Join Middle East Peace Now and the East Side Freedom Library for an online conversation with Dr. Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University, discussing his new book and current events in an interview with Peter Rachleff, Professor Emeritus in the Macalester College History Department and co-executive director/co-founder of the East Side Freedom Library. Dr. Khalidi will also answer questions from the audience.

This event will be live on Zoom and Facebook, and a recording will be available on the ESFL’s YouTube channel. We encourage you to attend via Zoom, as that is where moderators will be collecting audience questions.

Registration is available here.

Please contact [email protected] or [email protected] with any questions.

Dr. Rashid Khalidi, a prominent historian of the Middle East, is the author of seven books about the region, among them the award-winning ‘Palestinian Identity,’ ‘Brokers of Deceit,’ and ‘The Iron Cage.’ He is the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University in New York and co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies.

His new book, ‘The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-201,’ is the first general account of the Palestinians’ century-long struggle told from an explicitly Palestinian perspective. Dr. Khalidi draws on archival materials and the reports of generations of family members—judges, scholars, diplomats, and writers, including himself—who were present at key events in the struggle for the land of Palestine that has lasted more than a century.

Accepted interpretations of the Palestine/Israel conflict often describe the struggle as a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same land. Dr. Khalidi demonstrates that the war has always been colonial in nature, a war waged against the native population first by the Zionist movement and then by Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States. He highlights crucial episodes in this long colonial campaign, from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to the destruction of Palestine in 1948, from the war of 1967 to Israel’s recent assaults on Gaza. This background is essential for a true understanding of the struggle for Palestine today, as the Israeli government talks of expanding territorial annexations and Israel faces the choice of apartheid or a single, bi-national state with equal rights for all.

‘The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine’ is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. In this important and original history, Khalidi points to the resistance of Palestinians in the face of the heaviest of odds and offers an illuminating new view of an ongoing conflict—one that has reached a new defining moment.

The ‘Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017’ is available at the following local bookstores: Subtext Books, Red Balloon, Storied Owl, Next Chapter, May Day Books, Moon Palace Books, and more!

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