through a scholarly narrative rooted in his own family history, Rashid Khalidi offers a fresh interpretation that shows Palestine as a violent, grinding fault in the shifting tectonic plates of Great Power politics. This book is sure to become a classic account.”
—Elizabeth F. Thompson, author of Justice Interrupted: The Struggle for Constitutional Government in the Middle East
“This book is a remarkable interweaving of three distinctive strands: a deeply researched history of the struggle between Zionist aspirations and Palestinian resistance; an analytical framework that places the conflict within the context of settler colonialism; and a personal family history that brings the narrative alive. Newcomers and specialists alike will learn much from reading this sweeping account.”
—William B. Quandt, author of Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Since 1967
“Learned and clear-eyed, this compelling history of the long war to deny Palestinian rights exposes a century of blunders, misjudgments, and willful deceptions. Highly recommended.”
—Stephen M. Walt, coauthor of The Israel Lobby
“Beautifully written and accessible, this book is an invaluable examination of the Palestinian-Zionist encounter as a struggle against settler-colonial domination, not as an issue of conflict resolution—a vital difference, necessary for a deeper understanding of the war and for its meaningful resolution. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine illustrates, at its core, the refusal of Palestinians to accept their own defeat and their desire to live as equals with Israelis in a land they are destined to share.”
—Sara Roy, author of Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza: Engaging the Islamist Social Sector
"As in any book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there is ample room for debate and controversy. And as in any book by Rashid Khalidi, there is history, erudition, politics and passion aplenty. There is also his tenacious conviction that ‘there are now two peoples in Palestine, irrespective of how they came into being, and the conflict between them cannot be resolved as long as the national existence of each is denied by the other.’"
—Rob Malley, International Crisis Group CEO and White House Coordinator for the Middle East under President Barack Obama
“Rashid Khalidi makes clear that the Zionists could not have created modern day Israel without abundant help from Britain and the United States. A must read for the growing number of people who are interested in understanding the real roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
—John J. Mearsheimer, coauthor of The Israel Lobby
“With moral passion and analytical rigor, Khalidi skillfully unearths the narrative of a long and bitter national conflict, providing a multitude of timely, acute, and original insights. This compelling book is a must read.”
—Zeev Sternhell, author of The Anti-Enlightenment Tradition
“In a painfully sober analysis of what made Zionism, an anachronistic colonialist enterprise, so successful, Rashid Khalidi also shows how Palestinians defy fatalism and refuse to vanish. His book is a tribute and contribution to his people’s perseverance.”
—Amira Hass, author of Drinking the Sea at Gaza
“This fascinating and instructive blend of autobiography and history should be read by anybody who wants to understand the tragedy of Palestine and the Palestinians.”
—Patrick Cockburn, author of The Rise of the Islamic State
“Rashid Khalidi has produced a sophisticated and insightful historical analysis of the Palestine-Israel conflict that is enriched by deep knowledge, clear and critical views, and his own experiences of key moments.”
—Ian Black, author of Enemies and Neighbors: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel, 1917-2017
“This searing account makes clearer than ever the often deliberately understated colonial nature of the Palestinian experience—and it reminds us of the Palestinians’ extraordinary capacity to remain steadfast despite the local and global forces arrayed against them.”
—Saree Makdisi, author of Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation of Culture
★ 11/01/2019
Khalidi (Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab studies, Columbia Univ.; Brokers of Deceit) outlines the development and expansion of Israel since the 1917 Balfour Declaration. He explains why Zionist state-building in the 1920s and 1930s was successful: Palestinians could not protect their interests and some may have been naive about the impact of British support for Zionism. The Zionists demonstrated their political and military strength in creating their own state in 1948, and again in 1967 during the Six-Day War, when Israel defeated a coalition of Arab nations and took the Golan Heights from Syria, the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt, and East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan. Khalidi shows how Israel used U.S. support to strengthen its military might, and wielded diplomacy to maintain U.S. backing. He sympathetically conveys the desires of the Palestinian people for self-determination and equal rights, and rues the ineptitude and shortsightedness of their leadership. He skillfully balances his professional analysis of historical and diplomatic documents with insights of his own and his relatives who had leadership roles throughout the 20th century. VERDICT Highly recommended as a valuable and accurate presentation of a century of struggle between Jews and Palestinians seeking to build a nation on the same territory, vastly unequal in resources and efficacy. Khalidi weaves his personal and family perspective into his academic study.—Elizabeth Hayford, formerly with Associated Coll. of the Midwest, Evanston, IL
2019-09-24
A systematic history of Palestinian persecution and a fair-minded agenda for mutual dialogue and recognition with the Israelis going forward.
Khalidi (Modern Arab Studies/Columbia Univ.; Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East, 2013, etc.), the editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies, is the descendant of several illustrious early scholars and statesmen who attempted to navigate the first peace between the two peoples claiming ancient ties to the same land. The author begins this dogged chronicle of Palestinian injustices with a poignant letter he unearthed in a Jerusalem library, written in 1899 by his great-great-great uncle, the mayor of Jerusalem, to the "father of Zionism," Theodor Herzl, reminding him respectfully of the folly of embarking on a Jewish nation within an already inhabited land and urging him "in the name of God, let Palestine be left alone." Of course, that did not happen, and the Zionist vision gained momentum thanks to "international and imperial forces" such as the Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917, which, Khalidi notes, was "a declaration of war by the British Empire on the indigenous population." The author also examines the declaration of the state of Israel in 1947; the Six-Day War of 1967; the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, directed at neutralizing the Palestinian Liberation Organization; the first Palestinian uprising, or intifada, which began in 1987 and shifted the locus of disaffection from outside to inside the country; and the massive Palestinian demonstrations that have taken place in Israel as Hamas and the PLO played out their power struggle. Khalidi is clear about the "ideologically bankrupt political movements" that have made up Palestinian leadership, and he recognizes the need for a better understanding of how to positively affect public opinion in the U.S. Yet he also presses for significant work inside Israel, namely "convincing Israelis that there is an alternative to the ongoing oppression of the Palestinians."
A timely, cogent, patient history of a seemingly intractable conflict told from a learned Palestinian perspective.
