Blaming the Victims
Subtitle: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question
Contributors: Edward W. Said (Editor); Christopher Hitchens (Editor)
Edition: 2Rev Ed edition
Publisher: Verso
Published: September 13, 2001
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9781859843406
Subjects: Armed conflict; Asian / Middle Eastern history: postwar, from c 1945 -; International relations; Middle East - General; Foreign Relations; History; History - General History; History: World; Israel; Palestine; Historiography
Description: Since the 1948 war which drove them from their homeland, the Palestinian people have consistently been denied the most basic democratic rights. [This book] shows how the historical fate of the Palestinians has been justified by spurious academic attempts to dismiss their claim to a home within the boundaries of historical Palestine and even to deny their very existence. Beginning with a thorough expose of the fraudulent assertions of Joan Peters concerning the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine prior to 1948, the book then turns to similar instances in Middle East research where the truth about the Palestinians has been systematically suppressed: from the bogus - though still widely believed - explanations of why so many Palestinians fled their homes in 1948, to today's distorted propaganda about PLO terrorism. The volume also includes sharp critiques of the wide consensus in the USA which supports Israel and its territorial ambitions while maintaining total silence about the competing reality of the Palestinians.-Back cover.