Palestine-Israel conflict through books

Metrolife lists works that help you understand the history of the region

As the violence continues to escalate between the Israelis and the Palestinians, it leaves in its wake a horrifying death toll.

Here are some books to brief you on the history of the region.

‘On Palestine’, Ilan Pappé and Noam Chomsky

A sequel to ‘Gaza in Crisis’, the book was written after Operation Protective Edge, a 2014 military operation launched by Israel on
Gaza. The authors discuss the road ahead for Palestinians and how the international community can pressure Israel to end its human rights abuses.

‘The Question of Zion’, Jacqueline Rose

British writer Jacqueline Rose uses her political and psychoanalytical skills to study how Zionism, a movement driven by the search for a homeland for persecuted Jewish people, takes shape as an identity.

‘My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel’, Ari Shavit

The 2013 book is an authoritative examination of the profound meaning of Israel to Jews. Thoroughly researched and deeply personal, this account by Israeli journalist Ari Shavit illuminates many of the pivotal moments of the Zionist century that led Israel to where it is today. It also examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition.

‘In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story’, Ghada Karmi

A memoir of Ghada Karmi’s life, the book explores her experience as a diaspora Palestinian. From her childhood in Palestine and flight to Britain in 1948 to her coming of age in North London, Karmi documents the human cost of the loss of home.

‘Out of Place’, Edward W Said

Palestinian academic, political activist and literary critic Edward Said wrote the book after he was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia in 1991. By rediscovering the lost Arab world of his early years in Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt, he celebrates an irrecoverable past.

‘Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East’, Michael B Oren

Written by a historian and former Israeli ambassador to the United States, the book is a comprehensive guide to the Six-Day War fought between Israel and its Arab neighbours. Though it lasted only six tense days in June XXXX (year), the war never really ended and the crisis that ripped through this region is a direct consequence of
those six days, the book suggests.

‘I Saw Ramallah’, Mourid Barghouti

An Arabic language autobiographical book by Palestinian writer and poet Mourid Barghouti, this memoir recounts his experience of returning to Ramallah, the city of his youth, after being barred following the Six-Day War in 1967. This is not just a lamentation of the home he lost, but also of an identity that has disappeared. Translated into English by Ahdaf Soueif.

‘Arabs and Israelis: Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East’, Abdel Monem Said Aly, Shai Feldman, Khalil Shikaki

Written by a team of Israeli, Egyptian and Palestinian scholars, the book provides a broad perspective on the conflict. Situating the question of Gaza within the complex and ever-shifting world of Middle Eastern politics, it offers a balanced and nuanced introduction to a highly contentious subject.