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Review: Edward Said - The Question of Palestine (1979)
I listened to this book as read by what seems to be a generated voice on this Youtube playlist. It felt a very comprehensive introduction to the recent history of Palestine and the attitudes of the world towards Arab nations. Definitely give it a read/listen.
Content
The first chapter was about Palestine itself. What Palestine was like before everything happened, its history with surrounding lands. It also covered the attitudes of the outside world towards Arabs, how they were viewed as backwater, unintelligent, etc. And it fed into the colonialist attitudes of swooping in and making a place great by the standards of the West.
The second chapter was more about Zionism. Of course much of the ills that have befallen Palestinians in recent years have arisen due to the establishment of Israel in the area. There were discussions of Israel and Palestine, and Judaism and Islam.
The third chapter was about the emergence of the Palestinian identity, how those who have been forced to flee Palestine have been living outside of their country, and yet feeling more attachment to Palestinian culture.
The fourth chapter was about the current state of events, at the time this book would have been written. It covered where the Palestinians are, the current views of Israelis and Palestinians, and the actions that political bodies across the world have taken in relation to Israel and Palestine.
I don’t have a lot of commentary on the contents of this book because it was really more of an educational book for me to understand more about Palestine. The fact that this book was written in 1979 reminds us that Palestine’s extreme misfortunes have never stopped.
Writing
The writing was fairly easy to understand. I didn’t feel like I needed to look up a lot of definitions at all. So this makes this a really good book to understand and absorb the current and past events surrounding Palestine.
Overall
Really informative book. I definitely recommend people to read or listen to this book to get a better understanding of the background behind the Palestine-Israel situation. I also appreciate Said’s writing and I am interested to read his other books, especially Orientalism which I’ve heard a lot about.
Content
The first chapter was about Palestine itself. What Palestine was like before everything happened, its history with surrounding lands. It also covered the attitudes of the outside world towards Arabs, how they were viewed as backwater, unintelligent, etc. And it fed into the colonialist attitudes of swooping in and making a place great by the standards of the West.
The second chapter was more about Zionism. Of course much of the ills that have befallen Palestinians in recent years have arisen due to the establishment of Israel in the area. There were discussions of Israel and Palestine, and Judaism and Islam.
The third chapter was about the emergence of the Palestinian identity, how those who have been forced to flee Palestine have been living outside of their country, and yet feeling more attachment to Palestinian culture.
The fourth chapter was about the current state of events, at the time this book would have been written. It covered where the Palestinians are, the current views of Israelis and Palestinians, and the actions that political bodies across the world have taken in relation to Israel and Palestine.
I don’t have a lot of commentary on the contents of this book because it was really more of an educational book for me to understand more about Palestine. The fact that this book was written in 1979 reminds us that Palestine’s extreme misfortunes have never stopped.
Writing
The writing was fairly easy to understand. I didn’t feel like I needed to look up a lot of definitions at all. So this makes this a really good book to understand and absorb the current and past events surrounding Palestine.
Overall
Really informative book. I definitely recommend people to read or listen to this book to get a better understanding of the background behind the Palestine-Israel situation. I also appreciate Said’s writing and I am interested to read his other books, especially Orientalism which I’ve heard a lot about.