Understanding Palestine & Israel - by Phyllis Bennis (Paperback)

About the Book

"All the questions you've been wondering about--up to and including Israel's war on Gaza and the election of Donald Trump. People across the US watched in horror as Israel responded to the terrible acts of October 7, 2023 with a brutal war against the people of Gaza. They poured into the streets demanding Ceasefire Now--and protested the US government financing, arming, and protecting Israel's war. A key question was when to start the clock--because none of those events actually began on October 7; all had their origins in events 17, or 58, or 77 years earlier. In straightforward, accessible language Phyllis Bennis takes on that question--and many more--providing answers to the queries so many never before had the chance to ask. What is the Balfour Declaration? What are the Occupied Territories? What is Zionism--and do all Jews support it? Does Israel have the right of self-defense? What were conditions like in Gaza before October 7?"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

All the questions you've been wondering about--up to and including Israel's war on Gaza and the election of Donald Trump.

People across the US watched in horror as Israel responded to the terrible acts of October 7, 2023 with a brutal war against the people of Gaza. They poured into the streets demanding Ceasefire Now--and protested the US government financing, arming, and protecting Israel's war. A key question was when to start the clock--because none of those events actually began on October 7; all had their origins in events 17, or 58, or 77 years earlier.

In straightforward, accessible language Phyllis Bennis takes on that question--and many more--providing answers to the queries so many never before had the chance to ask. What is the Balfour Declaration? What are the Occupied Territories? What is Zionism--and do all Jews support it? Does Israel have the right of self-defense? What were conditions like in Gaza before October 7?

Review Quotes

"For decades now, we have been able to count on Phyllis Bennis to refute arguments that we who are not 'experts, ' that we cannot possibly grasp the complexities of the Israel-Palestine 'conflict.' In this moment of unprecedented opposition to the Zionist project, Bennis' most recent book once again offers lucid exposition and compelling argumentation for the ever-increasing numbers of advocates for freedom and justice in Palestine."--Angela Y. Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, UC Santa Cruz

"This invaluable tour de force by Phyllis Bennis offers readers the most comprehensive, lucid, readable, and reliably informed and evidence-based guide available ... While objective in its use of data and interpretative commentary, the book is impressively clear about the distinction between oppressor and oppressed."--Richard Falk, Professor of International Law, Emeritus, Princeton University

"To interrogate the role of the Israeli government and its military, over many years, in creating a fertile soil for Palestinian anger.... Understanding Palestine and Israel, a new book by writer Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at DC's Institute for Policy Studies, might be a useful primer."--The Washington Post

"With stunning clarity and an unwavering commitment to speaking truth in an age of official lies, Phyllis Bennis tears back the curtain of government and corporate disinformation to reveal the truth of a one-hundred-year history of colonization, apartheid and genocide, and a growing global movement for justice in Palestine. This point-by-point examination brings together the historical, factual, legal, and moral basis for an informed understanding of one of the great historical (and ongoing) injustices of the past hundred years."--Craig Mokhiber, international human rights lawyer and activist and former senior United Nations official

About the Author

Phyllis Bennis is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, and Director of its New Internationalism Program. Her areas include U.S. unilateralism and empire, the Middle East (particularly Israel-Palestine and Iraq), and US-United Nations relations. She is the author of Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, Ending the Iraq War, Challenging Empire: How People, Governments and the UN Defy US Power, Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates Today's UN, and Before & After: U.S. Foreign Policy and the War on Terrorism. Bennis appears frequently as a commentator/analyst on U.S. and international television and radio programs, including "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS, the CBS "Morning Show," NPR's "Diane Rehm Show," and many others on CNN, BBC, Fox, CBC, and al-Jazeera TV. Her work has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Christian Science Monitor, Le Monde Diplomatique (Paris), TomPaine.com, New York Newsday, The Philadelphia Enquirer, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Nation, Mother Jones, and many other publications.