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.
