In a timely reminder of how the past informs the present, Baruch Kimmerling and Joel Migdal offer an authoritative account of the history of the Palestinian people from their modern origins to the Oslo peace process and beyond.

Palestinians struggled to create themselves as a people from the first revolt of the Arabs in Palestine in 1834 through the British Mandate to the impact of Zionism and the founding of Israel. Their relationship with the Jewish people and the State of Israel has been fundamental in shaping that identity, and today Palestinians find themselves again at a critical juncture. In the 1990s cornerstones for peace were laid for eventual Palestinian-Israeli coexistence, including mutual acceptance, the renunciation of violence as a permanent strategy, and the establishment for the first time of Palestinian self-government. But the dawn of the twenty-first century saw a reversion to unmitigated hatred and mutual demonization. By mid-2002 the brutal violence of the Intifada had crippled Palestine's fledgling political institutions and threatened the fragile social cohesion painstakingly constructed after 1967. Kimmerling and Migdal unravel what went right--and what went wrong--in the Oslo peace process, and what lessons we can draw about the forces that help to shape a people. The authors present a balanced, insightful, and sobering look at the realities of creating peace in the Middle East.

This remarkable book recounts how the Palestinians came to be constituted as a people. The authors offer perceptive observations on the status of Palestinian citizens of Israel, the successes and failures of the Oslo process, and the prospects for both Palestinians and Israelis of achieving a peaceful future together. A dispassionate and balanced analysis that provides essential background for understanding the complexities of the Middle East. -- Rashid Khalidi, University of Chicago

About the Author
Baruch Kimmerling was George S. Wise Professor of Sociology at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto. Joel S. Migdal is Robert F. Philip Professor of International Studies, University of Washington.

Reviews
This remarkable book recounts how the Palestinians came to be constituted as a people. The authors offer perceptive observations on the status of Palestinian citizens of Israel, the successes and failures of the Oslo process, and the prospects for both Palestinians and Israelis of achieving a peaceful future together. A dispassionate and balanced analysis that provides essential background for understanding the complexities of the Middle East. -- Rashid Khalidi, University of Chicago
A fine general history of the Palestinians now usefully updated with a history of the decade after Oslo. -- L. Carl Brown * Foreign Affairs *
This new history updates [Baruch Kimmerling's and Joel S. Midgdal's] 1993 book, Palestinians: The Making of a People, with two new analyses, one judging the effect of the Oslo peace talks and another focusing on the difficult situation of the Palestinians in Israel In their preface, the authors immediate reject both the common claim by Palestinians that their history as a "singular people" reaches back to ancient times and the Israeli denial of any such entity before it was created by Zionist successes. Instead a "self-identified Palestinian people" evolved only in the last two centuries, as a result of European economic and political pressures and of Jewish settlement An excellent chronology and full notes enhance a book that deserves the widest possible readership. -- Frank Day * Magill's Literary Annual *



Book Information
ISBN 9780674011298
Author Baruch Kimmerling
Format Paperback
Page Count 608
Imprint Harvard University Press
Publisher Harvard University Press
Weight(grams) 812g