| Description |
xlii, 281 pages : maps, ; 23 cm |
| Contents |
Introduction: Writing Middle Eastern history in a time of historical amnesia -- 1. Arab society in Mandatory Palestine: comparing the incomparable? -- 2. The Palestinians and the British mandate -- 3. A failure of leadership -- 4. The revolt, 1948 and afterwards -- 5. Fateh, the PLO, and the PA: the Palestinian para-state -- 6. Stateless in Palestine -- Notes -- Index |
| Summary |
"At a time when a lasting peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis seems virtually unattainable, understanding the roots of their conflict is an essential step in restoring hope to the region. In The Iron Cage, Rashid Khalidi, one of the most respected historians and political observers of the Middle East, homes in on Palestinian politics and history. By drawing on a wealth of experience and scholarship, Khalidi provides a lucid context for the realities on the ground today, a context that has been, until now, notably lacking in our discourse."--BOOK JACKET |
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In The Iron Cage, renowned historian Rashid Khalidi, a leading expert on the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, brings vital perspective to Palestinian attempts to achieve independence and statehood. Bringing together the latest scholarship, Khalidi concentrates on the period of the British Mandate (1920-1948), describing the processes by which a newly arrived European Jewish minority overcame, with help from its imperial ally, the claims and rights of the native Arab majority. Khalidi shows Palestinians under the mandate facing comparatively severe systemic, institutional and constitutional obstacles to the development of any para-state structure- contrary to British promises of Arab independence and Article 4 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Meanwhile, the Jewish minority could count on a system biased in its favour to develop the structures that became those of the Israeli government in 1948 amid violent expulsion of over half the indigenous population. In bringing this narrative up to the present, Khalidi rigorously details the missteps of the Palestinians and their leadership |
| Notes |
Includes index |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Subject |
Fatḥ (Organization)
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Munaẓẓamat al-Taḥrīr al-Filasṭīnīyah.
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Arab-Israeli conflict.
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National liberation movements -- Palestine.
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Palestinian Arabs -- Politics and government -- 20th century.
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Palestinian National Authority.
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| ISBN |
9781851685325 |
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