Intifada: Palestine at the Crossroads

(Hardback)

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This edited volume presents a historical background of the occupation and its nature and ramifications to Palestinian nationalism. Its coverage also embraces the catalysts for and the revolutionary transformation of the Palestinian uprising and it includes an interim assessment of the achievement and failures of the Intifada. By relying on first-hand original Arabic and Hebrew sources, the book provides a comprehensive survey and analysis of the Palestinian uprising. This book's perspective is unusual in that many of its contributors have been actual participants in the uprising as well as its professional observers. Part 1 presents the setting and conditions that gave rise to the uprising, with an analysis of the nature of the occupation, a presentation of the colonial economic policies imposed by the Israelis and the development of the Palestinian political consciousness, and an analysis of the infrastructure of the resistance. Part 11 looks at the participants of the uprising from several different perspectives: refugee camps, villages, the role of women, the working class, petite bourgeoisie, religion, revolution, and the PLO. Part 111 examines the Intifada's implications on the Arab world, the United States, and the European community. Part 1V examines the impact on the protagonists, Israel and the Palestinians. The conclusion takes a look at prospects for the future. This book should interest students and scholars of Middle East/Israeli-Arab relations.

Reviews

An unusually well-informed collection of 19 essays on the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, which has been underway since December 1987. The contributors know their subject and in composite they provide a clear, pithy (and sympathetic) picture of the economic, political, and social underpinnings of the uprising. Although the perspective is generally inside looking outward, there are several good chapters on the international aspects of the intifada. . . . A useful seven-page chronology of the intifada through March 1989 is provided as well as a good index and a brief selective bibliography. Highly recommended for academic libraries.-Choice
Of all the recent works on the intifada this is, perhaps, the most comprehensive. Its most distinguishing factor is that the majority of the contributors live in the occupied territories and thus are not only witnesses to the intifada, but also participants. The editors have selected articles that not only stand on their own merit, but in their complementary nature present the most comprehensive and well rounded account of the intifada to date. Obviously, it is unavoidable in such a bold venture to have some repetitions. Yet, these may be taken as proof of the homogeneity of the contributors, mirroring Palestinian national unity.-Middle East International
The theme is the struggle for Palestinian national liberation from colonial' rule, of which the uprising since December 1987 is seen as the latest and most powerful phase. Most of the contributors are professionals in the occupied territories (in sociology, economics, political science, public health, etc.), and they write as scholars and firsthand observers as well as supporters of the intifada. There is much interesting material on the respective roles of villagers, urban workers, the merchant class and Palestinian women, as well as on the competing secular and Islamic wings of the nationalist movement.-Foreign Affairs
"An unusually well-informed collection of 19 essays on the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, which has been underway since December 1987. The contributors know their subject and in composite they provide a clear, pithy (and sympathetic) picture of the economic, political, and social underpinnings of the uprising. Although the perspective is generally inside looking outward, there are several good chapters on the international aspects of the intifada. . . . A useful seven-page chronology of the intifada through March 1989 is provided as well as a good index and a brief selective bibliography. Highly recommended for academic libraries."-Choice
"The theme is the struggle for Palestinian national liberation from colonial' rule, of which the uprising since December 1987 is seen as the latest and most powerful phase. Most of the contributors are professionals in the occupied territories (in sociology, economics, political science, public health, etc.), and they write as scholars and firsthand observers as well as supporters of the intifada. There is much interesting material on the respective roles of villagers, urban workers, the merchant class and Palestinian women, as well as on the competing secular and Islamic wings of the nationalist movement."-Foreign Affairs
"Of all the recent works on the intifada this is, perhaps, the most comprehensive. Its most distinguishing factor is that the majority of the contributors live in the occupied territories and thus are not only witnesses to the intifada, but also participants. The editors have selected articles that not only stand on their own merit, but in their complementary nature present the most comprehensive and well rounded account of the intifada to date. Obviously, it is unavoidable in such a bold venture to have some repetitions. Yet, these may be taken as proof of the homogeneity of the contributors, mirroring Palestinian national unity."-Middle East International

Author Bio

JAMAL R. NASSAR is Associate Professor of Political Science at Illinois State University. He was Senior Fulbright Scholar at Bir Zeit University on the West Bank. ROGER HEACOCK is Assistant Professor of History at Bir Zeit University. He has taught and published in the field of Modern European and International History.