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wollstonecrafty's review against another edition
"The Palestinian people – which has had its society destroyed by a movement claiming to achieve national liberation, paradoxically, in the form of settler colonialism – wishes no negative form of self-determination or liberation for itself. Its bitter national experience has bred in it a respect for civil and human rights abrogated by others. The Palestinian vision therefore is predicated upon democracy and justice, upon dignity and community. It is neither about conquest nor about a narrowly defined ethnic nationalism. This is why the question of Palestine has found supporters everywhere among the oppressed people of the world, those with a colonial past and those who oppose colonial injustice today, as well as those in the West who are courageous espousers of truth, justice and human freedom." Said, et al.
"It is as if even the narrative of Palestinian history is not tolerable, and therefore must be told and re-told innumerable times [...] Thus you could be against preventive detention, collective punishment, colonialism, pre-emptive war, racist immigration laws, oppressive rental and housing laws everywhere in the world, but be for them in Israel. All this was justified as intimacy and solidarity with one’s community." Finkelstein
"It is as if even the narrative of Palestinian history is not tolerable, and therefore must be told and re-told innumerable times [...] Thus you could be against preventive detention, collective punishment, colonialism, pre-emptive war, racist immigration laws, oppressive rental and housing laws everywhere in the world, but be for them in Israel. All this was justified as intimacy and solidarity with one’s community." Finkelstein
pushingdessy's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
3.5
❌️ CEASEFIRE NOW ❌️
To further educate myself on Israel’s genocidal war on Palestine, I’m still going through some of the books I downloaded for free through the Verso Books website.
This is a collection of essays and editorials set out to disprove some of the lies fabricated through academic research and supported in the USA to uphold the myths of Israel, and it's split into four parts.
“Part one: The Peters affair” is devoted to contesting Joan Peters' book “From time immemorial”, which maintained that there isn’t such thing as a Palestinian or Palestinian history (!!).
“Part two: Myths old and new” presents findings on alleged broadcasts from Palestinian leaders that urged the people to leave, as well as how the notion of terrorism operates in the USAmerican ideological system and how it’s been weaponised against the Middle East.
“Part three: The ‘Liberal’ Alternative” is a review of Michael Walzer’s “Exodus and Revolution: A Canaanite reading”.
“Part four: Scholarship ancient and modern” offers a profile of Palestinian history and politics, including the role of peasant resistance, and the Zionist negation of the Palestinian Question.
While unquestionably valuable, this wasn’t an easy book to get through. Largely, it’s a conversation with other texts, and so it’s dense with references, facts and figures to challenge long-held lies. While I did learn some new information, this is more of a specialized book aimed at scholars than an intro to the subject - I would recommend “Ten myths about Israel” or “The punishment of Gaza” instead.
To further educate myself on Israel’s genocidal war on Palestine, I’m still going through some of the books I downloaded for free through the Verso Books website.
This is a collection of essays and editorials set out to disprove some of the lies fabricated through academic research and supported in the USA to uphold the myths of Israel, and it's split into four parts.
“Part one: The Peters affair” is devoted to contesting Joan Peters' book “From time immemorial”, which maintained that there isn’t such thing as a Palestinian or Palestinian history (!!).
“Part two: Myths old and new” presents findings on alleged broadcasts from Palestinian leaders that urged the people to leave, as well as how the notion of terrorism operates in the USAmerican ideological system and how it’s been weaponised against the Middle East.
“Part three: The ‘Liberal’ Alternative” is a review of Michael Walzer’s “Exodus and Revolution: A Canaanite reading”.
“Part four: Scholarship ancient and modern” offers a profile of Palestinian history and politics, including the role of peasant resistance, and the Zionist negation of the Palestinian Question.
While unquestionably valuable, this wasn’t an easy book to get through. Largely, it’s a conversation with other texts, and so it’s dense with references, facts and figures to challenge long-held lies. While I did learn some new information, this is more of a specialized book aimed at scholars than an intro to the subject - I would recommend “Ten myths about Israel” or “The punishment of Gaza” instead.
sunshinecapturer's review against another edition
interesting and packed with information; I will come back and finish it one day! When I have a physical book instead of an ebook
blackberryjambaby's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
lukes_ramblingwritings66's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Blaming the Victims is a dense read. Each essay, written by different authors, gives us a glimpse into the lives and histories of the Palestinians under the occupation. I have found this book an invaluable resource for the contextual history of the displacement of the Palestinians in their native land.
The second section, titled “Myths, Old and New” tackles with the idea of Palestinian Identity and the Israeli occupation’s justifications of invasion. The essays deconstructing and flipping the narrative behind the word “terrorist”, written by none other than Noam Chomsky and Edward Said, prove that the Israeli narrative and propaganda uses a large brush to generalize all Arabic people as “Terrorists”, making it easier for their allies, (the United States to name a prominent one) to spread said propaganda and misinformation to further gather support for the Israeli regime on a global scale. Both authors also address the blatant war-crimes and terrorist acts that the state of Israel continues to employ on Palestinian refugees in other countries, most notably, Lebanon. One of my favorite essays in this collection, titled “Palestinian Peasant Resistance to Zionism Before World War I”, illustrates with great detail and research that even before the British Mandate and the Balfour Declaration, Palestinians were already being displaced by Zionist settlers, as much of the land were under registered ownership to non-Palestinian absentee landlords, due to a property law established by the ending Ottoman Empire. What astounds me is that this book was originally published in the late 80s, yet the information here still remains relevant to what is going on in Palestine right now.
This is an important book for many reasons, and I implore all who support the Palestinian Right to Resistance and Right to Return to read what is written here.
The second section, titled “Myths, Old and New” tackles with the idea of Palestinian Identity and the Israeli occupation’s justifications of invasion. The essays deconstructing and flipping the narrative behind the word “terrorist”, written by none other than Noam Chomsky and Edward Said, prove that the Israeli narrative and propaganda uses a large brush to generalize all Arabic people as “Terrorists”, making it easier for their allies, (the United States to name a prominent one) to spread said propaganda and misinformation to further gather support for the Israeli regime on a global scale. Both authors also address the blatant war-crimes and terrorist acts that the state of Israel continues to employ on Palestinian refugees in other countries, most notably, Lebanon. One of my favorite essays in this collection, titled “Palestinian Peasant Resistance to Zionism Before World War I”, illustrates with great detail and research that even before the British Mandate and the Balfour Declaration, Palestinians were already being displaced by Zionist settlers, as much of the land were under registered ownership to non-Palestinian absentee landlords, due to a property law established by the ending Ottoman Empire. What astounds me is that this book was originally published in the late 80s, yet the information here still remains relevant to what is going on in Palestine right now.
This is an important book for many reasons, and I implore all who support the Palestinian Right to Resistance and Right to Return to read what is written here.
powersureater's review against another edition
Themes: misinformation, propaganda, censorship, deflection using the term “terrorism”, US and UK complicity
Would recommend: only if you have a particular interest in the topic. It’s very scholarly so picks key publications and analyses their sources, citations, the foundation of arguments, etc. and how that affected public perception.
Would recommend: only if you have a particular interest in the topic. It’s very scholarly so picks key publications and analyses their sources, citations, the foundation of arguments, etc. and how that affected public perception.
bookishmillennial's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
This reads as quite academic (which the title says "Spurious Scholarship," so it's kind of my fault for being surprised), and is a bit dense to get through. It sometimes felt like a chore to finish each essay because some of the paragraphs were so long (I *need* frequent indent breaks, it's a me problem, I know!), there were tables or charts that were not the easiest to read in my digital copy of the book(but I got it for free from Verso Books, so thank yall for continuing to provide so many amazing resources!) and provides a LOT of historical context.
I wouldn't recommend this to someone who is just beginning to learn about the oppression and apartheid treatment of Palestine, but maybe to someone who wants an additional reference to Palestinian history to complement their other reading from Palestinian voices. What was really illuminating about this book was the sheer amount of data the contributors provided as far as numbers of Palestinian refugees in surrounding countries, where the Palestinian diaspora ended up, socioeconomic methods of control over Palestinians, and more.
What's most saddening though, is that this book was written in the 80s, and it's eerie how some contributors predicted the future regarding Israel's goal of forcing all Palestinians out of Palestine, and pushing forward continued mass exodus. It's devastating to read, as we are now past 100+ days of targeted Palestinian genocide in Gaza.
This reads as quite academic (which the title says "Spurious Scholarship," so it's kind of my fault for being surprised), and is a bit dense to get through. It sometimes felt like a chore to finish each essay because some of the paragraphs were so long (I *need* frequent indent breaks, it's a me problem, I know!), there were tables or charts that were not the easiest to read in my digital copy of the book(but I got it for free from Verso Books, so thank yall for continuing to provide so many amazing resources!) and provides a LOT of historical context.
I wouldn't recommend this to someone who is just beginning to learn about the oppression and apartheid treatment of Palestine, but maybe to someone who wants an additional reference to Palestinian history to complement their other reading from Palestinian voices. What was really illuminating about this book was the sheer amount of data the contributors provided as far as numbers of Palestinian refugees in surrounding countries, where the Palestinian diaspora ended up, socioeconomic methods of control over Palestinians, and more.
What's most saddening though, is that this book was written in the 80s, and it's eerie how some contributors predicted the future regarding Israel's goal of forcing all Palestinians out of Palestine, and pushing forward continued mass exodus. It's devastating to read, as we are now past 100+ days of targeted Palestinian genocide in Gaza.
"We can therefore expect continued attrition of the Palestinian population in Palestine, a steady drain occasionally accelerated by violent events. If Israel finds this process too slow, it will undoubtedly redouble its combined pressures of economic strangulation and violent suppression to speed the exodus of Palestinians."
"This evoked a huge protest over alleged atrocity-mongering and fabrication in a 'broad-scale mass psychological war' waged against pitiful little Israel, another sign of the inveterate anti-Semitism of world opinion; Israel became the victim, not the aggressor."
"These sufferings consequently imposed upon people in its dispersions and political difficulties are legion. All these sufferings derive, however, from the complete inability of every Palestinian man, woman, and child to exercise a fundamental set of inalienable rights. No Palestinian has a Palestinian passport, no Palestinian has Palestinian nationality, no Palestinian can vote in a national election as a Palestinian, no Palestinian can voluntarily return to Palestine and take up residence there. In most places, the very word 'Palestine; is either denied or in some way made the object of particular (usually injurious) juridical, political, social, and cultural discrimination."
"How many more Palestinians must die, be incarcerated, or expelled from their land before this people's identity is acknowledged and its national purpose consummated in an independent and sovereign state?"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Genocide, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Colonisation, Gaslighting, and Death