A searing reflection on the failures of Israel to treat Palestine and Palestinians as equals, as partners on the road to peace instead of genocide.

Since the formation of the state of Israel in 1948, the Nakba (or 'disaster' as the Palestinians call it), there have been many opportunities to move towards peace and equality between Palestine and Israel - after the Six-Day War in 1967, the Oslo Agreement and even the 7 October 2023 War. Each opportunity has been rejected by Israel, which is why life is unbearable in the West Bank now and there is genocide in Gaza. This book explores what went wrong again and again, and why. And how it could still be different.

It is human nature to feel prejudice. But in this haunting meditation on Palestine and Israel, Shehadeh suggests that this does not mean the two nations cannot live together to their mutual benefit and co-existence.

In graceful, devastatingly observed prose, this is a fresh reflection on the conflict in a time of great need.

Details

ISBN13: 9781805223474
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 128
Edition: Main
Publication Date: 11 Jun 2024
Publisher: Profile Books Ltd
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 17.6(H)x11(L)x1(W)100
Weight (gm): 100

Author Biography

Raja Shehadeh is Palestine's leading writer. He is also a lawyer and the founder of the pioneering Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq. Shehadeh is the author of several acclaimed books published by Profile, including the Orwell Prize-winning Palestinian Walks.

Reviews

'In his moral clarity and baring of the heart, his self-questioning and insistence on focusing on the experience of the individual within the storms of nationalist myth and hubris, Shehadeh recalls writers such as Ghassan Kanafani and Primo Levi' - New York Times

'Luminously clear-sighted ... By turns lyrical, witty and shrewd, Shehadeh is an excellent companion' - Prospect

'Shehadeh is a great inquiring spirit with a tone that is vivid, ironic, melancholy and wise' - Colm Toibin

'A buoy in a sea of bleakness' - Rachel Kushner

'[Shehadeh is] Palestine's greatest prose writer' - Observer