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Culture | War in the Middle East

The Israel-Palestine conflict:

a reading list
Six books that shed light on a century of violence
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Oct 18th 2023 Share

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A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the
Creation of the Modern Middle East. By David Fromkin. Holt, Henry &
Company; 688 pages; $26

Tensions in the Middle East are a political inheritance of the

dissolution of the Ottoman empire after the first world war and
the piecemeal settlements of 1922. This landmark book, published
in 1989 and named as a finalist for the Pulitzer prize, provides a
sweeping account of the period between 1914 and 1922, ranging
from the Mediterranean to Afghanistan. It astutely traces the
Allies’ motivations for carving up the Arab world and shows why
the West’s imperial vision was doomed to fail.

Enemies and Neighbours: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel, 1917-
2017. By Ian Black. Atlantic Monthly Press; 608 pages; $30. Allen Lane; £25

When, exactly, the Israel-Palestine conflict began is hard to say.

Many consider November 2nd 1917 to be the starting-point: that is
the date of the Balfour Declaration, when the British government
vowed to use its “best endeavours” to create a “national home” for
the Jewish people in Palestine, a territory it would take from the
Ottomans. This balanced book, praised by Palestinian and Israeli
historians alike, offers a tour of the past century of conflict.

The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood. By
Rashid Khalidi. Beacon Press; 288 pages; $19.95. Oneworld Publications;
£34.99

An eminent Palestinian-American historian explains why

Palestinians failed to achieve an independent state. The book is
resonant with personal history and lays out the barriers that
obstructed Palestinians’ aspirations. It counts the poor decision-
making of certain Palestinian leaders among its explanations, too.

Hamas: The Islamic Resistance Movement. By Beverley Milton-Edwards

and Stephen Farrell. Wiley; 340 pages; $36.95. Polity Press; £24.99

The militant organisation that rules the Gaza Strip first emerged in
1987 during the first Palestinian intifada (“shaking off”, or
uprising). In its first charter Hamas styled itself as the “Islamic
Resistance Movement” and declared Israel illegitimate. In 2006
Hamas became the first Islamist movement to ascend to power in
the Middle East by winning an election. The authors interviewed
hundreds of people over three decades, including the group’s
leaders, fighters, opponents and victims. This book explains the
inception of the “largest, most influential and most deadly
Islamist organisation” and how it became entrenched in Gaza.

The Rise of the Israeli Right: From Odessa to Hebron. By Colin Shindler.
Cambridge University Press; 440 pages; $38.99 and £29.99

The right first came to power in Israel nearly five decades ago, but
its current government may be the most right-wing in the
country’s 75-year history. This richly detailed book analyses with
clarity and insight the political and philosophical ideas that drive
the right. The author, who is a professor at Cambridge, studies
important thinkers and figures such as Ze’ev Jabotinsky (the
founder of the Zionist Right) and Binyamin Netanyahu (Israel’s
prime minister).

It’s Easier to Reach Heaven than the End of the Street: A Jerusalem
Memoir. By Emma Williams. Olive Branch Press; 412 pages; $16. Bloomsbury;
£8.99

In 2000 the author, a British doctor, accompanied her husband, a

un official, and three small children to Israel. A month later the
second Palestinian intifada erupted. This moving memoir—which
spans three years—documents the events she witnessed. She gave
birth to a fourth child in a hospital in Bethlehem, which was
shelled by the Israeli army. A Palestinian suicide-bomber blew
himself up near her children’s school, with his head landing at the
foot of their teacher.

The Economist’s journalists ha e also ritten books about the

The Economist’s journalists have also written books about the
conflict. Anton La Guardia, our diplomatic editor, is the author of
“Holy Land, Unholy War: Israelis and Palestinians”. Nicolas
Pelham, a Middle East correspondent, wrote “Holy Lands: Reviving
Pluralism in the Middle East”; Gregg Carlstrom, also a Middle East
correspondent, wrote “How Long Will Israel Survive?: The Threat
From Within”. Anshel Pfeffer, our Israel correspondent, is the
author of “Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin
Netanyahu”. 7

For more on the latest books, films, tv shows, albums and

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This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline "Written in
blood"

Culture
October 21st 2023

→ How to cancel “cancel culture”

→ Where to look to find enlightenment

→ “Here We Are” and the question of what to do with unfinished art

→ The Israel-Palestine conflict: a reading list

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