The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917--2017

By: Rashid Khalidi

Narrated by: Fajer Al-Kaisi, Rashid Khalidi - introduction

This program includes an introduction read by the author.

A landmark history of 100 years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history.

In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home in Palestine, wrote a letter aimed at Theodore Herzl: the country had an indigenous people who would not easily accept their own displacement. He warned of the perils ahead, ending his note, “in the name of God, let Palestine be left alone.” Thus Rashid Khalidi, al-Khalidi’s great-great-nephew, begins this sweeping history, the first general account of the conflict told from an explicitly Palestinian perspective.

Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members - mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists - The Hundred Years' War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age. He highlights the key episodes in this colonial campaign, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the destruction of Palestine in 1948, from Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to the endless and futile peace process.

Original, authoritative, and important, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. In reevaluating the forces arrayed against the Palestinians, it offers an illuminating new view of a conflict that continues to this day.

Cover photograph © Amnon Bar Or--Tal Gazit Architects Ltd

©2020 Rashid Khalidi (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Educational and eye opening

With a reasonably short and clear analysis, this book can help you understand both the past and the present of the conflict and injustices that need to be resolved, and important components of the way to move forward.

Excellent read

Thorough and accurate information about catastrophe that is happening to Palestinians for the past 120 years

I haven't been paying attention.

The book gives the Palestinian perspective and a chronology of events. I have learned a lot and am hopeful that I will be a better human.

The tidbit about Kushner sheds light on his recent comments regarding Gaza's coastal possibilities.

I will continue to learn about the Middle East and the USA's role in the conflict.

Fascinating and Maddening

Heartbreaking history of a people who have been marginalized for so long. It’s a must read to help untangle Palestine’s destruction.

so memorable and informative

it was a great, easy, informative read with loads of info on the internal dynamics of Palestinian politics.

Excellent

Fantasic all around. Learned a lot & have quite a bit of thinking & processing to do.

thank you for showing me the other side of Exodus

I had a Palestinian friend in law school who told me stories about the Nakba when he was eight years old. He eas doing an LL.M thesis on the plot to divert the waters of the Jordan River and kept telling me about his encounters with the Irgun and I was skeptical. Oh crap. He wasn'f kidding.

Well written and relevant reading

Well written, well narrated, and a comprehensive and honest review of a hundred years of Palestinian history. Now more than ever we owe it to ourselves and communities suffering from the impacts of colonization to be educated on the history of their oppression.

So much historical facts

I was super keen on learning about the current affairs of the region. And boy do i feel like i got more than i bargained. But so much learning and so many thoughts! Thanks to this amazing author for packaging the history of the land so well!

Truly a Must-Read (or listen!)

This survey of the recent history of Palestine and Israel’s aggressions towards the Palestinian people is incredibly eye-opening. If you’re not a reader of history books it can get dense, but it’s truly superb and honest. It also accounts the many times the basic plight of the Palestinian people has fallen through the cracks of the interest of major military and economic powers . If you’re reading after November 2023 and you reach the 2014 aggression on Gaza by the IOF, you’ll feel like this book eerily predicted every beat of the current moment. The conclusion is the uplifting look toward the future that you need . Free Palestine !