Freethinkers Book Club: The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi

Freethinkers Book Club

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

By Rashid Khalidi

Wednesday, March 27, 2024, 7:00 – 8:30 pm

Host: Karen C.

We sent an email to Professor Khalidi asking him to participate.  We did not expect a response, but he sent a very kind reply:

Thanks for your email. I am happy to hear that your book club is reading my book. I would have been happy to take part, but I unfortunately will not be able to. I hope everyone benefits from the book.

In The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, Rashid Khalidi presents a comprehensive account of the Jewish settlers’ conquest of Palestine. Khalidi, one of today’s most influential historians of the Middle East, uses facts and documentation with personal stories, observations by diplomats and journalists, and his own experiences in negotiating among Palestinian factions and the Israelis to offer a new view of this conflict.

The author carefully constructs the case that the Palestine – Israeli conflict was always a settler colonial conquest by European Zionist, aided by Britain, and the later by the United States. While mainstream Zionism proclaimed early on that the two communities in Palestine could live together, this ignored the fact that native populations will resist colonialists and the Palestinians were no different.

Khalidi offers a robust critique of Jewish-Israeli policies, the lack of genuine support from Arab leaders for the Palestinian cause, and the shortcomings of the Palestinians themselves—including initial resistance failures, political myopia, and corruption. By dissecting the conflict into six periods beginning in 1917, Khalidi provides comprehensive contextual information, shedding light on a conflict that persists to the present day.

We hope you will join us for this discussion. You are also welcomed if you have not read the book, but please take a look at one or more of these resources.

• Wikipedia, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hundred_Years%27_War_on_Palestine#:~:text=The%20Hundred%20Years'%20War%20on%20Palestine%20is%20a%202020%20book,of%20six%20major%20episodes%20the
• Video: Book Talk: “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine” by Rashid Khalidi https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/news/2020/10/30/video-book-talk-hundred-years-war-palestine-rashid-khalidi
• Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH8Ip1cvlRY

Please join us!

Participants are encouraged to join the Pittsburgh Freethought Community if not already a member.
https://pghfreethought.org/Become-a-member