Amazing novel in two parts: the first took place in Negev after the Nakba war in 1948, and the horrible raping & killing of an Arab Bedouin girl by an Israeli soldier; the second part started in Ramallah by a Palestinian protagonist, a woman, who was born the same day as the killing of the Negev girl,  was obsessed to follow the memorial traces of this girl, decades after the killing took place.  The Novel is translated from Arabic to Danish by June Dahy, who’s translation leaves us with a lovely piece  of literature, with its subtle smooth and rich Danish prose style.   

The movement of the plot is slowly, heavy and sensational, covering almost half of the novella, but taking place  only in very few days: from the 9th August to the 13th August 1949; while the second half covers the lengthy research of the narrator to find out what happened in those horrible few days where the Palestinian Bedouin girl was captured, raped and lately killed, buried in an unknown grave in the desert of Negev.  This tortuous journey of the protagonist, who identify herself with the destiny of the murdered girl,  covering a series of dangerous, risky movements from areas A to  B to  C –  well known by Old South African Apartheid system, as well as  every Palestinian living under occupation, whether a refugee living abroad, or citizen living in West Bank,  Gaza,  Jerusalem or Israel. The well- in – depth approach to the psychological ramifications of all thos personalities we met, in work, at checkpoints, where she met a girl who tried to sell her unneeded  items, in kibbutz, in archival centres or else where, pushes the reader to the borders of looking in an Abyss, an Inferno, to know the results of the research that ends up in an unknown mystery of a burning flame in both hand & breast,  paving the way to the piercing sound of a faraway bullet.

The book deserves reading now more than any time else. The killings of one Bedouin girl in Negev took place 77 years ago. The killings are continued in 2025, culminated in tens of thousands of Palestinian women & children, murdered intentionally, many still buried under rubbles,  by the most sophisticated weaponry,  with total complicity from most of the Worlds’ Super Powers; ending up in one of the longest fifteenth months of online ” plausible genocide”  in the 21th century- as the Highest Court of the World, ICJ, warned.  The novel never touched directly on the panoramic political view; on the contrary, it concentrated more on marginal and small details, in a Balzacian’s style: that what literature can do and achieve, depicting those small unseen details that any reader can identify with  That what Shibli achieved in a wonderful and warm way, although heavy and tragic taste dominate most of the narrative.            

Han Kang was a Nobel prize winner  in literature 2024 .  By accident, I came through  her marvelous novel “The Vegetarian”, which reflects a deep understanding of the tens of layers of human sufferings , the agonies and misfortunes that dominate our modern world, especially women who were denied the minimum level of rights_ as those of our main character Yeong_ho who was denied the right to be a vegetarian, pushed her to the boundaries of cutting her wrest by knife, facing death instead of relinquishing her desire not to eat meat.  The whole family disintegrates, as seen in the three parts of the novel; her sister is the only human who tries in vain to save her, or convince her not to leave life,; her husband divorced her, her parents refused even to keep visiting her at the hospital, and her sister´s man tried to use her to satisfy his sick artistic needs to paint her naked, or even to convince his friend to be engaged in sexual scenes, while he photographed them…… It is a poetic, terrible,lively  drama with lyrical  language that depicts nature in a wonderful approach where human, nature and dreams are becoming one.  

Through six chapters: from the first declaration of war, 1917-1939 to the second, 1947-1948, to the third, 1967, to the fourth, 1948, to the fifth 1987-1995 & to the sixth, 2000-2014,  Khalidi depicted  the main events that took place in a whole  century, in a vivid lucid and attractive way. One more notice of this presentation  is the interwoven reminiscences  of his personal experience as well as his family´s, makes the book both a historical documentary, and  personal memories, drawn on  his direct participation in the negotiations that lead up to the Oslo Accords. -A book that evokes my last comment on an interesting Avi Shlaim´s book:Three Worlds-Memoirs of an Arab-Jew.

The panoramic view of one century of wars on Palestine by powerful powers ranging from USA, USSR, European, Regional,  Arab States & Israel leaves the reader with a vast amount of adversaries, “Too Many Enemies”, to use Rosemary Sayigh book´s title,  accompanied with failures of the Palestinian leadership, the PLO, especially in negotiation´s stretegy, which Khalidi rightfully  described through the whole six chapters of the book and the conclusion pp 236-255. 

There are few points that one can disagree with the author´s evaluation- such as the role of the Fida´een and the Jordan Army on al-Karama battle on the 21th of march 1968-( I think that the decision to fight the Israeli invasion by Fatah, the first time ever a decision was made to face the aggression and not retreat,  and the bravery of the fighters in the battlefield are the main decisive factor of victory, although not diminishing the artillery´s role of the Jordan Army-.  Generally speaking I recommend highly this book to any one interested in learning the modern roots of the palestinian struggle that extended from Belfour Declaration in 1917 to  Trump´s catastrophic initiative in 2019. in his first period as president.  

The book is published four years ago in 2020 . Therefore the ongoing genocide that is taking place in Palestine, mainly in Gaza since October 2023 is not included. Any objective reading of the events of the whole century from Belfour declaration in 1917 & the powers that prevent the liberation of Palestine and its independence, would foresee that the ethnic cleansing that started collectively in 1947-48  where two thirds of the Palestinians were uprooted,  would naturally lead to nowadays´ genocide. 

Last note: I would agree with the author that the PLO leadership  didn´t take advantage of the professional academics as Rashid Khalid, Edward Said, Abu Lughod and many others who knew much more how to deal with USA complex institutions to influence American decision making:  legislations, media, lobbying, universities, civil society ….etc. 

I don´t think that if president Joe Biden, who was recently seen holding Khalidi´s  book while leaving a library, had read the book earlier, it would change or  influence his decisions.  The same  happened earlier with president J. Carter  who wrote  “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid”  only when he left his the post. The process of decision making is much more complicated, as Rashid wrote. The interests of the Corporations,weapons, oil and bank industry are the main factors that influence decision makings, together with the religious-zionist  evangelists that dominate the scene right now in USA & other European states.

The end note of the book, according to the author.: Peace could only be achieved when  equality and justice to all who are living in Palestine will prevail, whether through two states solution or a bi-national state.