Ilan Pappe's book is the story of Palestine, a land inhabited by two
peoples, and two national identities. It begins with the Ottomans in the
early 1800s, the reign of Muhammad Ali, and traces a path through the
arrival of the early Zionists at the end of that century, through the
British mandate at the beginning of the twentieth century, the
establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, and the subsequent wars
and conflicts which culminated in the intifadas of 1987 and 2000. While
these events provide the background to the narrative and explain the
construction of Zionist and Palestinian nationalism, at center stage are
those who lived through these times, men and women, children, peasants,
workers, town-dwellers, Jews and Arabs. It is a story of coexistence and
cooperation, as well as oppression, occupation, and exile. Ilan Pappe is
well known as a revisionist historian of Palestine and a political
commentator on the Israel-Palestine conflict. His book is a unique
contribution to the history of this troubled land which all those
concerned with developments is the Middle East will be compelled to
read. Ilan Pappe teaches politics at Haifa University in Israel. He has
written extensively on the politics of the Middle East, and is well
known for his revisionist interpretation of Israel's past and as a
critic of Israel's policies towards the Palestinians. His books include
The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947-1951 (Taurlls, 1992) and
The Israeli-Palestine Question (Routledge, 1999).
