20 books that will help you put Israel-Palestine conflict in perspective

2. In Search of Fatima by Ghada Karmi: Palestine-born Ghada Karmi’s memoir relates her childhood in Palestine, flight to Britain after the catastrophe, and coming of age in Golders Green, the north London Jewish suburb. In Search of Fatima reflects Karmi’s personal experiences of displacement and loss against a backdrop of the major political events which have shaped the conflict in the Middle East. Speaking for the millions of displaced people worldwide who have lived suspended between their old and new countries, fitting into neither, it is an intimate, nuanced exploration of the subtler privations of psychological displacement and loss of identity.

3. The Way to the Spring by Ben Ehrenreich: There have been several brave journalists across time who travelled to bleak or war-torn places on a mission to listen and understand the stories of people suffering from extremes of oppression and want: Katherine Boo, Ryszard Kapuściński, Ted Conover, and Philip Gourevitch. American writer Ben Ehrenreich lived in the West Bank for a few years, staying with Palestinian families in cities and villages. In The Way to the Spring, he tells their stories — surreal, heartbreaking realities of life under the Israeli occupation, told with empathy and grace.

4. On Palestine by Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappé: First published in 2015, this seminal book, co-authored by American thinker Noam Chomsky and Israeli historian and political activist Ilan Pappé, is an erudite and nuanced account of Palestine’s history. It is billed as an essential guide to understanding the shifting situation and is itself a sequel to their acclaimed book, Gaza in Crisis. They discuss the road ahead for Palestinians and how the international community can pressure Israel to end its human rights abuses against the people of Palestine.

5. Out of Place by Edward W. Said: In this poignant memoir, Edward Said, a renowned cultural critic, delves into the profound sense of displacement he felt in his cultural milieu and within his own family. A vocal advocate for the Palestinian cause, Said’s journey takes an intimate turn when he is diagnosed with leukemia in 1991. Faced with his mortality, he revisits his formative years in Palestine, Egypt, and Lebanon before his permanent relocation to the United States. It is a bittersweet story, chronicling his boyhood in a tranquil Lebanese summer town, his experiences in the cosmopolitan world of 1940s and 1950s Cairo, and the transformative events leading to Israel's statehood.  

6. A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz: This memoir portrays Oz's charged youth in newly established Israel in the 1940s, when the streets of Jerusalem were filled with poets, writers, scholars, and thinkers. Oz’s upbringing was shaped by literature; his uncle had an extensive library and his father had a deep love for books. He also captures the ambiance of the city, where young Palestinians aspired to write great poetry, and even cats were named after philosophers and composers. Yet, the shadow of the 1948 war looms large, with snipers and new emigrants who had survived the Holocaust. Amidst this backdrop, Oz comes of age as a writer, witnessing the disappearance of the bookish people who shaped his youth.

7. Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question, edited by Christopher Hitchens and Edward W Said: A collection of essays, it shows how the historical fate of the Palestinians has been justified by spurious academic attempts to dismiss their claim to a home within the boundaries of historical Palestine and even to deny their very existence. Beginning with a thorough exposé of the fraudulent assertions of Joan Peters concerning the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine prior to 1948, the book then turns to similar instances in Middle East research where the truth about the Palestinians has been systematically suppressed: from the bogus explanations of why so many Palestinians fled their homes in 1948, to today’s distorted propaganda about PLO terrorism.

8. Eighteen Days in October: The Yom Kippur War and How it Created the Modern Middle East by Uri Kaufman: It was released this month, which marks the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, a conflict that shaped the modern Middle East; the surprise attack by Egyptian and Syrian forces presented a mortal threat to the state of Israel. It was a trauma for Israel, a dangerous superpower showdown, and, following the oil embargo, a pivotal reordering of the global economic order. The Jewish State came shockingly close to defeat. Deeply researched, it details the failures in Israeli intelligence to heed the warning signs of Arab preparations for war — a shortcoming that has now found a grim echo five decades later.

9. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Michael B. Oren: A 2002 book by American-born Israeli historian and Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, it chronicles the events of the Six-Day War fought between Israel and its Arab neighbours. While it technically lasted only six days, the aftereffects of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War — also known as the Six-Day War — continue to ripple across the Middle East. Oren, who served as Israeli Ambassador to the US from 2009 to 2013, gives the definitive account of the Six-Day War and the ways it continues to shape Israeli-Palestinian relations.

10. The Israel–Palestine Conflict: Contested Histories (Contesting the Past) by Neil Caplan: Part of ‘Contesting the Past’ series, which presents “divergent, even starkly incompatible representations” of controversial histories, it provides non-specialist readers with an introduction and historical overview of the issues that have characterised and defined the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, offering a fresh attempt to break away from the polemical approaches that have undermined academic discussion and political debates. It encourages readers to consider more useful ways of explaining and understanding the conflict, and to go beyond trying to prove who is ‘right’ and ‘wrong,’ introducing them to the major historiographical debates sparked by the dispute. 

11. The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood by Rashid Khalidi: Rashid Khalidi, a prominent Palestinian-American historian, delves into the historical roots of the Palestinian struggle for statehood. Drawing upon his extensive knowledge of Middle Eastern history and politics, he provides readers with a rich and nuanced account of the Palestinian quest for self-determination in the face of numerous challenges. He explores how historical circumstances, geopolitical forces, and regional dynamics have confined and constrained the Palestinian people in their pursuit of statehood. Khalidi also shines light on the role of key actors, including Palestinian leaders, neighbouring Arab states, and the international community, in shaping the course of this ongoing conflict.

12. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé: Israeli historian Ilan Pappe’s groundbreaking book revisits the formation of the State of Israel. During the 1948 Palestine war, around 720,000 Palestinian Arabs out of the 900,000 who lived in the territories that became Israel fled or were expelled from their homes. The central thesis of the book revolves around the assertion that the establishment of Israel in 1948 involved a deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing by Zionist forces, resulting in the expulsion and displacement of Palestinian Arabs from their homes and land. Pappé draws upon extensive archival research and oral history interviews to support his argument, presenting evidence of planned and systematic actions by Zionist militias to depopulate Palestinian villages and towns.

13. My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel, Ari Shavit: This bestselling book, which was published in 2013, is a thorough examination of the profound meaning of Israel to Jews, married with the nation’s problematic reality. Written by journalist Ari Shavit, it is both rigorously researched and powerfully personal. A scion of the country’s Ashkenazi aristocracy, Shavit weaves family history into his narrative, lending it a compelling insider intimacy. As it examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition, it asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be?

14. Hamas: The Islamic Resistance Movement by Beverley Milton-Edwards and Stephen Farrell: Declared a terrorist menace yet elected to government in a free election, Hamas now stands as the most important Sunni Islamist group in the Middle East. How did Hamas grow to be so powerful? Who supports it? A deeply researched blend of academic thought and on-the-ground reporting, Milton-Edwards and Farrell’s exploration of the origins, structure and evolution of Hamas offers crucial insights into understanding the enduring rivalry between the Islamist group and the leftist, and often, secular nationalism of Fatah, Yassir Arafat’s political creation, that continues to shape Gaza today.

15. Enemies and Neighbours: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel 1917-2017 by Ian Black: A history of the Arab-Israeli conflict that has achieved the rare distinction of being acclaimed by both Israeli and Palestinian historians for its rigour and impartiality. Black, who spent over four decades studying and covering the Middle East, offers a major new history of the Arab-Zionist conflict, told from both sides. Setting the scene at the end of the 19th century, when the first Zionist settlers arrived in the Ottoman-ruled Holy Land, Black draws on a wide range of sources — from declassified documents to oral testimonies to his own vivid-on-the-ground reporting to illuminate the most polarising conflict of modern times. 

16. How Israel Lost: The Four Questions by Richard Ben Cramer: A definitive study of the once-triumphant country that has failed in the eyes of the world. Cramer gets to the core of what is troubling so many Westerners about Israel: the contradiction between its humanistic foundation and its harsh treatment of the Palestinians. Since Israel was founded, the West has seen it as a beacon of hope and democracy in a hostile world. Cramer describes how in the past 10 years Israelis seem to have squandered that respect and good will, focusing on the key players and crucial events that have turned the tide against Israel in the eyes of the international community.

17. Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide by Ben White: Since its release in 2009, it has become an essential primer for those getting to grips with the Palestine/Israel conflict for the first time. Ben White skilfully distills the work of academics and experts into a highly accessible introduction. Packed with vital information, quotations and resources, Israeli Apartheid never loses the human touch. The book is rooted in the author's extensive personal experience in Palestine and includes testimonies by Palestinians describing how Israeli apartheid affects their daily lives. It reveals the magnitude of the crimes committed against the Palestinians and the nature of their present suffering and oppression.

18. Palestine Hijacked: How Zionism Forged an Apartheid State from River to Sea by Thomas Suarez: The book interweaves secret intelligence reports, newly-declassified military and diplomatic correspondence, and the terrorists’ own records boasting of their successes. It details a litany of Zionist terrorism against anyone in their way — the indigenous Palestinians, the British who had helped establish Zionism, and Jews who opposed the Zionist agenda. The book argues that Israel's regime of Apartheid against the Palestinians and the continued expropriation of their country are not the result of complex historical circumstances, but the intended, singular goal of Zionism since its beginning.

19. The Gun and the Olive Branch: The Roots of Violence in the Middle East by David Hirst: An absorbing, albeit controversial, history of the Middle Eastern conflict that is indispensable to anyone with an interest in world politics and by partisans of both sides. This classic and controversial account of the origins of the Middle East conflict returns to print updated with a lengthy introduction that reflects on the course of recent Middle Eastern history, especially the abortive Israeli-Palestinian peace process and 9/11. Hirst, a former Middle East correspondent of The Guardian, traces the origins of the terrible conflict back to the 1880s to show how Arab violence, although often cruel and fanatical, is a response to the challenge of repeated aggression.

20. The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World by Avi Shlaim: In the 1920s, hard-line Zionists developed the doctrine of the 'Iron Wall': negotiations with the Arabs must always be from a position of military strength, and only when sufficiently strong Israel would be able to make peace with her Arab neighbours. In this penetrating study, which focuses on Israeli foreign policy, Shlaim examines how variations of the iron-wall philosophy have guided Israel's leaders; he finds that, white the strategy has been successful, opportunities have been lost to progress from military security to broader peace.