Biden Seen with Controversial Book on Israeli Colonialism
Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden was photographed Friday holding a controversial book at Nantucket Bookstore in Massachusetts. The book, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017, is written by Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian-American historian and Columbia University professor. The book criticizes Israel's establishment, describing it as an act of colonialism resisted by Palestinians.
Photographs of outgoing US President Joe Biden were taken Friday at Nantucket Bookstore in Massachusetts, clutching a contentious book. Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian-American historian and Columbia University professor, author of The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 The book attacks Israel's founding, seeing it as an act of colonialism Palestinians object against.
The picture attracted notice as Biden carried the book in hand out of the bookshop. Author Khalidi said that Biden's curiosity in the book "came four years late," pointing to his long-standing support of Israel during his presidency. Biden's government was distinguished by relentless support for Israel, particularly in light of continuous bloodshed in Gaza, where Israeli soldiers and Palestinian organizations engaged in intense conflict.
Six major historical events that Khalidi feels have shaped the Israeli-Palestinian conflict define his book. The events he underlines include the Balfour Declaration in 1917, the Nakba War in 1948, United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 in 1967, the Oslo Accords in 1993, Ariel Sharon's 2000 invasion of Jerusalem, and Israel's continuous siege of Gaza in the twenty-first century. These incidents, Khalidi contends, show the colonial character of the conflict and the part international powers play in keeping it going.
Khalidi's study focuses on the 1948 Nakba War, which he says caused Palestinians to be displaced and Israel to seize around 80% of Palestinian territory. Khalidi claims that this was a turning point in enhancing the colonial aspect of the Israeli rule. The incidents he portrays capture the long-standing fight Palestinians have against what he defines as a settler colonial agenda.
With historical insights on the ongoing Palestinian opposition to Israeli policies, the book offers a critical viewpoint on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The way Khalidi's work presents the conflict as a century-long struggle against colonialism with major ramifications for knowledge of the region's convoluted past has been much debated.
