Palestine:Books and Book Reviews
Books about Palestine
Following is a continously refined ans revised list of books and links to
books about Palestine. We hope to offer a wide collection but would like
your comments. Also, if you know of a good book and want to send a
10-line review (in addition to book title, author, publisher ans ISBN
number with physical description if possible), please don't hesitate to
do that with advance thanks. We are looking for books about all topics:
history, geography, culture and heritage, politics, literature ... you name
it.
Books and Reviews on this server:
- All That Remains:
[ ISBN 0-88728-224-5, Ed Walid Khalidi, Hard cover, published
by the Institute of Palestine Stdies]
All that remains chronicles the destiny of some 420 Palestinian villages
and towns that were cleansed
and totally destroyed in most cases during the occupation of Palestine in
1948. The book is the best
available resource about part of the Palestinian history that is being
swept under the rug. Destroyed
villages have been replaced with Israeli settlements. The book lists
villages, towns and Hamlets
according to province with location, some pre-occupation info, an account
of what happened to the
village and what remains out of it today. A must read for those
interested. It also has a diverse and
extensive bibliography at the end with a chronology of events since
ancient times and more stats about
settlements, land confiscations and more. Has Arabic names of villages
and many b/w pictures from
before and afer cleansing.
- Bitter Harvest (Palestine between 1914 - 1967):
[Sami Hadawi, The New World Press, NY, 1967, no ISBN]
This book covers, as the title specifies, modern history and politics.
It offers a brief historical
background with excerpts from some documents, a refutation of religious
claims, an overview of
Zionism and a detailed account since the British mandate in Palestine
until occupation. Then it moves
into description of UN resoluion(s) of the problem, Palestinians under
Israeli rule and the massive refugees problem It also talks about US
assistence and sponsorship of occupation morally, politically,
financially and militarily. The it discusses the impact of occupation on
the Arab world concluded by
a personal opinion from an affected victim. The book also has
illustrative maps and numerous references from all aspects of the conflict.
- Population, Settlement and Conflict: Israel and the West Bank:
[ISBN 0 521 40804 0, David Newman, Cambridge Univ Press, 1991]
A book in a series aimed at A-Level (British system) and undergraduates
in geography. David
Newman is in the dept of geography at Ben Gurion University (Israeli) and
the book concentrates on
some the points of conflict. The value of this book is that it offers
insights from a non-Palestinian
point of view with maps and stats of the pre- and post-occupation
demographic developments,
different Israeli policies to change the balance with maps and official
stats. The book is only 64 pages
but has an extensive, diverse, bibliography at the end.
- The Question of Palestine:
[Edward Said, First Vintage Books, 1979, ISBN 0-394-74527-2]
Most of you know Prof Edward Said, so probably the book needs no review.
Here are quotes from
old reviews: " Said logically and eloquently argues the plight of the 4
million (as of 1979!) scattered
Muslim and Christian Arabs known as Palestinians who have been
disenfranchised and deprived of their homeland, which is currently under
Israeli control." [C. Lehmann-Haupt, NYT]. Anthony Lewis
calls the book "A compelling call for identity and justice." The book was
written after the Camp David treaty, which like Oslo, ignored the basic
problems. The book discusses both history and
politics. It starts with an intro to Palestine and the Palestinians,
Palestine and the liberal West, the
issue of representation and Palestinian rights. It then moves to discuss
zionism from the standpoint
of its victims, and moves on to the issue of self determination and
finally discusses the post-Camp David era with bibliography and other
references.
- Peace and its Discontents: (Book details and quick review
(from cover) by Anne Alhadef Caron, with thanks and hope to see full
review)
[ISBN 0 679 76725 8, Prof Edward Said, Vintage, 1996,
$12.00]
Ever since Arafat and Rabin shook hands on the White House lawn,
Israel and the Palestinian people have been engaged in what commentators
persist in
calling "the peace process." Yet Israel remains racked by violence and
continuing
land seizures, and Palestinians are more demoralized than ever before.
Now in this probing and impassioned book, one of our foremost
Palestinian-
American intellectuals explains why the much-vaunted process has yet to
produce
peace - and is unlikely to as presently constituted.
- Politics of Dispossession: The Struggle for Palestinian
Self-determination: (Book details and quick review (from cover)
by Anne Alhadef Caron, with thanks and hope to see full review)
[ ISBN 0 679 76145 4, Prof Edward Said, Vintage, 1995, $15.00 ]
In Politic of Dispossession Said traces his people's stuggle for
statehood
through 25 years of exile, from the PLO's bloody 1970 exile from Jordan
through
the debacle fo the Gulf War and the ambiguous '91 peace accord with
Israel. As
frank as he is about his personal involvement in that struggle, Said is
equally
usparing in his demolition of Arab icons and American shibboleths.
-
[Arabic] Mu'jam Buldaan
FilasTiin (Palestinian Towns and Villages - Desk Reference):
[Mu'jam Buldaan FilasTiin was published by Dar al-Ma'muun lit-turaath
(Beirut and DimashQ) and is also distributed by dar an-Nawras in RafaH
(Gaza). ]
Compliled by Muhammad Shurraab from Khan Yuunus (Gazza) This is not as
comprehensive as Bilaadunaa FilasTiin by Mustafaa Ad-Dabbagh or
al-Mawsuu'ah al-FilasTiiniyyah. It actually relies on these two
references in many cases, but it is concise and affordable.
In just over 750 pages, the book starts with a chronology of Palestinian
history then moves to outlining the history briefly (origin of the name,
people, historical events with some emphasis on al-Quds), then it moves
to highlights of Palestinian geography and ends the first part by
listing the districts and counties during the Turkish time and British
mandate (with names of thge 65 or so villages that were destroyed by the
British). The basic part of the book is alphabetical listing of each and
every town, city, village or Hamlet with some basic info (in most
cases). It, of course, talks about the destroyed villages since 1948.
The book ends with tables listing detroyed villages and settlements
built on their ruins as well as settlement activity up to 1982.
In some cases, there is little information about the village/town but
overall, the book is a good portable reference.
- more ....
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