Jan 7, 2022
Interviewer: MATTHEW BERKMAN. The story of Palestine, as much as its territory, has been subsumed by Israel, its recent history typically told as a chronicle of the Jewish state’s establishment, development, and defense. In his new book, The Hundred Years’ War: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017, acclaimed historian RASHID KHALIDI refocuses the narrative on the Palestinian experience. In his discussion with political scientist Matthew Berkman, Khalidi describes how this book is different from his previous work: while rigorously documented, it is also highly personal, as he draws upon his own family’s history of dispossession and survival. While he has little patience for the many pretexts, from across the political spectrum, for denying Palestinians their full rights, he argues that mutual accommodation is necessary to move forward from the last hundred years of colonial expansion and violent conflict.