Ilan Pappe commands immense respect for his body of work including The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006) and Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic (2024). In reaching out to a larger audience, he also provides a concise primer - A Very Short History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict (2024). The main text sits at just 144 pages, which avoids information overload but provides the necessary context. A synoptic review is as follows.
Antisemitic Zionism and Settler Colonialism
Pappe writes that the origins of Zionism can be traced back to Christian evangelicals in the 16th century and antisemites, who wanted to “speed up” the Second Coming of Christ or saw Palestine as a “dumping ground for Jews” (p. 5). However, Zionism was not initially popular amongst Jews who either supported socialism to overthrow capitalism and end the oppression of Jews, or liberalism by becoming model citizens with equal rights in democratic states (pp. 6-7). The Holocaust and its aftermath when European countries failed to accept concentration camp survivors instigated widespread support for Zionism (p. 7). Thus, according to Pappe, the roots of Zionism lie in European antisemitism.
He notes that whereas Orthodox Jews viewed the Old Testament as a “religious and moral tract”, secular Jews viewed it as a “historical document” (p. 8). Pappe also notes that under the Ottomans ownership of land came with the tenants, but the Zionists disregarded Ottoman custom and demanded the right to evict Palestinian villagers under the British mandate (p. 9). Thus, Zionism became a “settler colonial project” in the mid 1920s, which is generally based on the dehumanization of the natives as “savages” or “primitive” (pp. 24, 26, 28).
Erasure of Identity and Ethnic Cleansing
Pappe writes that Palestinians didn’t want their country to be handed over through “diplomatic agreements they had no say in” (p. 17). He writes that while Golda Meir said, “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people”, there was a robust Palestinian civil society with political organizations, youth clubs and Arab newspapers” including the newspaper Falastin launched in 1911 (pp. 17-18). Pappe notes that in the early to mid 1930s, the Palestinians tried to change British policy through “petitions, demonstrations and conferences in London” but to no avail, as they had no equivalent to the Zionist lobby in the U.K. and the U.S. (pp. 36, 40). They believed that the U.N. would support them and put their trust in securing international legitimacy, but the UN awarded 56% of the land to the Zionists (pp. 50-51, 53).
Pappe writes that whilst the British left Jews to build their proto-state, Palestinians were treated as colonial subjects (p. 21). Zionist paramilitary groups, the Haganah, Irgun, and Stern Gang had served in the British army and had ten times as many members as the Palestinian rag tag side (p. 58). There was no level playing field for while the British “tacitly tolerated” Zionist paramilitary forces, the Palestinians could not arm or organize themselves on a parallel scale (pp. 22, 139-140). Thus, the Irgun and Stern Gang attacked Arab villages and murdered residents, sparing not even women and children (pp. 57, 63). However, no one condemned them for “crimes against humanity”, which allowed Israel to perpetuate ethnic cleansing incrementally by targeting Palestinian neighbourhoods piecewise until the Palestinians are destroyed through “death or departure” (pp. 71, 72, 131).
A Very Rotten System and Peace Process
Pappe’s work shows that the oppression of the Palestinians is not just a far-right phenomenon. He notes that the Israeli labour government spearheaded “Judaization” by confiscating Arab lands and building Jewish settlements, Arab Jews form a significant bloc for right-wing Israeli parties and vociferously support violence against Palestinians, the Israeli Supreme Court upheld discriminatory laws against Palestinians, and secular Israelis have been more concerned about LGBTQ issues than the oppression of Palestinians (pp. 80-81, 93, 132). Thus, Pappe states that there is no real Left in Israel (p. 133).
Pappe notes that Israel went along with the “peace process” as long as it did not have to cede control of the West Bank and Gaza (pp. 89-90). This process was based on getting the best offer from the stronger party (Israel) and pressuring the weaker party (Palestine) to accept it (p. 108). Pappe emphasizes that the US and its European allies have been “dishonest brokers” that turned the peace process into a “shield that allowed Israel to continue the occupation and colonization” (p. 141). Thus, the outcome was no real Palestinian state, no change in the status of Jerusalem, and no solution to the refugee problem (p. 119).
Weaponized Victimhood and Both-Sideism
Pappe argues that Israel positively viewed Hamas as a “useful counterbalance” to weaken the Palestinian resistance and adds that the October 7 Hamas fighters were “largely young people who learned the language of violence from the bombs that Israel dropped on them” (pp. 110-111, 126-127, 138). He highlights the frequent weaponization of antisemitism so that even stating that Palestinians have been living under occupation “suffices for a witch hunt” (pp. 135-136). Moreover, he emphasizes that colonization cannot be justified based on “tenuous connections” with ancient religious texts (p. 139). Finally, he rejects both-sideism by stating that there is “no point in talking about peace, as if both sides are equally at fault” and adds that nothing unites the secular and religious Israelis more than the hatred of Arabs and Palestinians (pp. 142, 143-144). In essence, he provides a courageous voice against settler colonialism, erasure of identity, weaponized victimhood, occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.