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A review by roach
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Most Israelis think these are 'wild' figs or 'wild' almonds, as they see them in full bloom, towards the end of the winter, heralding the beauty of spring. But these fruit trees were planted and nurtured by human hands. Wherever almond and fig trees, olive groves or clusters of cactuses are found, there once stood a Palestinian village: still blossoming afresh each year, these trees are all that remain.
Pappé's book seems to me like a thorough chronological documentation of the titular ethnic cleansing of Palestine that is the crux of one of the most tenacious and inflamed conflicts still raging on today. Drawing from sources like Israeli documents, Ben Gurion's own diary, as well as statements from both Israeli soldiers and Palestinian survivors, it puts together a pretty extensive account of the years around crucial 1948.
As a reader who didn't know most of the details, this felt like a good deeper introduction to the whole subject, though it also raised even more questions. Which at least in part simply stems from how hard it is to swallow that all of this was allowed to play out with seemingly minimal interference from the outside. I think my one true criticism towards this book would be that I wish there were more details about how and why British soldiers in Palestine have been apparently so passive, and maybe a bigger focus on international perception and action in general.