What Does Israel Fear from Palestine?

Since the formation of the state of Israel in 1948, the Naqba, or disaster as the Palestinians call it, there have been many opportunities to move towards peace and equality between Palestine and Israel. After the 1967 War, the Oslo Agreement and even the 7 October 2023 war. All of them have been rejected by Israel which is why life is unbearable in the West Bank now and there is genocide in Gaza. This book explores what went wrong again and again, and why. And how it could still be different. It is human nature to feel prejudice. But in this haunting meditation on Palestine and Israel, Shehadeh suggests that this does not mean the two nations cannot live together to their mutual benefit and co-existence. In graceful, devastatingly observed prose, this is a fresh reflection on the conflict in a time of great need.

Auteur

Raja Shehadeh is Palestine's leading writer. He is also a lawyer and the founder of the pioneering Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq. Shehadeh was a National Book Award finalist in 2023 and is the author of several acclaimed books published by Profile, including the Orwell Prize-winning Palestinian Walks. He lives in Ramallah.

Texte du rabat

A searing reflection on the failures of Israel to treat Palestine and Palestinians as equals, as partners on the road to peace instead of genocide.

Résumé
FROM THE ORWELL PRIZE-WINNER AND NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST 'Palestine's greatest prose writer' Observer 'A valuable read. As well as talking through the history, Shehadeh is reaching out to Israelis and searching for some kind of dialogue' Armando Iannucci When the state of Israel was formed in 1948, it precipitated the Nakba or 'disaster': the displacement of the Palestine nation, creating fracture-lines which continue to erupt in violent and tragic ways today. In the years that followed, while the Berlin Wall crumbled and South Africa abolished apartheid, the Israeli government rejected every opportunity for reconciliation with Palestine. But Raja Shehadeh, a human rights lawyer and Palestine's greatest living writer, suggests that this does not mean the two nations cannot work together as partners on the road to peace, not genocide. In graceful, devastatingly observed prose, this is a fresh perspective in a time of great need. 'Powerful' New Statesman 'A buoy in the sea of bleakness' Rachel Kushner, author of Creation Lake 'Shehadeh is a great inquiring spirit with a tone that is vivid, ironic, melancholy and wise' Colm Toibin, author of The Magician