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From Coexistence to Conquest
International Law and the Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1891-1949
Victor Kattan
Pluto Press, 2009

From Coexistence to Conquest seeks to explain how the Arab-Israeli conflict developed by looking beyond strict legalism to the men behind the policies adopted by the Great Powers at the dawn of the twentieth century. It controversially argues that Zionism was adopted by the British Government in its 1917 Balfour Declaration primarily as an immigration device and that it can be traced back to the 1903 Royal Commission on Alien Immigration and the Alien’s Act 1905.

The book places the violent reaction of the Palestine Arabs to mass Jewish immigration in the context of Zionism, highlighting the findings of several British commissions of inquiry which recommended that Britain abandon its policy. The book also revisits the controversies over the question of self-determination, and the partition of Palestine.

The Chapter on the 1948 conflict seeks to update international lawyers on the scholarship of Israel’s ‘new’ historians and reproduces some of the horrific accounts of the atrocities that took place. The penultimate chapter argues that Israel was created through an act of conquest or subjugation. The book concludes with a sobering analysis of the conflict arguing that neither Jews nor Arabs were to blame for starting it.

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Palestine's Horizon
Toward a Just Peace
Richard Falk
Pluto Press, 2017
After enduring years of violent occupation, the Palestinian community is now exploring different avenues for peace. These include the pursuit of rights under international law in venues such as the UN and International Criminal Court, while establishing a new emphasis on global solidarity and non-violent action through the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement, among others. Richard Falk has been working within and studying the Israel/Palestine conflict for several decades, and in Palestine's Horizon, he looks closely at these transformations, offering a close analysis of one of the most controversial issues of our times.
 
Falk explores the intricacies and interconnections within the history and politics of Israel and Palestine, while delving into the complicated relationships the conflict has created within the global community. He refutes the notion that the Palestinian struggle is a lost cause and offers new tactics and possibilities for change. He also puts the ongoing conflict in context, reflecting on the legacy of Edward Said and drawing on the importance of his ideas as a humanist model for peace that is mindful of the formidable difficulties that come with achieving a solution to the long struggle. One of the most established and authoritative voices on the conflict, Falk now presents his most sustained and focused historical overview to date.
 
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