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Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine


Synopsis


Renowned Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe's groundbreaking work on the formation of the State of Israel.

'Along with the late Edward Said, Ilan Pappe is the most eloquent writer of Palestinian history.' NEW STATESMAN

Between 1947 and 1949, over 400 Palestinian villages were deliberately destroyed, civilians were massacred and around a million men, women, and children were expelled from their homes at gunpoint.

Denied for almost six decades, had it happened today it could only have been called 'ethnic cleansing'. Decisively debunking the myth that the Palestinian population left of their own accord in the course of this war, Ilan Pappe offers impressive archival evidence to demonstrate that, from its very inception, a central plank in Israel's founding ideology was the forcible removal of the indigenous population. Indispensable for anyone interested in the current crisis in the Middle East.

***

'Ilan Pappe is Israel's bravest, most principled, most incisive historian.' JOHN PILGER

'Pappe has opened up an important new line of inquiry into the vast and fateful subject of the Palestinian refugees. His book is rewarding in other ways. It has at times an elegiac, even sentimental, character, recalling the lost, obliterated life of the Palestinian Arabs and imagining or regretting what Pappe believes could have been a better land of Palestine.' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

'A major intervention in an argument that will, and must, continue. There's no hope of lasting Middle East peace while the ghosts of 1948 still walk.' INDEPENDENT

Ilan Pappé

Summary

Chapter 1: Historical Background

* Historical overview of Palestine from its earliest inhabitants to the Ottoman Empire.
* Timeline of key events leading up to the British Mandate and the Balfour Declaration.

Chapter 2: The British Mandate

* Objectives and provisions of the British Mandate for Palestine.
* British policy of promoting Jewish immigration and land purchases.
* Rise of Arab resentment against British and Jewish policies.

Chapter 3: The 1948 War and Ethnic Cleansing

* Outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and its impact on Palestine.
* Systematic expulsion and violence directed against the Arab population.
* Case study: The massacre of Deir Yassin.

Chapter 4: The Nakba and Its Legacy

* Meaning and significance of the Nakba (catastrophe) for Palestinians.
* Dispossession of Palestinians from their homes and land.
* Creation of the Palestinian refugee crisis.

Chapter 5: The State of Israel and Palestinian Refugees

* Establishment of the State of Israel and its refusal to allow refugees to return.
* Israeli policies of discrimination and denial of Palestinian rights.
* Ongoing struggle of Palestinian refugees for justice and repatriation.

Chapter 6: International Law and Ethnic Cleansing

* Definition of ethnic cleansing under international law.
* Evidence of ethnic cleansing committed in Palestine based on established criteria.
* Legal obligations of the international community to address ethnic cleansing.

Chapter 7: The Responsibility to Protect

* Concept of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and its relevance to the Palestinian case.
* Failure of the international community to intervene to prevent ethnic cleansing in Palestine.
* Call for renewed efforts to ensure protection of Palestinian civilians.

Chapter 8: Reconciliation and Reparations

* Historical and present-day obstacles to reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis.
* Importance of acknowledging and addressing the wrongs committed during ethnic cleansing.
* Calls for reparations and redress for Palestinian victims.