What Does Israel Fear from Palestine

(Paperback, Main)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Since the formation of the state of Israel in 1948, the Nakba (or 'disaster' as the Palestinians call it), there have been many opportunities to move towards peace and equality between Palestine and Israel - after the Six-Day War in 1967, the Oslo Agreement and even the 7 October 2023 War. Each opportunity has been rejected by Israel, which is why life is unbearable in the West Bank now and there is genocide in Gaza. This book explores what went wrong again and again, and why. And how it could still be different.

It is human nature to feel prejudice. But in this haunting meditation on Palestine and Israel, Shehadeh suggests that this does not mean the two nations cannot live together to their mutual benefit and co-existence.

In graceful, devastatingly observed prose, this is a fresh reflection on the conflict in a time of great need.

Reviews

'In his moral clarity and baring of the heart, his self-questioning and insistence on focusing on the experience of the individual within the storms of nationalist myth and hubris, Shehadeh recalls writers such as Ghassan Kanafani and Primo Levi' - New York Times

'Luminously clear-sighted ... By turns lyrical, witty and shrewd, Shehadeh is an excellent companion' - Prospect

'Shehadeh is a great inquiring spirit with a tone that is vivid, ironic, melancholy and wise' - Colm Toibin

'A buoy in a sea of bleakness' - Rachel Kushner

'[Shehadeh is] Palestine's greatest prose writer' - Observer

Author Bio

Raja Shehadeh is Palestine's leading writer. He is also a lawyer and the founder of the pioneering Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq. Shehadeh is the author of several acclaimed books published by Profile, including the Orwell Prize-winning Palestinian Walks.