Palestine

"The Israel Lobby," by John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, was one of the most controversial articles in recent memory. Originally published in the London Review of Books in March 2006, it provoked both howls of outrage and cheers of gratitude for challenging what had been a taboo issue in America: the impact of the Israel lobby on U.S. foreign policy. Now in a work of major importance, Mearsheimer and Walt deepen and expand their argument and confront recent developments in Lebanon and Iran. They describe the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the United States provides to Israel and argues that this support cannot be fully explained on either strategic or moral grounds. This exceptional relationship is due largely to the political influence of a loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction. Mearsheimer and Walt provocatively contend that the lobby has a far-reaching impact on America's posture throughout the Middle East--in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict--and the policies it has encouraged are in neither America's national interest nor Israel's long-term interest. The lobby's influence also affects America's relationship with important allies and increases dangers that all states face from global jihadist terror. Writing in The New York Review of Books, Michael Massing declared, "Not since Foreign Affairs magazine published Samuel Huntington's 'The Clash of Civilizations?' in 1993 has an academic essay detonated with such force." The publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy is certain to widen the debate and to be one of the most talked-about books of the year.

In this book President Carter shares his intimate knowledge of the history of the Middle East and his personal experiences with the principal actors, and he addresses sensitive political issues many American officials avoid. Pulling no punches, Carter prescribes steps that must be taken for the two states to share the Holy Land without a system of apartheid or the constant fear of terrorism. The general parameters of a long-term, two-state agreement are well known, the president writes. There will be no substantive and permanent peace for any peoples in this troubled region as long as Israel is violating key U.N. resolutions, official American policy, and the international "road map" for peace by occupying Arab lands and oppressing the Palestinians. Except for mutually agreeable negotiated modifications, Israel's official pre-1967 borders must be honored. As were all previous administrations since the founding of Israel, U.S. government leaders must be in the forefront of achieving this long-delayed goal of a just agreement that both sides can honor. This is a challenging and provocative book.

In 1896, a Jewish state was a pipe dream. Today the overwhelming majority of Jews identify as Zionists. How did this happen? Ilan Pappe unveils how over a century of aggressive lobbying changed the map of the Middle East. Pro-Israel lobbies convinced British and American policymakers to condone Israel's flagrant breaches of international law, grant Israel unprecedented military aid and deny Palestinians rights. Anyone who questioned unconditional support for Israel, even in the mildest terms, became the target of relentless smear campaigns. Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic shows us how an unassailable consensus was built - and how it might be dismantled.

Canada as a Settler Colony on the Question of Palestine explores Canada-Palestine relations through a settler colonial lens. The authors argue that there are direct parallels between Canada's settler colonial project and its support for the Israeli settler colonial dispossession of Palestinians. Chapters reflect on community politics and activism, migration, orientalism, and critical race theory. Among its unique contributions, the volume provides a fresh look at Canada's foreign policy as informed and shaped by its own history of settler colonialism. The collection also illuminates the breadth and depth of Palestinian life in Canada. Throughout, the chapters are connected by common themes of settler colonial destruction, dispossession, segregation, and otherness, as well as accounts of people challenging those processes in search of a better and fairer world. The book will be of interest to scholars in Indigenous Studies, International Relations, Peace and Conflict Studies, Canadian Studies, Palestine Studies, and beyond. Contributors: Samer Abdelnour, Nadia Abu-Zahra, Rachad Antonius, Lina Assi, M. Muhannad Ayyash, Peige Desjarlais, Randa Farah, Azeezah Kanji, Maurice Jr. Labelle, Nadia Naser-Najjab, Emily Regan Wills, Mira Sucharov, Jeremy Wildeman. Foreword by Veldon Coburn.

What is the life of a Palestinian worth to intellectuals in Canadian universities and news media? Analyzing the Israel Effect documents and analyzes the discursive and organizational methods by which public criticism of Israel's oppression of the Palestinians is silenced in Canada, as experienced through ten episodes in the life of the author over a thirty-year period from 1990-2020 in interaction with his university and local and national Canadian news media. As a sociological work the book is a critical autoethnography. But it is also an atrocity tale, a horror story of institutional self-censorship amounting to the abrogation of intellectual responsibility by those specifically charged with upholding it. In the end, the book is a crossover between academic treatise and journalistic exposé, "a historical narrative written by an academic from the standpoint of a political participant-observer" (Rajan Philips). The Israel Effect itself is analyzed as a three-tier propaganda industry. Hasbara is produced in Israel (Tier 1), disseminated to Israel Lobby groups around the world (Tier 2) and independently re-produced, actively and passively, by the "intellectual" institutions - universities and news media (Tier 3). This book is about the non-Jewish, non-Zionist institutions of Tier 3, the onlookers to war crimes, ethnic cleansing and, arguably, genocide, as in Gaza in October-November 2023. This work stands as a compelling testament to the importance of preserving freedom of expression, and the vital role intellectuals play in challenging injustice and promoting transparency. It is ideal for scholars, activists, and anyone seeking to understand the complexities of political activism and the power dynamics behind public discourse.

A comprehensive study of Canada's ties to Israel, this investigation criticizes Lester Pearson's negotiations to create a Jewish state on Palestinian lands after World War II and denounces the tax deductions that encouraged Zionists in Canada to send money that is used for settlements on the West Bank. Additional discussion highlights the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and its ties to Israel's Mossad.