* Rashid Khalidi - Palestinian Identity and the Struggle for Statehood (7 books)

RASHID KHALIDI (b. 1948) is a Palestinian-American historian of the Middle East and the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University.  He is one of the most pre-eminent commentators within the field of Middle Eastern studies.  He served as editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies from 2002 until 2020, when he became co-editor, and was an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 until June 1993.

Much of Khalidi's scholarly work in the 1990s focused on the historical construction of nationalism in the Arab world.  His most influential and widely cited book, PALESTINIAN IDENTITY: THE CONSTRUCTION OF MODERN NATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS (1997), argues that Arabs living in Palestine began to regard themselves as a distinct people decades before 1948, "and that the struggle against Zionism does not by itself sufficiently explain Palestinian nationalism".  Khalidi also describes the late development, failings and internal divisions within the various elements of the Palestinian nationalist movement.  The book won the Middle East Studies Association's top honor, the Albert Hourani Book Award as best book of 1997.

In RESURRECTING EMPIRE: WESTERN FOOTPRINTS AND AMERICA'S PERILOUS PATH IN THE MIDDLE EAST (2004), Khalidi takes readers on a historical tour of Western involvement in the Middle East, and argues that these interactions continue to have a colonialist nature that is both morally unacceptable and likely to backfire.  SOWING CRISIS: THE COLD WAR AND AMERICAN DOMINANCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST (2009) places the U.S. approach to the Middle East in historical context, arguing that Cold War policies "formulated to oppose the Soviets, consistently undermined democracy and exacerbated tensions in the Middle East".  He adds, "The Cold War was over, but its tragic sequels, its toxic debris, and its unexploded mines continued to cause great harm, in ways largely unrecognized in American discourse."

In 2006, Khalidi published THE IRON CAGE: THE STORY OF THE PALESTINIAN STRUGGLE FOR STATEHOOD which critically examines the Palestinian struggle for statehood during the British Mandate.  It highlights both the failures of Palestinian leadership and British and Zionist roles in hindering statehood for Palestine.

His most recent book, THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR ON PALESTINE (2020), draws upon a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members – mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists – to upend accepted interpretations of the conflict and offer an illuminating new view of a war that continues so tragically to this day.


The following books are in ePub and/or PDF format as indicated:

* Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. has Undermined Peace in the Middle East (Beacon, 2013) – ePub + PDF

* Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National Consciousness (Columbia, 2010) – ePub

* Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle East (Beacon, 2005) – ePub + PDF

* Sowing Crisis: The Cold War and American Dominance in the Middle East (Beacon, 2009) – PDF

* The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 (Metropolitan, 2020) – ePub

* The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood (Beacon, 2007) – ePub + PDF

* Under Siege: PLO Decisionmaking During the 1982 War (Columbia, 2014) – ePub + PDF


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