9781859843406-frontcover

Blaming the Victims: Spurious Scholarship and the Palestinian Question

Edited by Edward W. Said, and Christopher Hitchens

“These forcefully argued treatises will be as enlightening as they are disturbing.”—ALA Booklist

Since the 1948 war which drove them from their heartland, the Palestinian people have consistently been denied the most basic democratic rights. Blaming the Victims 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 exposé 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.

 

With contributions by G.W. Bowersock, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, Janet L. Abu-Lughod, Noam Chomsky, Norman G. Finkelstein, Muhammed Hallaj, Christopher Hitchens, Rashid Khalidi, Peretz Kidron, Edward W. Said, and Elia Zureik

Paperback, 304 pages

ISBN: 9781859843406

April 2001

$29.95 / £15.00

Reviews

  • The wide-ranging scope and demythologising structure of Blaming the Victims makes it especially relevant at the present time when the actions of the state of Israel seem to contradict received opinion as to its nature. The book provides a great quantity of information, analyses it convincingly and, through an impressive body of notes on primary and secondary literature, points the reader in the direction of further information.

    – Middle East International

  • These forcefully argued treatises will be as enlightening as they are disturbing for anyone with an interest in Middle East politics.

    – ALA Booklist

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