Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians » (Original)

Noam Chomsky is widely regarded to be one of the foremost critics of US foreign policy in the world. He has published numerous groundbreaking books, articles, and essays on global politics, history, and linguistics. Among his recent books are the bestsellers Hegemony or Survival, recommended by Hugo Chavez in the United Nations, and Failed States. He is Institute Professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ilan Pappe´is professor of history at the University of Exeter in the UK, where he is also co-director of the Exeter Center for Ethno-Political Studies, and director of the Palestine Studies Centre. He is author of the bestselling The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (Oneworld), A History of Modern Palestine (Cambridge), The Israel/Palestine Question (Routledge), and is a long time political activist.

In the wake of Israel's barbaric “Operation Cast Lead,” Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe put the recent campaign against Gaza into context.

Publishers Weekly

Although much of the material collected here precedes Israel's recent military attack on a Gaza-bound international flotilla of embargo-breaking humanitarian aid, this succinct and eye-opening collection of recent interviews and essays from the renowned linguist and activist Chomsky (Hopes and Prospects) and prominent Israeli historian Pappé (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine) gives essential context to the crisis. The reader will find Chomsky's consistent positions on everything from the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the issue of a one- versus two-state settlement. Pappé adds vital and unexpected historical background, including a chapter on the deep American evangelical roots in the support of Zionism and the birth of modern Arab nationalism in Palestine. Pappé and Chomsky are not perfectly in synch on every point: Chomsky remains skeptical of an academic boycott of Israel, for instance, called for in the past by Pappé and others. But the fundamentals of the crisis--and its scale in humanitarian, moral and political terms--are clear, as well as clearly expressed, between them. This sober and unflinching analysis should be read and reckoned with by anyone concerned with practicable change in the long-suffering region. (Nov.)

Introduction Frank Barat 1

1 The Fate of Palestine: An Interview Noam Chomsky 5

2 Clusters of History: U.S. Involvement in the Palestine Question Ilan Pappé 19

3 State of Denial: The Nakbah in Israeli History and Today Ilan Pappé 57

4 "Exterminate all the Brutes": Gaza 2009 Noam Chomsky 79

5 Blueprint for a One-State Movement: A Troubled History Ilan Pappé 125

6 The Ghettoization of Palestine: A Dialogue Ilan Pappé Noam Chomsky 145

7 The Killing Fields of Gaza 2004-2009 Ilan Pappé 171

8 A Middle East Peace That Could Happen (But Won't) Noam Chomsky 195

Acknowledgments 211

A Note on the Text 213

Notes 215

Index 235