The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories

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Description

In this comprehensive survey of the Israeli occupation of Palestine, renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappe exposes the history of one of the world's most prolonged and tragic conflicts. Locating the occupation within a wider historical context that stretches back to 1948, Pappe dismisses the conventional view that the 1967 war emerged out of the blue, 'forcing' Israel to occupy the contentious territories. Using recently declassified archival material, Pappe analyzes the establishment of legal and security infrastructures that were put in place to control the population, revealing harsh oppression that was never advertised in international headlines, and which passed without any substantial Palestinian resistance for the first twenty years of its existence. Then turning to the years that have passed since the resistance began in 1987, Pappe offers hopeful visions of a future of reconciliation and peace. From daily life under occupation to analyzing political positions and abortive peace attempts in the present day, this book seeks to redress the harm done by the occupation, reversing the trend of Israel's silencing any attempt to oppose it from within.

Reviews

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

[Pappe] boldly and persuasively argues for understanding the occupied territories as the worlds largest ever mega-prison... Pappes conclusions wont be welcome in all quarters but this detailed history is rigorously supported by primary sources.

A diagnostic survey of Israel's long-planned occupation of the Palestinian's land... A grim, hard-hitting look at the nuts and bolts of Israeli occupation.

Will undoubtedly raise a lot of hackles in his home state.

What is new in The Biggest Prison on Earth is Pappe's detailed accounting of exactly what the Israeli planners were contemplating in 1963; namely, "the largest ever mega-prison for a million and a half people."

Pappe's book is critical for understanding the present situation and looking forward to possible solutions.

Author Bio

Ilan Pappe is a senior lecturer in Policital Science at Haifa University. He is Chair of the Emil Touma Institute for Palestinian Studies, Haifa. He is also author of the bestselling The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (Oneworld), A History of Modern Palestine (Cambridge), and The Israel/Palestine Question (Routledge).